HP 226593-B21 Smart Array 5i Plus Controller and Battery Backed Write Cache En - Page 90

Advantages, Table C-1, Summary of RAID Methods

Page 90 highlights

Drive Arrays and Fault Tolerance Advantages The advantages of RAID 5 are that: • It has a high read performance. • No loss of data occurs if one physical drive fails. • More drive capacity is usable than with RAID 1+0 (parity information requires only the storage space equivalent to one physical drive). Disadvantages The disadvantages of RAID 5 are that: • It has a relatively low write performance. • Loss of data occurs if a second drive fails before data from the first failed drive is rebuilt. Table C-1 summarizes the important features of the different kinds of RAID described. The decision chart in Table C-2 may help you to determine which option is best for your situation. Table C-1: Summary of RAID Methods Alternative name Usable drive space* Usable drive space formula Minimum number of physical drives RAID 0 Striping (no fault tolerance) 100% n 1 RAID 1+0 Mirroring 50% n/2 2 RAID 5 Distributed Data Guarding 67% to 93% (n-1)/n 3 continued Compaq Smart Array 5i Plus Controller and Battery Backed Write Cache Enabler User Guide C-9

  • 1
  • 2
  • 3
  • 4
  • 5
  • 6
  • 7
  • 8
  • 9
  • 10
  • 11
  • 12
  • 13
  • 14
  • 15
  • 16
  • 17
  • 18
  • 19
  • 20
  • 21
  • 22
  • 23
  • 24
  • 25
  • 26
  • 27
  • 28
  • 29
  • 30
  • 31
  • 32
  • 33
  • 34
  • 35
  • 36
  • 37
  • 38
  • 39
  • 40
  • 41
  • 42
  • 43
  • 44
  • 45
  • 46
  • 47
  • 48
  • 49
  • 50
  • 51
  • 52
  • 53
  • 54
  • 55
  • 56
  • 57
  • 58
  • 59
  • 60
  • 61
  • 62
  • 63
  • 64
  • 65
  • 66
  • 67
  • 68
  • 69
  • 70
  • 71
  • 72
  • 73
  • 74
  • 75
  • 76
  • 77
  • 78
  • 79
  • 80
  • 81
  • 82
  • 83
  • 84
  • 85
  • 86
  • 87
  • 88
  • 89
  • 90
  • 91
  • 92
  • 93
  • 94
  • 95
  • 96
  • 97
  • 98
  • 99
  • 100
  • 101
  • 102
  • 103
  • 104
  • 105
  • 106
  • 107
  • 108
  • 109
  • 110
  • 111
  • 112
  • 113
  • 114
  • 115
  • 116
  • 117
  • 118
  • 119
  • 120
  • 121
  • 122
  • 123
  • 124
  • 125
  • 126
  • 127
  • 128
  • 129
  • 130
  • 131
  • 132
  • 133
  • 134
  • 135
  • 136
  • 137
  • 138
  • 139
  • 140
  • 141

Drive Arrays and Fault Tolerance
Compaq Smart Array 5i Plus Controller and Battery Backed Write Cache Enabler User Guide
C-9
Advantages
The advantages of RAID 5 are that:
It has a high read performance.
No loss of data occurs if one physical drive fails.
More drive capacity is usable than with RAID 1+0 (parity information requires
only the storage space equivalent to one physical drive).
Disadvantages
The disadvantages of RAID 5 are that:
It has a relatively low write performance.
Loss of data occurs if a second drive fails before data from the first failed drive is
rebuilt.
Table C-1 summarizes the important features of the different kinds of RAID
described. The decision chart in Table C-2 may help you to determine which option
is best for your situation.
Table C-1:
Summary of RAID Methods
RAID 0
RAID 1+0
RAID 5
Alternative
name
Striping (no
fault tolerance)
Mirroring
Distributed Data
Guarding
Usable drive
space*
100%
50%
67% to 93%
Usable drive
space formula
n
n/2
(n-1)/n
Minimum
number of
physical drives
1
2
3
continued