Newbie RAID question

[AGampher]

Don't know which category this would fall into so I just plopped it here, hope you don't mind.

Maybe I'm just blind and stupid, but I can't find any "beginner" type information on just what RAID is. Is it a configuration, a piece of hardware, your mother-in-laws maiden name? :eh?:

Be a sport......Help a newbie

[Ridenow]

Welcome!
General hardware would be a good spot for this question, don't worry, William is always looking for posts to move. It will get there.

RAID: Redundant Array of Independant Drives.
It is a setup where 2 or more hard drives are used together. There are several ways to set them up with different benifits to each setup. The basic configurations are striping and mirroring.
Mirroring with 2 drives have both drives with the same data on them. If one drive dies the other has all your data. Replace the bad one and away you go. With striping the data is spread between the drives. The drives can be accessed at the same time so you can access the data faster. There are other configurations that are combinations of those basic 2.

(I know I skipped parity.)

[redduc900]

Originally posted by AGampher
Don't know which category this would fall into so I just plopped it here, hope you don't mind.

Maybe I'm just blind and stupid, but I can't find any "beginner" type information on just what RAID is. Is it a configuration, a piece of hardware, your mother-in-laws maiden name? :eh?:

Be a sport......Help a newbie

In addition to the excellent explanation of RAID that "Ridenow" gave, I would recommend giving the following articles a read...

A Word About Raid (http://www.lostcircuits.com/advice/raid.shtml)
Raid: Your Guide (http://www.pcmech.com/showdoc/296/)
Real World IDE Raid Explored (http://www.tech-report.com/reviews/2001q2/realraid/index.x?pg=1)
For Maximizing Performance in RAID-0 (Striped Mode) ONLY!!! (http://people.mw.mediaone.net/hobbesk/index.htm) This article refers to the KK266-R, but applies to any board that is going to be setup with a Raid array.
Storage Review (http://www.storagereview.com) Use the "Reference" link at the top of the page.
:burn:

[Daovonnaex]

This is one of the best written guides I've seen, so here you are:
http://www.uni-mainz.de/~neuffer/scsi/what_is_raid.html
Quick word about RAID from me: It's very expensive, and don't bother getting it if you don't plan to invest in the fastest hard drive technology (ultra2/wide SCSI, preferrably 15,000 RPM LVD). RAID ATA is a waste of money.