Redundant Array of Independent Disks, or RAID, is a way of keeping content on multiple hard drives simultaneously. A RAID can be software or hardware based on the HDDs that are used - physical or logical ones, yet what is common between them is the fact that they all work as just a single unit where data is saved. The key advantage of employing a RAID is redundancy as the info on all of the drives is exactly the same all the time, so even if a drive fails for some reason, the data will still be available on the other drives. The overall performance is also enhanced as the reading and writing processes could be split between different drives, so a single one will not be overloaded. There're different types of RAIDs where the effectiveness and fault tolerance may differ according to the specific setup - whether info is written on all the drives in real time or it is written on one drive and afterwards mirrored on another, the number of drives are used for the RAID, and so on.

RAID in Cloud Web Hosting

The disk drives that we employ for storage with our ground-breaking cloud Internet hosting platform are not the classic HDDs, but extremely fast solid-state drives (SSD). They function in RAID-Z - a special setup created for the ZFS file system that we employ. All of the content that you upload to the cloud web hosting account will be saved on multiple hard drives and at least 1 shall be employed as a parity disk. This is a special drive where a further bit is added to any content copied on it. If a disk in the RAID stops working, it will be replaced without any service disruptions and the data will be rebuilt on the new drive by recalculating its bits thanks to the data on the parity disk along with that on the other disks. This is done to ensure the integrity of the info and together with the real-time checksum verification which the ZFS file system performs on all drives, you will never have to concern yourself with losing any data no matter what.

RAID in Semi-dedicated Hosting

The SSD drives that are used for keeping any content uploaded to the semi-dedicated hosting accounts which we offer function in RAID-Z. This is a specific setup where one or more hard drives are used for parity i.e. the system will include an extra bit to any data duplicated on such a hard drive. If a disk fails and is replaced with a new one, what information will be cloned on the latter will be a combination calculated between the data on the other disks and that on the parity one. This is done to guarantee that the information on the new drive shall be accurate. During the process, the RAID will continue operating normally and the problematic drive won't impact the proper operation of your sites at all. Working with SSDs in RAID-Z is an impressive addition to the ZFS file system which runs on our cutting-edge cloud platform in terms of preserving the integrity of your files as ZFS uses special digital identifiers named checksums so as to prevent silent data corruption.

RAID in VPS Hosting

All virtual private server accounts that our company offers are generated on physical servers that take advantage of SSD drives functioning in RAID. At least one drive is intended for parity - one extra bit is added to the information copied on it and if a main disk fails, this bit makes it simpler to recalculate the bits of the files on the damaged disk drive so that the accurate data is recovered on the new drive included in the RAID. In the mean time, your websites will stay online because all the information will still load from at least one more disk drive. In the event that you add routine backups to your VPS package, a copy of the data will be saved on standard disk drives which also function in RAID because we would like to make certain that any type of content you upload will be protected all the time. Employing multiple hard drives in RAID for all the main and backup servers enables us to offer fast and reliable web hosting service.