Selecting A Raid Level - LSI MegaRAID Enterprise 1600 Hardware Manual

Selecting a RAID Level

The factors you need to consider when selecting a RAID level are listed below.
Level
0 Data divided in
blocks and
distributed
sequentially (pure
striping). Use for
non-critical data
that requires high
performance.
1 Data duplicated on
another disk
(mirroring). Use
for read-intensive
fault-tolerant
systems
3 Disk striping with a
dedicated parity
drive. Use for non-
interactive apps
that process large
files sequentially.
5 Disk striping and
parity data across
all drives. Use for
high read volume
but low write
volume, such as
transaction
processing.
10 Data striping and
mirrored drives.
30 Disk striping with a
dedicated parity
drive.
50 Disk striping and
parity data across
all drives.
16 MegaRAID Enterprise 1600 Hardware Guide
Description and Pros
Use
High data
throughput
for large
files
100% data
redundancy
Achieves
data
redundancy
at low cost
Achieves
data
redundancy
at low cost
High data
transfers,
complete
redundancy
High data
transfers,
redundancy
High data
transfers,
redundancy
Cons Maximum
Physical
Drives
No fault One to 32
tolerance. All
data lost if
any drive
fails.
Doubles disk Two
space.
Reduced
performance
during
rebuilds.
Performance Three to 32
not as good as
RAID 1
Performance Three to 32
not as good as
RAID 1
More Four to 32
complicated (must be a
multiple of
two)
More Six to 32
complicated
More Six to 32
complicated
Fault
Tolerant
No
Yes
Yes
Yes
Yes
Yes
Yes