Rxt Media Best Practices; Raid Overview - Spectra Logic T-Series Spectra T200 User Manual

RXT M B
EDIA
This section describes best practices for using RXT media and managing
your media inventory. Before beginning, read

RAID Overview

RAID (Redundant Array of Independent Disks) is a method of combining
several hard disk drives into one logical virtual disk (two or more disks
grouped together to appear as a single device to the host system) for the
purpose of sharing or replicating data.
RAID technology was developed to address the fault-tolerance and
performance limitations of conventional disk storage. Depending on how
data is written to the disk array (typically referred to as the RAID level),
RAID increases data integrity, fault-tolerance, throughput, or capacity, as
compared with single drives. RAID is not a replacement for a good backup
system and policy. Instead, it should be seen as added insurance against
data loss and business disruption.
In the case of RXT media packs, the RAID disks appear as a single, large
capacity LTO cartridge to the backup software running on the host system.
RXT media packs arrive preconfigured to the RAID level specified when
they were ordered.
RXT media is available in four RAID configurations, each one providing
different levels of performance and protection. Choose a RAID level based
on your risk tolerance as well as your capacity and performance needs:
December 2008
P
EST RACTICES
RAID Overview on page 325
Optimizing Performance on page 326
Handling RXT Media on page 328
Using RXT Media in the Library on page 327
RAID 0 (Disk Striping) – Data is split evenly across two or more disks
with no parity information for redundancy. RAID 0 maximizes read/
write performance and takes full advantage of available capacity, but
provides no redundancy.
Because RAID 0 does not provide increased data integrity or fault-
tolerance it is best suited for non-critical data. RAID 0 level is not
recommended for high data-availability needs. If a disk fails, your data
is unrecoverable.

RXT Media Best Practices

T200, T380, and T680 Libraries
325