Q:How does the FastTrak100 RAID controller provide storage and/or data protection with their arrays?
A:FastTrak100 implements three different types of RAID levels as follows:
RAID 0 (stripe)
For capacity --The FastTrak100 array will be as big as the smallest HDD in the array times however many HDDs are in the array. Any larger HDDs will simply be truncated. The truncated space on the bigger HDDs will then be unusable.
For sustained data transfers --Using FastTrak100, a RAID 0 array consisting of two HDDs will transfer at about twice the speed of the slowest HDD in the array. A RAID 0 array consisting of four HDDs will transfer at about three times the speed of the slowest HDD in the array.
RAID 1 (mirror)
For capacity --The FastTrak100 array will be as big as the smallest HDD in the array. The larger HDD will simply be truncated. The truncated space on the bigger HDD will then be unusable.
For sustained data transfers --The FastTrak100 array will write data at the rate of the slowest HDD in the array. The FastTrak100 array will read data at twice the rate of the slowest HDD in the array.
JBOD (spanning)
For capacity --The FastTrak100 array will combine the sizes of the HDDs in the array. As soon as one HDD is filled to capacity, the next HDD will automatically be used.
For sustained data transfers --There is no performance increase with spanning (reading or writing).