RAID Configuration Calculator

Calculate usable storage, parity overhead, and fault tolerance for various RAID levels.

RAID Level Guide

RAID 0 (Striping): Splits data across drives. High performance, but zero redundancy. If one drive fails, all data is lost.

RAID 1 (Mirroring): Exact copy of data on two or more drives. High redundancy, but you only get the capacity of one drive.

RAID 5 (Striping + Parity): Most common for servers. Needs at least 3 drives. Protects against 1 drive failure with efficient capacity use.

RAID 6 (Double Parity): Similar to RAID 5 but can survive two simultaneous drive failures. Requires at least 4 drives.

RAID 10 (1+0): A mirror of stripes. Best of both worlds (Speed + Safety) but requires at least 4 drives and cuts usable capacity by 50%.

SysAdmin Professional Tip

Always remember: RAID is for availability, not backup. Even with a RAID 6 setup, you still need an off-site backup strategy to protect against data corruption or site disasters.

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