My Hard Drive Died 1 - All about RAID
|
|
Hosted by: Scott Moulton of MyHardDriveDied.com and Steve Cherubino of Podnutz
Running time: 53:48 |
|
Topics discussed: What is RAID? (Redundant Array of Independent Disks) A system of hard drives bound together to form a single capacity storage device. Spreads data among drives, offers redundant data, superior performance, storage capacity and reliability. RAID Levels: RAID 0 - Striping: Easy to implement, cost effective, utilizes full disk capacity High performance especially for gamers and video editing (speed) RAID 1 - Mirroring: Configuration is the easiest and simplest amongst all RAID levels. Disadvantages: Inefficient use of disk space, corrupted data is replicated on both drives RAID 0+1: A combination of stripping and mirroring with all the best features of RAID 0 and RAID 1 Provides high data transfer performance with at least 4 disks Fast data access and fault tolerance at single drive level. Disadvantages: Inefficient use of disk space, costly to deploy RAID 2 - Obsolete RAID 3 - Obsolete RAID 4 - Obsolete RAID 5 - Striped Minimum requirement of at least 3 drives to be implemented Losing a drive does not bring down a server, rebuilding a bad drive is easy but time consuming Supports a hot swap extra drive, some arrays allow 45 drives It is probably the most popular RAID level RAID 5E & RAID 5EE are additional versions available (include different parity options) RAID 6 Known to be an extension of RAID level 5, allows 2 hot swap extra drives Is the best available RAID array for mission critical applications and data storage needs RAID 10: Provides very high performance, redundancy and reliability Minimum requirement is 4 drives, can support multiple drive failures Disadvantages: Very expensive, Not very scalable RAID 15... Others….. Higher RAID versions are normally a combination of previous versions, only seen on the “Corporate” arena with different variations, not very common Disk File Systems: FAT32 Old format (Limitation: 4GB Maximum File Size Allowed) NTFS Standard window formatting (Not commonly use because of licensing restrictions) XFS Buffalo stations / SANs (Network Storage Devices) HFS Mac Systems EXT Western Digital Book Drives ZFS New file system, also called “Soft RAID”, (Being explored by: Open Solaris, Mac O/S) OS2 Old IBM format HPFS Old IBM format JBOD (Just a Bunch Of Disks) A collection of hard disks that aren't configured according to RAID A hard disk enclosure for several disks lacking a RAID controller. Does not provide any improvements in performance Advantages: Avoids drive waste, easier disaster recovery http://www.pc-pitstop.com/ http://www.pcguide.com/ref/ Hard Drives LaCie: http://www.lacie.com/ Maxtor: http://www.maxtor. Western Digital: http://www.wdc.com/en/ Free NAS (Linux based NAS box) You can use any old computer and setup a RAID; it becomes a NAS You have control on the file system to use Drobo Storage Products LaCie Drives Fail on a regular basis, very common devices in a Disaster Recovery environment Usually report problems with their boards and the power supply Is it safe to put a hard drive in your freezer? Changing temperature may alter the heads and may contract some parts inside the drive and may work This is a last resource option; there is condensation build up though Freezing may trigger a chip on the drive and may allow you to use it also On-Site and Off-Site data backups Critical data should be off-site Data Recovery Classes http://www.myharddrivedied.
Notes by Jorge Hernandez of 123ComputerRepair.com |
