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Well in essence pretty much all forms of raid spread out your data across multiple drives.
RAID 0 (aka striping) basically puts one block on disk 1, the next block on disk 2, etc. This basically doubles your read and write speeds as each drives reads/writes half the data. If one drive fails you're screwed. Needs at least 2 disks. You get the space of all disks.
RAID 1 (aka mirroring) basically puts the same data on both disks. Depends on the controller but sometimes when you read it tries to read from both etc but basically performance is the same as one drive. If one drive fails the other is already an exact copy. Needs at least 2 disks. You get half the space of the disk capacity (assuming you use 2).
RAID 5 - Kind of like striping except that the last disk in the array is known as "parity". Needs at least 2 disks for the striping and then one for the parity so 3 in total. Basically in striping if a bit is 1 on disk 1, 1 on disk 2 it will be 0 on the parity disk (using even parity, ie the total must be an even number). That way if the parity disk fails it can just be rebuilt using the other 2, and if one of the others fails it can be worked out from the parity disk, ie if disk 1 is 1, disk 2 is dead and parity is 0 then disk 2 must have been 1.
RAID 6 too complicated for my fragile little mind...
RAID 0 (aka striping) basically puts one block on disk 1, the next block on disk 2, etc. This basically doubles your read and write speeds as each drives reads/writes half the data. If one drive fails you're screwed. Needs at least 2 disks. You get the space of all disks.
RAID 1 (aka mirroring) basically puts the same data on both disks. Depends on the controller but sometimes when you read it tries to read from both etc but basically performance is the same as one drive. If one drive fails the other is already an exact copy. Needs at least 2 disks. You get half the space of the disk capacity (assuming you use 2).
RAID 5 - Kind of like striping except that the last disk in the array is known as "parity". Needs at least 2 disks for the striping and then one for the parity so 3 in total. Basically in striping if a bit is 1 on disk 1, 1 on disk 2 it will be 0 on the parity disk (using even parity, ie the total must be an even number). That way if the parity disk fails it can just be rebuilt using the other 2, and if one of the others fails it can be worked out from the parity disk, ie if disk 1 is 1, disk 2 is dead and parity is 0 then disk 2 must have been 1.
RAID 6 too complicated for my fragile little mind...
D.B.Cooper
Expert Member
Also look here: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Standard_RAID_levels
Jabberwocky
Expert Member
IMO no raid is worth it for a 6 seat home server...
for redundancy, if you have lots of HDD`s use 5, otherwise, 1
for speed use 0, but be prepared to be screwed if one of them fails.
save yourself the hassle and use external HDDs or network storage for backup.
for redundancy, if you have lots of HDD`s use 5, otherwise, 1
for speed use 0, but be prepared to be screwed if one of them fails.
save yourself the hassle and use external HDDs or network storage for backup.
Last edited:
alloytoo
Honorary Master
Raid (>0) basically means that you spread your data over multiple drives, and that there is an element of redundancy.
This improves performance and reduces the risk of data loss through drive failure.
Capacity is sacrificed for redunancy
In a decent modern server with with 3 or more drives, the drives should be hot swappable. You should be able to remove a failed drive and the server should continue to run (abet at lower performance) and replace it. Over a 24-48hr period the server should rebuild the redundant data and return to full performance.
Raid isn't a backup, it won't protect your data from virus's or data loss like the theft of the machine or fire.
If you're serious about data backup I suggest a large capacity USB drive.
Frankly if this is a home server, which is not mission critical, then Raid is probably overkill. Ignoring the performance issues, a large capacity external hard drive should handle your backup needs.
I'd also recommend Back2Zip as a reasonably good free backup product.
Jabberwocky
Expert Member
^^^ what he/she said
Thanks Guys.
Explains a lot.
Where can I get the RAID software.
or How do I install it. I am building this home server which will also house a hobby turned small business as well.
I managed to get Windows Server 2008 and MS Exchange 2008.
Any ideas on decent computer specs. Would also like to stream movies of a separate drive running Cat 6 cables and Dlink 10/100/1000 24 port switch.
Sorry, for the fuss. Not so IT literate.
Explains a lot.
Where can I get the RAID software.
or How do I install it. I am building this home server which will also house a hobby turned small business as well.
I managed to get Windows Server 2008 and MS Exchange 2008.
Any ideas on decent computer specs. Would also like to stream movies of a separate drive running Cat 6 cables and Dlink 10/100/1000 24 port switch.
Sorry, for the fuss. Not so IT literate.
You dont get the raid software somewhere 
Your computers BIOS or rather HDD controller needs to support RAID, Most Sata capable computers supports can do this.
But i dont know so much about raid 5 or 6 on a normal desktop mother board.
Maybe Raid 0 or 1.So you might have to buy a server and servers supporting more than 2 SATA's or SAS drives,which will cost nothing less than R30K
You create a RAID Container in the BIOS setup of the controller your OS will then see the drives as 1 drive all together.
You can try the Software raid thing, but i dont know or have never see anyone use it, probably cus its useless.
Good luck with your overkill of home server
Your computers BIOS or rather HDD controller needs to support RAID, Most Sata capable computers supports can do this.
But i dont know so much about raid 5 or 6 on a normal desktop mother board.
Maybe Raid 0 or 1.So you might have to buy a server and servers supporting more than 2 SATA's or SAS drives,which will cost nothing less than R30K
You create a RAID Container in the BIOS setup of the controller your OS will then see the drives as 1 drive all together.
You can try the Software raid thing, but i dont know or have never see anyone use it, probably cus its useless.
Good luck with your overkill of home server