A guide to the RAID hard drive

RAID stands for Redundant Array of Inexpensive/Independent Disks. The full form tells us quite a lot about it. The array states that it contains a series of similar hard drives. They are similar in the characteristics of size and nature. The array allows us to store large amounts of data in a better way and the technology is comparatively cheap as well.

The word array has told us a lot about the hard drive and with time, the industry has developed certain specifications regarding the hard drives. There are different configurations for RAID drives to be designed. The two most common configurations are Mirror and Stripe. Where a Mirror configuration gives us protection of data by making a duplicate on a secondary drive, Stripe tries to increase performance by allowing data to to be transferred from both the drives used.

These were the simplest configurations but with advancement in technology over the years, many more multi-layered configurations have been developed. These configurations not only fulfill our needs of data protection but also provide performance at an extremely low error rate.

The use of the multi-layered drives is limited to the industry levels or server environments where all data is important. Hence a RAID drive will allow retrieving the data with ease. On the contrary, the Mirror and Stripe drives are used for domestic purposes where the use is limited and the chances of failures are low.

RAID drives come in handy in places where the data needs to kept secure and every bit of it is vital. This is generally common in server environments where a lot of data is to be handled which increases the risk of failure manifolds. To ensure that no data is lost, RAID serves as an excellent option. Data can be very important at home or a small establishment as well. Hence RAID drives are gaining popularity at a very brisk rate. Not only they keep the data safe but the performance is increased which helps to save time and do our work quickly.

Hence, the main factors that will drive the purchase of a RAID disk drive are the requirements and the budget constraints. With every layer added to the drive, the performance and security might be increased but the cost increases as well. But you shouldn't compromise with the security and can choose a right drive accordingly.