RAID 0, 5, 6, 10 Performance: All You Wanted to Know
Here you will find out:
- RAID performance and its main components
- RAID 0, 5, 6, 10 and their ratio
- when DiskInternals can help you
Are you ready? Let's read!
RAID performance and its main components
When creating arrays, you primarily hope for good performance. Indeed, performance at any level is decent. But there are several conditions and circumstances that in one way or another can affect performance.
So, first things first: the main components of an array are read and write speed. And if the read speed at all levels of the array is high enough, then the write speed can maneuver.
It should be understood that array performance is separate from the performance of the entire storage system. Good array performance can slow down the memory cache, although it will not bring significant damage to the array.
Another factor that affects performance is the correct implementation of the array. That is, if the parameters of the array are not configured correctly, then the array may not work at full capacity or even become unusable.
Thus, you need to understand that array performance is a variable that can be affected by various factors.
RAID performance in the reading and writing process
In order to select the correct array that is right for you, you need to know what operations will be a priority: write or read procedures. Indeed, some RAID arrays will be used to a greater extent for reading operations, others more for write procedures, and some are intended for mixed operations (even then, some kind of operations will be used more often).
Thus, knowing your preferences, you can choose the best option and the best performance.
In order to understand and calculate performance, you need two numbers (RIOPS and WIOPS), or a combination of them (IOPS). Most often, you can find go with an 80/20 ratio, meaning it will be (RIOPS * .8) + (WIOPS * .2). Or you can go with an 60/40 ratio, or (RIOPS * .6) + (WIOPS * .4).
RAID 0, 5, 6, 10 and their ratio
RAID 0, in terms of performance, will be the best option, as it has the best performance among all arrays. Here is how it looks with an example of 6 disks in an array: there are 8 disks and 125 IOPS. Multiply them together and you will get: 8 * 125 = 1 000. The read and write speeds are equal here, so we get 1 000 RIOPS, 1 000 WIOPS, and 1 000 of any combination of them.
RAID 10 is also a high-performance array, but the write speed here is half as much as in the previous version of RAID (because it uses a strip of mirror sets).
RAID 5 is still quite often used, but there are other arrays significantly superior to it in all respects. Here the formula for calculating the performance will be NX / 4 (where N = the number of disks and X = the IOPS). If you had 8 disks and 125 IOPS, the calculation would be: (8 * 125) / 4. In a 50/50 ratio, this would lead to 625 mixed IOPS.
RAID 6 is a great replacement for RAID 5 because it is much safer. However, performance (namely write speed) is poor. Since any write operation requires the disks to read data, read the first parity, then the second, and so on, it also writes this data sequentially.
To be extremely careful, there are online calculators that can help you calculate the speed of a RAID array. If necessary, you can safely use them.
RAID 0, 5, 6, 10 array data recovery
If you use RAID 0, you can recover any data using the universal DiskInternals Uneraser application.
In all other cases, you need a specially designed application for recovering arrays: DiskInternals RAID Recovery. It quickly and also automatically determines the level of the array and its main characteristics and then restores all possible files. You can also use the Recovery Wizard if you do not have enough knowledge in this area.
Follow the instructions for DiskInternals RAID Recovery to correctly complete all recovery steps.
Download the application and install it on your computer.
Connect all disks of the array to the computer as independent disks.
Launch the application and open the Recovery Wizard.
The program will automatically detect the disks.
Open the logical disk, which is contained in the section of the list of disks from the RAID disk.
Perform a scan, then view the data for free.
Save them in the right place using the Export Wizard.