Dell Inspiron 531S Owner's  Manual - Page 43

About RAID Configurations (For Windows Vista® only) This section provides an overview of the RAID configuration you may have selected when you purchased your computer. Your computer supports RAID level 1. A RAID level 1 is recommended for users that desire a high level of data integrity. The drives in a RAID configuration should be the same size in order to ensure that the larger drive does not contain unallocated (and therefore unusable) space. RAID Level 1 Configuration RAID level 1 uses a data-redundancy storage technique known as mirroring to enhance data integrity. When data is written to the primary drive, the data is also duplicated, or mirrored, on the second drive in the configuration. A RAID level 1 configuration sacrifices high data-access rates for its data redundancy advantages. serial ATA RAID configured for RAID level 1 segment 1 segment 2 segment 3 segment 4 segment 5 segment 6 segment 1 duplicated segment 2 duplicated segment 3 duplicated segment 4 duplicated segment 5 duplicated segment 6 duplicated hard drive 1 hard drive 2 If a drive failure occurs, subsequent read and write operations are directed to the surviving drive. A replacement drive can then be rebuilt using the data from the surviving drive. NOTE: In a RAID level 1 configuration, the size of the configuration is equal to the size of the smallest drive in the configuration. Setting Up and Using Your Computer 43