RAID stands for Redundant Array of Independent Disks. RAID configurations allow data to be written to more than one hard disk.
To set up a RAID configuration you will need matching hard drives and a RAID controller. Your hard drives can be SCSI, ATA or SATA and depending on the type of RAID configuration you choose, you can have a variety of number of hard drives. You can use unmatched hard drives in certain configurations, but it is not a true RAID set up without matched disks. The drives should match storage space as well as transfer speed and performance. If the speeds do not match up, the controller will use the weakest drive.
The RAID controller connects to the data cables from the hard drives and is responsible for conducting all the data processing. You can find RAID controllers in the form of add on cards or they can be found integrated onto the existing motherboard.
You can have an optional hot swappable drive bay included in your RAID configuration; it will allow a failed hard drive to easily be removed from a live system without risking the current configuration of the system. You can simply slide the bay out; replace the drive with a new one and never have to shut the system down.
You can run a RAID configuration on any operating system as long as you have the appropriate available drives from the RAID controller’s manufacturer. If you have access to an operating system that already contains all the RAID drives you can easily clone it to another disk using software like Norton Ghost.
There are a wide variety of RAID configurations that can be used. Two of the most common configurations are below:
RAID 0: This has been argued to not be a true RAID array as it is not offering any redundancy. This configuration will alternate where it writes the data between two drives. So, if one goes out you lose what was on it. This is a great configuration for boosting speed on your hard drive, since it uses data transfer within two or more drives, it is processed more quickly. This can double the speed of having a single bootable drive.
RAID 1: This is most basic array that offers the redundancy. It uses two hard drives or more and all data is written to both drives. You will still notice an increase in speed, but it will be slightly less than that of RAID 0. The configuration is made to act as a mirror with the drives on the system, so that if any drive fails, all data will be saved on the remaining disk or disks.
No matter what set up you choose, there are many different configurations that will work to speed up your hard drive data processing time as well as protect your data.
