RAID arrays form by far the most popular modern method of storing data.
Originally designed with two factors in mind; more reliable data storage (through redundancy – which does not apply to RAID 0 or spanned arrays) and an increase in throughput performance, i.e. far quicker operation than a single drive.
There are dozens of different RAID configurations, known as levels. The type of application, the storage requirement, scaleability, expandability and performance are all factors which will dictate the best RAID level to implement. RAID 30 for high-speed video editing, RAID 1 for metadata and log storage, and RAID 5 (possibly the most common level configured) for all-round use.
