Chapter 2: Raid Levels; Summary Of Raid Levels - Intel SC5650BCDP Software User's Manual

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RAID Levels
The RAID controller supports RAID levels 0, 1E, 5, 6, 10, 50, and 60. The supported RAID
levels are summarized below. In addition, it supports independent drives (configured as RAID
0). This chapter describes the RAID levels in detail.

Summary of RAID Levels

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Intel RAID Software User's Guide
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RAID 0: Uses striping to provide high data throughput, especially for large files in an
environment that does not require fault tolerance. In Intel
called Integrated Striping (IS), which supports striped arrays with two to ten disks.
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RAID 1: Uses mirroring so that data written to one disk drive simultaneously writes to
another disk drive. This is good for small databases or other applications that require
small capacity but complete data redundancy. In Intel
called Integrated Mirroring (IM) which supports two-disk mirrored arrays and hot-spare
disks.
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RAID 5: Uses disk striping and parity data across all drives (distributed parity) to
provide high data throughput, especially for small random access.
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RAID 6: Uses distributed parity, with two independent parity blocks per stripe, and disk
striping. A RAID 6 virtual disk can survive the loss of two disks without losing data.
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RAID IME: Integrated Mirroring Enhanced (IME) which supports mirrored arrays with
three to ten disks, plus hot-spare disks. This is implemented in Intel
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RAID 10: A combination of RAID 0 and RAID 1, consists of striped data across
mirrored spans. It provides high data throughput and complete data redundancy but uses
a larger number of spans.
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RAID 50: A combination of RAID 0 and RAID 5, uses distributed parity and disk
striping and works best with data that requires high reliability, high request rates, high
data transfers, and medium-to-large capacity.
Note: It is not recommended to have a RAID 0, RAID 5, and RAID 6 virtual disk in the
same physical array. If a drive in the physical array has to be rebuilt, the RAID 0
virtual disk will cause a failure during the rebuild.
•
RAID 60: A combination of RAID 0 and RAID 6, uses distributed parity, with two
independent parity blocks per stripe in each RAID set, and disk striping. A RAID 60
virtual disk can survive the loss of two disks in each of the RAID 6 sets without losing
data. It works best with data that requires high reliability, high request rates, high data
transfers, and medium-to-large capacity.
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IT/IR RAID, RAID 0 is also
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IT/IR RAID, RAID 1 is also
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IT/IR RAID.
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