RAID 50

 

RAID 50 provides the features of both RAID 0 and RAID 5. RAID 50 includes both

 

parity and disk striping across multiple drives. RAID 50 is best implemented on two

 

RAID 5 disk arrays with data striped across both disk arrays. RAID 50 breaks up data

 

into smaller blocks, and then stripes the blocks of data to each RAID 5 raid set. RAID 5

 

breaks up data into smaller blocks, calculates parity by performing an exclusive-or on the

 

blocks, and then writes the blocks of data and parity to each drive in the array. The size of

 

each block is determined by the stripe size parameter, which is set during the creation of

 

the RAID set.

 

RAID 50 can sustain one to four drive failures while maintaining data integrity if each

 

failed disk is in a different RAID 5 array.

Uses

RAID 50 works best when used with data that requires high

 

reliability, high request rates, and high data transfer and

 

medium to large capacity.

Strong Points

RAID 50 provides high data throughput, data redundancy,

 

and very good performance.

Weak Points

Requires 2 to 4 times as many parity drives as RAID 5.

Drives

Six to 15

 

The initiator takes one ID per channel. This leaves 15 IDs

 

available for one channel.

26MegaRAID Express 500 Hardware Guide