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5 Configuring IDE Software RAID

Selecting a RAID Level

To ensure the best performance, you should select the optimal RAID level when you create a system drive. The optimal RAID level for your disk array depends on the following factors:

Number of drives in the disk array

Capacity of the drives in the array

Need for data redundancy

Disk performance requirements

The factors you need to consider when selecting a RAID level are listed below.

RAID

Description

Pros

Cons

Number of

Fault

Level

and Use

 

 

Drives

Tolerant

 

 

 

 

 

 

0

Data divided

High data

No fault

One to

No

 

in blocks

throughput

tolerance. All

Four

 

 

and

for large files.

data lost if

 

 

 

distributed

 

any drive

 

 

 

sequentially

 

fails.

 

 

 

(pure

 

 

 

 

 

striping).

 

 

 

 

 

Use for non-

 

 

 

 

 

critical data

 

 

 

 

 

that

 

 

 

 

 

requires

 

 

 

 

 

high

 

 

 

 

 

performanc

 

 

 

 

 

e.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

1

Data

100 percent

Double disk

Two

Yes

 

duplicated

data

space.

 

 

 

on another

redundancy

Reduced

 

 

 

disk

 

performance

 

 

 

(mirroring).

 

during

 

 

 

Use for

 

rebuilds.

 

 

 

read-

 

 

 

 

 

intensive

 

 

 

 

 

fault

 

 

 

 

 

tolerant

 

 

 

 

 

systems

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

10

Data divided

100 percent

A minimum

Four

Yes

 

in blocks

data

of four drives

 

 

 

and

redundancy

required.

 

 

 

distributed

and High data

 

 

 

 

sequentially

throughput.

 

 

 

 

and each

 

 

 

 

 

block is

 

 

 

 

 

duplicated

 

 

 

 

 

to another

 

 

 

 

 

disk.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

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Acer G300 Series manual Selecting a RAID Level