Dedicated Server Hard Disk Guide
Description
Disk Space
Performance
Fault Tolerance
/Data Protection Required #
of drives
/Data Protection Required #
of drives
Single Disk - No RAID
One hard disk attached to the local SATA controller of a server. This configuration is the most common. This configuration allows the utilization of all of the physical hard disk's space, the full performance of the drive, but offers no fault tolerance and off-site backups should be maintained.
All
Full
None
One
One hard disk attached to the local SATA controller of a server. This configuration is the most common. This configuration allows the utilization of all of the physical hard disk's space, the full performance of the drive, but offers no fault tolerance and off-site backups should be maintained.
All
Full
None
One
Multiple Disk - No RAID
Multiple hard disks attached to the local SATA controller of a server. This configuration is more common. This configuration allows the utilization of all hard disk capacity, the full performance of all hard disks but offers no automatic fault tolerance and off-site backups should be maintained.
All
Full
User can manually or automatically copy files from one disk to another.
Two or more
Multiple hard disks attached to the local SATA controller of a server. This configuration is more common. This configuration allows the utilization of all hard disk capacity, the full performance of all hard disks but offers no automatic fault tolerance and off-site backups should be maintained.
All
Full
User can manually or automatically copy files from one disk to another.
Two or more
RAID-0
Two hard disks are attached to a hardware RAID controller. The data is spanned across both drives providing increased performance over a single disk. RAID-0 offers no fault tolerance.
Reference: RAID 0
All
Better
None
Two
Two hard disks are attached to a hardware RAID controller. The data is spanned across both drives providing increased performance over a single disk. RAID-0 offers no fault tolerance.
Reference: RAID 0
All
Better
None
Two
RAID-1
Two hard disks are attached to a hardware RAID controller. The data is mirrored between the two drives providing excellent fault-tolerance but slightly reducing performance. The disk space is reduced to half of the combined size of the two drives.
Reference: RAID 1
Half
Good
Excellent - Data is mirrored from Active to Backup
Two
Two hard disks are attached to a hardware RAID controller. The data is mirrored between the two drives providing excellent fault-tolerance but slightly reducing performance. The disk space is reduced to half of the combined size of the two drives.
Reference: RAID 1
Half
Good
Excellent - Data is mirrored from Active to Backup
Two
RAID-10 (RAID-0 + RAID-1)
RAID-10 is a set of four drives connected to a hardware RAID controller. RAID-10 (0+1) is actually a combination of RAID-0 and RAID-1, data is first spanned across a set of two drives and then that set is mirrored to two additional drives. RAID-10 is faster than RAID-1 and offers fault tolerance.
Reference: RAID 10
The size of the span set.
Better
Excellent - Data is mirrored from Span set to Mirror Set
Four
RAID-10 is a set of four drives connected to a hardware RAID controller. RAID-10 (0+1) is actually a combination of RAID-0 and RAID-1, data is first spanned across a set of two drives and then that set is mirrored to two additional drives. RAID-10 is faster than RAID-1 and offers fault tolerance.
Reference: RAID 10
The size of the span set.
Better
Excellent - Data is mirrored from Span set to Mirror Set
Four
RAID-5
RAID-5 is a set of four or more drives and is considered a parity set in which 'bits' of data are stored on all drives in the RAID set. If a single drive fails the system can continue to operate normally. A hot spare can be configured to recover from a single disk failure to ensure perpetual disk operation.
Reference: RAID 5
Varies depending on whether a hot spare is configured.
Good
Excellent - Single Parity (one drive can fail and server can continue to operate)
At least four
RAID-5 is a set of four or more drives and is considered a parity set in which 'bits' of data are stored on all drives in the RAID set. If a single drive fails the system can continue to operate normally. A hot spare can be configured to recover from a single disk failure to ensure perpetual disk operation.
Reference: RAID 5
Varies depending on whether a hot spare is configured.
Good
Excellent - Single Parity (one drive can fail and server can continue to operate)
At least four
RAID-6
RAID-6 is a set of four or more drives and is considered a party set in which 'bits' of data are stored on all drives in the RAID set. If two drives fail simultaneously the system can continue to operate normally. Multiple hot spares can be configured to recover from multiple simultaneous disk failures to ensure perpetual disk operation.
Reference: RAID 6
Varies depending on whether hot spare is configured and how many
Good
Best - Double Parity (two drives can fail simultaneously and server can continue to operate)
At least four
RAID-6 is a set of four or more drives and is considered a party set in which 'bits' of data are stored on all drives in the RAID set. If two drives fail simultaneously the system can continue to operate normally. Multiple hot spares can be configured to recover from multiple simultaneous disk failures to ensure perpetual disk operation.
Reference: RAID 6
Varies depending on whether hot spare is configured and how many
Good
Best - Double Parity (two drives can fail simultaneously and server can continue to operate)
At least four
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