Raid 10 vs. Raid 5: Which Data Storage Solution Should You Choose?

Jack

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Raid 10 vs. Raid 5

Are you confused about which one to choose from Raid 10 and Raid 5? If yes, then know the answer here before you opt for the right configuration.

In this article, we are going to compare these two levels to determine which version will suit your data storage and server needs.

In the first place, we will define these levels separately and then move to a Raid 10 vs. Raid 5 comparison.

This guide will help you in choosing the right solution for your requirements. Also, look at the comparison chart of these two Raid levels in this article.

What do you mean by Raid 5?

Eventually, hard drivers on devoted servers fail. There is no getting about that fact. All levels of Raid, excluding Raid 0 mitigate the chance of data loss and downtime from a corrupted hard drive on a devoted server.

A Raid solution improves the I/O performance with momentous improvements to write and read speeds. Raid 0 is just employed for the I/O performance’s sake. This level doesn’t assist with redundancy as other levels of Raid do.

PS: Click here for the Raid 0 vs. Raid 1 comparison and why Windows 10 is so slow.

Raid 5 server is a fix designed especially as a storage one. Its configuration increases space by employing parity calculation for achieving the data striping. It means that if any of the hard drives fails, the system will not suffer a bit. In case two hard drives fail, then users are going to lose their data.

RAID 5

If you are wondering how it happens, keep on reading. There are three disks in the Raid 5 configuration. Suppose one of the hard drives fails, then Raid 5 works as a self-healer. This technology ensures that the data reconstruction starts immediately due to parity among the available spare disks.

As stated above, if two of these hard drives stop working simultaneously, your data will be lost, unfortunately.

Due to the striping, the Raid 5 configuration offers performance improvement twice for reading functions. However, you have to consider a few points before you opt for Raid 5. So, have a look at these issues now!

  • Raid 5 takes about a few days to rebuild large disks having a size over 2TB. The rebuilt period leaves the data at risk as the server is working hard to calculate missing data. When your server works hard, it runs very slow and even becomes unusable throughout the rebuilt time. So, you have to consider this thing while going for Raid 5.
  • If a URE (Uncorrectable Read Error) happens throughout the rebuild, then all your data is lost. One cannot recover this data, and thus, it is gone forever just because the array becomes corrupted due to the URE.

Advantages

  • Great balance of price, performance, storage efficiency, and fault-tolerance
  • Fast reads

Disadvantages

  • The slow recovery process from failure
  • Only tolerate the failure of a single drive

Having these risks at hand, Raid 5 is recommended for users who own smaller drives featuring low URE. Now, you get an idea about Raid 5; it is time to move on to the other one.

What do you mean by Raid 10?

Raid 10 is suited for hosting and production servers. This is because this array increases performance over space. Due to the strong balance of data security and performance, most commercial operations usually favor the Raid 10 solution.

This is the reason that Raid 10 turns out to be the reliable array for devoted server systems. If a website relies on the database heavily, Raid 10 will work better as compared to Raid 5 for you.

Raid 10 blends the characteristics of Raid 0 and Raid 1, having striping and mirroring. Here, striping enhances the I/O performance as it spreads data among several drives and disks. Also, mirroring guarantees data security.

RAID 10

It is worth noting that Raid 10, having four drives, can take two drives failure without data loss if the drives are not in a similar mirrored array.

In case you own eight drives in Raid 10, four drives can take failure without losing any data if the right drives die.

So, this is the main difference between Raid 10 vs. Raid 5 as with the Raid 5 array; if two drives fail, then the game is over, regardless of how many drives you own.

Users can visualize how any website featuring lots of database usage and queries will work better with Raid 10. Having four drives alone, the Raid 10 configuration would offer 2x write speed and 4x read speed gain.

Whereas, Raid 5, having three disks, would offer no write but 2x read speed gain.

Advantages

  • Fast writes and reads
  • Fast failure recovery
  • Better fault-tolerant than Raid 5

Disadvantages

  • Expensive because of inefficient storage

Raid 10 vs. Raid 5: Key Differences

Now, that you know what Raid 10 and Raid 5 mean, it is time to come to our Raid 10 vs. Raid 5 comparison. The key difference between the two is the procedure they follow for rebuilding the drives if one blows off.

Raid 10 will read the surviving ones and copy the content to a new drive that you will add to this array while replacing the corrupted drive.

However, Raid 5 will require users to go over each disk so as to calculate their missing content and recover the same. Then, it translates to an enormous I/O load that, in turn, maximizes the chances of a second disk corruption.

Moreover, this massive disk load could cause downtime because the drives write and read so much data, that other applications cannot write or read data for their operation.

In case, the load is not too overwhelming for the applications, the rebuilding process with Raid 5 takes much longer as compared to that on the Raid 10 configuration.

