Easy Guide to RAID Recovery

[Lyte]

What is RAID RECOVERY?

RAID stands for Redundant Array of Inexpensive Disks. It is a method of combining several hard drives into one unit. This method offers fault tolerance (the ability of a system to continue to perform functions even when one or more hard disk drives have failed) and higher protection against data loss than a single hard drive.

Why do I need RAID RECOVERY?

RAID provides real-time data recovery when a hard drive fails, increasing system uptime and network availability while protecting against loss of data. Another advantage of the system is that multiple disks working together increase overall system performance. Any individual or company could benefit from having a RAID RECOVERY system in place.

Different Levels

There are several different levels of RAID available. Each level offers various advantages in terms of data availability, cost and performance. Your best bet is to assess your needs in order to determine which level works best for you. The most popular RAID systems are the following:

RAID 0 - Data striping (no data protection). The benefit of this system is that it offers the highest performance.

RAID 1- Disk Mirroring (provides data protection by duplicating all data from a primary drive on a secondary drive). The benefit of this system is it offers the highest data protection.

RAID 0/1- This combines both Raids 0 and 1. The benefit here is highest performance + highest data protection.

RAID 5 - Data striping with distributed parity (a form of data protection that recreates the data of failed drive in a disk array). This system offers the best cost performance for multidrive environments.

Having a RAID system installed can provide peace of mind. With RAID installed you can rest assured that even in the event of a system failure your important data will be safe.

If you've found this tutorial helpful, let us know!

Lyte

[tazz]

can u change to raid after using your hard drives just a seperate drives, no raid accociaton. (have 2 WD hd 250 each and have raid controller?

[Lyte]

Listen to SoftDux!

[SoftDux]

Originally Posted by tazz

can u change to raid after using your hard drives just a seperate drives, no raid accociaton. (have 2 WD hd 250 each and have raid controller?

No, don't do this. To get RAID working, the system needs to reformat the HDD's, since the parition type needs to be of type RAID, and the system also needs to know where in the RAID stripe the drives belong. Only do this if you have backed up all your data & are prepared todo a full system reinstallation. Once the "base" RAID is setup, one can add / remove drives from it (for exmaple replacing a bad HDD, or upgrading to bigger drives).

Lyte, thought you've taken the time to post this thread, it's not really a tutorial, it's more a brief overview of RAID.

Here are some important notes on RAID.

• RAID is NOT BACKUP - Get a seperate backup system
• With RAID, the more drives you have in the system, the more lickely you are to have drive failures
• RAID 0 (stiping) isn't reliable. If 1 drive failes, you loose most, if not all the data
• RAID 5 needs minimum 3 drives to operate, but a hot standby spare is recommended for when one of the drives fail.
• Data corruption, as with a single drive, occurs on RAID as well.

What I'm trying to say with this, is if you use RAID, don't think you're 100% safe from data loss or disaster, RAID is ONLY a mechanism to protect you from single HDD failure. If you don't replace the failed HDD, you do risk loosing some or all of you data

[Lyte]

Welcome SoftDux! Thanks for adding a more complete answer!

[SoftDux]

Thanx, I still need to introduce myself