Appendix A: Understanding RAID 49

When selecting a RAID level for your system, consider the following factors.

 

 

Physical

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Drive

 

 

 

 

 

RAID

Data

Capacity

Read

Write

Built-In

Min Number

Max Number

Level

Redundancy

Utilization

Performance

Performance

Spare Drive

of Drives

of Drives

0

No

100%

Superior

Superior

No

1

4

1

Yes

50%

Very high

Very high

No

2

2

10

Yes

50%

Very high

Very high

No

4

4

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Physical drive utilization, read performance, and write performance depend on the number of drives in the array. Generally, the more drives in the array, the better the performance.

RAID 0 (Non-RAID Arrays)

An array with RAID 0 includes two or more disk drives (maximum twelve) and provides data striping, where data is distributed evenly across the disk drives in equal-sized sections.

RAID 0 arrays do not maintain redundant data, so they offer no data protection. However, compared to an equal-sized group of independent disks, a RAID 0 array provides improved I/O performance.

Drive segment size is limited to the size of the smallest disk drive in the array. For instance, an array with two 250 GB disk drives and two 400 GB disk drives can create a RAID 0 drive segment of 250 GB, for a total of 1000 GB for the volume, as shown in the following figure.

Disk Drive 1

Drive Segment Size (Smallest Disk Drive)

 

250 GB

 

 

 

 

Disk Drive 2

 

 

 

 

 

 

250 GB

 

 

 

 

 

 

Disk Drive 1

1

5 ...

997

 

 

 

 

 

Disk Drive 3

 

Disk Drive 2

2

 

998

 

 

6 ...

400 GB

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Disk Drive 3

3

7 ...

999

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Not Used

Unused Space: 150 GB

 

 

 

 

 

Disk Drive 4

400 GB

Disk Drive 4

4

8 ... 1000

 

 

 

Unused Space: 150 GB

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Not Used

 

 

 

 

 

Disk Drives in Logical Drive

RAID 0 Logical Drive = 1000 GB

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Adaptec ATA II 1430SA, ATA II 1220SA, ATA II 1420SA manual RAID 0 Non-RAID Arrays, Raid