Introduction to RAID 5 Arrays

Definition of a RAID 5 Array

A RAID 5 array uses at least three disks and stripes information at the byte level across the member disks. Parity data is also written across each member disk to allow the RAID data to be recovered in the event of a disk failure.

Different Ways a RAID 5 Array Can Be Set Up

A RAID 5 array can be set up as a software RAID using special software or as a hardware RAID using a RAID controller.

A software RAID is generally either set up using standalone software or using RAID software which is built into an operating system such as Windows 2003 Server. A software RAID uses the CPU and memory of the computer on which it is installed. This can slow down other applications on that computer. This also makes the software RAID vulnerable to failure due to problems with the host computer. A hardware RAID uses a RAID controller which handles array duties thus there is no strain on the host computer's CPU and memory.

Applications Best Suited for RAID 5

Since RAID 5 offers better read performance than write performance, it is best suited for read-oriented applications such as web, intranet, and email servers. It could also be suited for databases as long as there is more reading than writing. With RAID 5, writes are slowed down because the array must write parity data to the disks.

Advantages and Disadvantages of RAID 5 Arrays

There are several advantages from a RAID 5 array. Since a RAID 5 writes parity data to each of the member disks, a RAID 5 can sustain the failure of one disk. The parity data allows the RAID to be recovered. Another advantage of RAID 5 is that it is fairly cost-effective considering the amount of fault tolerance it provides. Finally, RAID 5 offers a good rate of reads to the member disks. Some disadvantages of RAID 5 are that it offers slower writes as it must write parity data in addition to regular data. It can also be expensive to implement as it requires special hardware.

Conclusion

Overall, RAID 5 offers excellent fault tolerance without wasting drive space. It also offers a high read performance making it suitable for a wide variety of applications. More information about RAID 5 arrays can be found at RAID 5 Data Recovery.

This article can be freely published on a website however it must not be modified in any way including the author bylines, and the hyperlink must be made active as shown below.

Andrea Stone is employed with ReWave Hard Drive Recovery, a data recovery company serving clients in cities worldwide including Atlanta, Charlotte, Dallas, Durham, Greensboro, Houston, Jacksonville, Little Rock, Los Angeles, Memphis, Miami, Nashville, New Orleans, New York City, Orlando, Phoenix, Raleigh, Richmond, San Antonio, San Diego, Tampa, Virginia Beach, and Winston-Salem. Visit the ReWave Hard Drive Recovery website for more information about RAID recovery and data recovery.

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Comcast Provides Internet Access That Truly Is High Speed

Many different philosophies are based around the idea that the only thing that we can count on to be constant is change, and that idea certainly pertains to the development of technology. For example, it used to be that a dial up modem provided plenty of speed for downloading things from the Internet, but now the fastest kind of dial up modem that there is - the type that goes up to 56 kbps- is now pretty much a back up for what are classified as high speed Internet technologies.

Actually, the Internet has gotten so data intensive that whether or not some so called high speed Internet connection technologies can really be classified as such. For example, DSL technology is a huge leap above dial up in the sense that it's about ten times faster than dial up on average and is always on, but in many ways it still doesn't provide sufficient speed for what are becoming fairly normal Internet applications. About the only advantage that DSL has is that it's relatively cheap and it relies on phone lines so that it's available just about everywhere.

Satellite Internet technology is another option, but at up to 2 megabytes per second of download speed, it's not that much faster than DSL. It also has a built in lag time due to the distance that the signals have to travel from the Earth's surface up to satellites in geosynchronous orbit and back down again.

While this lag time isn't a problem for normal web surfing, downloads, and email; it does make VoIP applications difficult and will cause you to get your butt kicked in online multiplayer computer games. To make matters even worse, satellite Internet requires hundreds of dollars worth of equipment and costs about twice as much per month than any other type of technology!

With these two somewhat sorry options, it's a good thing that broadband cable high speed Internet service is available from some cable companies. Broadband cable technology is a good choice for high speed Internet for a huge number of reasons. First, its fast. With speeds of up to 8 megabytes per second- four times the most you could get out of satellite Internet- it truly is a high speed Internet connection technology. Plus it's extremely stable. Since the data travels through buried coaxial cables, it isn't subject to atmospheric interference like satellite Internet.

In addition to being faster than DSL, broadband cable high speed Internet technology has a number of other benefits as well. For one thing, it could provide you with an alternative to dealing with the phone company thanks to VoIP technology. VoIP services allow you to place phone calls over the Internet, thereby avoiding most long distance charges and possibly even having phone line altogether. DSL does have enough bandwidth to allow you to take advantage of VoIP services, but the fact that you need a phone line for DSL kind of defeats at least part of the point of taking advantage of VoIP.

Perhaps the best thing about broadband cable high speed Internet service is that it's also a great value. At about the same cost as DSL and half the cost of satellite Internet, its over four times faster than either.

Julia Hall writes articles for consumers who want to find the latest technonoly news. She has written for many major publications about High Speed Internet and Digital Cable TV and how buyers can find the best deals.

Let her show you how you can maximize your communications dollar without sacrificing quality and you'll find out that Comcast is the cable service provider of the future for you.

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