Raid 0 Vs Raid 1: Which Is Better?

RAID stands for the term redundant array of independent disks which is commonly used in science and technology fields.

RAID was initially defined as standing for redundant array of inexpensive disk, but now this is no longer the case as the term encompasses more.

RAID is the method in which many independent and small disks are combined to form a single storage which is typically big in size.

Raid 0 Vs Raid 1: Which Is Better?

This storage method uses many disks to create a fault tolerant storage capacity in a technological system.

Other reasons for its use are increasing storage capacity and attempting to improve the overall system performance considerably.

RAID disk drives have frequently been used on servers and aren’t a bare necessity for personal computers.

All the disks which are included in the array to create a RAID are named array members. Also, all disks can be assembled in a variety of ways.

The different ways in which disks can be combined and put in arrays are known as RAID levels.

All RAID levels have peculiar characteristics which differentiate them from other levels and arrays. Some of the differentiating characteristics between levels are dependent on:

The Fault Tolerance

The fault tolerance in this context can be referred to as the disks ability to survive one or many disk failures.

Performance

This characteristic of RAID indicates the speed of reading and writing of the entire array in comparison to a single disk.

The Capacity of the Array

This characteristic is calculated by the total amount of user data which can be written to the array.

However, the sizes of RAID member disks do not determine the array capacity, and as such, array capacity depends on the RAID level only.

Over the years, with the development and expansion of knowledge in science and technology, quite a variation of ways have cropped up and evolved into schemes which can be used to classify RAID.

Such schemes have been named levels. At first, there were just five RAID levels but as time passed other variations evolved into more notably non-standard levels and a great many nested levels.

The Storage Networking Industry Association as it is commonly called, SNIA, serves the purpose of standardizing RAID levels and data formats associated with them in the common RAID Disk Drive Format (DDF) standard.

Below is an extensive analysis of RAID 0 and RAID 1:

RAID 0

This level of RAID called RAID 0 is said to be made of striping which does not have mirroring or parity.

The overall capacity of a RAID 0 is usually the sum number of the capacities of the disks comprised of the total set. This is the same as with a spanned volume.

In this level, there is not any added redundancy which will enable it to handle disk failures which may occur in the long run.

In turn, this means the eventual failure of one or any number of disks will lead to the loss of a whole RAID 0 volume.

Also, the possibility of data recovery of RAID’s which fall under this level is marginally low.

The distribution of the contents of the files, which is done by stripping, is almost equal among all the disks in the set which makes a concurrent read and write operations on the disks unavoidable.

Thus it results in a huge improvement in performance. Such concurrent operations aid in making the throughput of most read and write operations it undergoes, equal to the throughput of just one disk multiplied by the number of disks.

The increased throughput is one of the major advantages of RAID 0, but it also presents its biggest disadvantage because it is at the cost of increased vulnerability to drive failures.

RAID 1

Another level of RAID is the RAID 1. It comprises of data mirroring, and unlike RAID 0, it is without parity or striping.

The data is written onto two separate but identical drives hence producing a mirroring set of drives.

It performs in such a way that any request read will be serviced by any of the drives in the set.

In the instance that a read request is broadcast and every drive in the set is the receiver, it will be accessed by a drive, and the one that does will be the one to service it.

This is one of the greatest advantages of RAID 1, which is that it has an improved performance because data can be accessed by either drive thus less time is consumed in data processing methods.

Another advantage is that the array continues operation as long as any one drive is still fully functional.

The major disadvantages of RAID 1 lie in its write throughput being slower because each drive must be updated and its slower pace drive will, in turn, hinder the write performance of the overall RAID.

Just as in the case of level RAID 0, the read throughput approaches the total of all drives comprised of in the set if the software or controller is optimized for it.

RAID 0 Vs RAID 1: What’s the Difference?

Which level is a better choice?

Bother the level RAID 0, and level RAID 1 have their unique uses. However, the choice of level can be chosen based on the purpose upon which you wish to use the drive.

Both RAID levels have good read performance, but RAID 0 has a much faster write performance which in most cases is usually preferred.

If you are looking for a way to safely process your data, then RAID 1 is a better option, but you should be willing to endure as you wait due to its slow writing performance. It is unlike its adversary RAID 0 which is the complete opposite.

RAID 0 is guaranteed to provide a full, all round performance but there is a higher chance of disk failure.

When disk failures occur, which is fairly frequent with most disk types, the possibility of getting a build up drive and recovering your lost data is relatively low in comparison to RAID 1.

Both RAID levels require the use of a minimum of two disks but as in the case of level RAID 1, both disks are given the same information and if one fails it is simply replaced, and no data is lost. On the other hand, this is not the case with RAID 0.

When a disk failure occurs, because the data is distributed via striping, no two disks retain the same information.

Subsequently, in the event of a disk failure, a disk is replaced, and all of the data on that disk will not be recovered. There will be no evidence of it on the other unaffected disks.

As outlined in the text above, it can be said that the RAID 0 is recommended when all an individual wants is a faster performance with large files and zero fault performance.

It is necessary, however, to consistently and frequently back up all data as the possibility of the drive suffering from a failure is relatively high.

In the case of RAID 1 level drives, it isn’t recommended if you wish to enjoy the privilege of faster performance when using large files.

Although in comparison to RAID 0, the possibility of disk failure is relatively low. Thus, RAID 1 does not require a regular backup of data as the risk of losing all the data is not as high.

What you decide to use depends on what you want and how large your files are.