HP StorageWorks 4000s NAS 4000s and 9000s Administration Guide - Page 58
RAID 5-Distributed Data Guarding, physical drives
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Storage Management Overview RAID 5-Distributed Data Guarding Using this method, a block of parity data (rather than redundant data) is calculated for each stripe from the data that is in all other blocks within that stripe. The blocks of parity data are distributed over every hard drive within the array, as shown in the figure below. When a hard drive fails, data on the failed drive can be rebuilt from the parity data and the user data on the remaining drives. This rebuilt data can be written to an online spare. This configuration is useful when cost, performance, and data availability are equally important. S1 B1 S2 B3 S3 P5,6 S4 B7 B2 P3,4 B5 B8 P1,2 B4 B6 P7,8 Figure 29: RAID 5 (distributed data guarding) showing parity information (P) Spreading the parity across all the drives allows more simultaneous read operations and higher performance than data guarding (RAID 4). If one drive fails, the controller uses the parity data and the data on the remaining drives to reconstruct data from the failed drive. RAID 5 allows the system to continue operating with reduced performance until the failed drive is replaced. However, if more than one drive fails, RAID 5 also fails and all data in the array is lost. Distributed data guarding uses the equivalent of one drive to store parity information and requires an array with a minimum of three physical drives. In an array containing three physical drives, distributed data guarding uses 33 percent of the total logical drive storage capacity for fault tolerance; a 14 drive configuration uses seven percent. Note: Given the reliability of a particular generation of hard drive technology, the probability of an array experiencing a drive failure increases with the number of drives in an array. HP recommends the number of drives in a RAID 5 array not exceed 14. Advantages Distributed data guarding offers: ■ High read and write performance. ■ Protection against data loss if one drive fails. ■ Increased usable storage capacity, since capacity equal to only one physical drive is used to store parity information. 58 NAS 4000s and 9000s Administration Guide