Hardware failure is not an exception, it is a normal process. I guess most of you would agree with this statement. The real case we have experienced a few weeks ago is worth to describe in our blog in order to remind you about the norm or normal process. The norm is obvious if we consider a hard disk failure. Hard disks are usually the number one case of failure events. This is the reason [...]

We can read many articles about the pros and cons of Solid State Drives. We may also hear opinions about them – from supporters and opponents of this technology… and can listen to the informational din. We can also leave the technical issues aside and look at it from the perspective of a market. Let’s just say this article won’t provide any answers – it will only ask new questions. The price and the prestige [...]

Here we are with the next part of our RAID series. This time the article will concern RAID 5, RAID 6 and two alternatives – RAID 5E and 5EE. Take a look… RAID 5 RAID 5 is one of the most popular implementations. It works almost the same as RAID 4 but with one difference. The parity bits are not recorded on a specifically prepared disk – they are dispersed throughout the matrix structure. What [...]

After RAID 0 and RAID 1 (with RAID 1+0 and RAID 0+1) it is time for RAID 2, 3 and 4. Here we present a small description of the mentioned levels. We hope it will outline a picture of the functionality of these solutions. Although the article is a kind of history lesson – these solutions are no longer used – it is good to be aware of the origins of modern storage technologies. RAID [...]

This is the second article from our RAID series. We hope it shows – in the easiest possible way – what RAID is, the idea of it and how it works.  We wrote about RAID 0. Now is the time for RAID 1, RAID 0+1 and RAID 1+0. What is RAID 1 RAID 1 (mirroring) – the basic idea of such a solution is the replication (mirroring) of two or more discs. It means that [...]

We published an article about RAID 5: “How does RAID 5 work? The Shortest and Easiest explanation ever” – now is the time for the whole series.  We will try to show you, in a few words, the shortest explanation for RAID standard levels – 0, 1, 1+0, 0+1, 2, 3, 4, 6 and Matrix.  Now is the time for RAID 0 – take a look… What is RAID 0 We can describe RAID 0 [...]

We all have limited time to study long and complicated information about RAID theories, but you may be interested as to how RAID 5 works. We made it simple for you by providing the shortest and easiest explanation ever. RAID 5 – how it works? First we need to remind you XOR definition: XOR function result is equal 1 if both arguments are different. XOR (0, 1) = 1 XOR (1, 0) = 1 XOR [...]