Remember, Raid 10 will stripe all the data on different drive groups and mirrors the data on the Raid array, where it creates a copy on every drive.

On the other hand, Raid 5 keeps your data over three drives equally in this array, which helps in increasing read performance.

A Redundant Array of Independent Disks (RAID) blends various physical drives into a virtual storage device, which provides more storage and fault tolerance so that the data could be recovered if any of the physical hard disks fail.

RAID configurations can be organized into levels like Raid 10, Raid 5, Raid 6, Raid 1, and Raid 0. Raid levels from 0 to 6 are considered to be the standard ones.

The most common configurations are Raid 0 (known for striping, where data is fragmented into blocks across diverse physical disks), Raid 1 (known for mirroring, where data copies are stored on distinct drives for redundancy), Raid 5 (known for distributed parity including striping and storing parity info), and Raid 6 (known for dual parity).

Raid 10 vs. Raid 5 Comparison Chart

Now, let’s have a quick glance at the features of Raid 10 and Raid 5 in the following Raid 10 vs. Raid 5 comparison chart.

FeaturesRaid 10Raid 5
Key FeatureMirror Striping: Blends mirroring and striping for performance and fault toleranceParity with Striping
StripingYes, split data evenly among disk groups. Every group owns two disks, which are set up as mirrored images. Thus, Raid 10 blends features of both Raid 1 and Raid 0Yes, striped data evenly among all Raid disks. Additionally, parity information is stored only one. Thus, recovering of data is possible if any drive fails
Fault tolerance, redundancy, and mirroringIts data mirroring feature makes it fault-tolerant. If a driver corrupts, data could be rebuilt quickly by copying it to other disksNo redundancy or mirroring. Here, fault tolerance could be achieved by measuring and saving parity information. It tolerates a single physical disk failure
PerformanceFast reads due to striping and also fast writes as every data block requires to be mirrored or written twice. Here, writes occur on two diverse drives for parallel occurrence. No need to calculate parity informationFast reads due to data striping across multiple physical disks. Here, writes are a bit slower due to parity information requires to be measured. Since parity is calculated, a disk does not turn to be a bottleneck
ApplicationsWhile performance is significant for writing and reads and also, it is significant for quick failure recoveryAn effective balance of decent performance, efficient storage, good security, and failure resistance. Perfect for application and file servers having a limited no. of hard drives
Minimum number of disks needed43
Parity diskChecksum and parity are not measured in the Raid 10 configurationParity information is distributed over all physical disks. If any disk corrupts, parity information is employed for recovering data stored on the drive
AdvantagesFast recovery data in case of the disk failureFault tolerance, fast reads, and inexpensive redundancy. Here, data could be accessed while the failed drive is being rebuilt
DisadvantagesDisk utilization is just 50%. Thus, it is inexpensive for obtaining storage redundancy compared to storing parity informationFailure recovery is slow due to parity calculations for restoring content and rebuilding the replacement disk. It’s possible to read from the Raid system, but read functions throughout that time could be quite slow.

Frequently Asked Questions on Raid 10 vs. Raid 5

Here, we have listed some of the most common questions asked by people on the Raid 10 vs. Raid 5 comparison. Have a look at these questions to know the answers to some common questions and get your query resolved within a minute.

The minimum number of drivers for Raid 10 is four, and for the Raid 5 array is 3.

The primary question that you need to ask is how significant are optimal performance and full redundancy. Raid 10 will be the best configuration to opt for each time if you are thinking of getting the best of these two features.

Yes, absolutely. Raid is not a kind of proper substitution for regular backups. Some Raid levels could assist in avoiding data loss just in case of a damaged drive; there are various scenarios in which damaged data could pass through the Raid and get written into all the drives comprising similar data.

An accurate backup refers to a copy of the data that is saved in a diverse location instead of your hard drives. The content in the backups would not be corrupted until you have taken the backup prior to the occurrence of the data corruption.

Raid 5 is a perfect selection for application and file servers with several data drives. With good performance, great security, and efficient storage, Raid 5 makes a solid system. This system maximizes space on the Raid array.

While Raid 5 or Raid 10 seem like great options for maximizing space, there are various other options like Raid 0, which is a great solution for storing non-critical content.

While choosing the Raid configuration, you need to make sure that you are selecting the right one. This is for maximizing the performance and protection boosts, that you are going to get out of the Raid technology.

In simpler words, Raid 10 increases performance over space, whereas Raid 5 increases storage.

Hopefully, this article helped in defining the differences between Raid 10 and Raid 5 levels. If you are still confused over Raid 10 vs. Raid 5 comparison, then post your queries or questions in the comment section below.

Jack
Jack

Ten years of experience in information and computer technology. Passionate about electronic devices, smartphones, computers, and modern technology.

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