Redundant Array of Independent Disks, or RAID, is a method of keeping content on several hard disks at the same time. A RAID can be software or hardware based on the HDDs which are used - physical or logical ones, still what is common between them is that they all operate as one single unit where data is kept. The biggest advantage of employing a RAID is redundancy since the data on all the drives is exactly the same at all times, so even in case a drive fails for whatever reason, the information will still be present on the rest of the drives. The overall performance is enhanced as well since the reading and writing processes will be split between a number of drives, so a single one can't be overloaded. There're different sorts of RAIDs where the effectiveness and fault tolerance can vary based on the particular setup - whether data is written on all the drives real-time or it is written on one drive and then mirrored on another, what number of drives are used for the RAID, etc.

RAID in Cloud Web Hosting

The NVMe drives which our cutting-edge cloud hosting platform employs for storage work in RAID-Z. This type of RAID is created to work with the ZFS file system that runs on the platform and it takes advantage of the so-called parity disk - a specific drive where information saved on the other drives is cloned with an additional bit added to it. In the event that one of the disks stops working, your sites shall continue working from the other ones and after we replace the faulty one, the info that will be copied on it will be recovered from what is stored on the rest of the drives as well as the data from the parity disk. This is performed in order to be able to recalculate the bits of every file correctly and to confirm the integrity of the data cloned on the new drive. This is another level of security for the info you upload to your cloud web hosting account together with the ZFS file system which compares a unique digital fingerprint for every single file on all of the hard drives in real time.

RAID in Semi-dedicated Hosting

The RAID type which we use for the cloud web hosting platform where your semi-dedicated hosting account will be created is referred to as RAID-Z. What's different about it is that at least 1 of the disks is used as a parity drive. Put simply, whenever any data is copied on this special hard drive, one more bit is added to it and in the event that a malfunctioning disk is replaced, the info which will be duplicated on it is a combination of the data on the remaining hard drives in the RAID and that on the parity one. We do this to make sure that the data is intact. Throughout this process, your sites will be functioning normally as RAID-Z makes it possible for a whole drive to fail without any service disruptions and it simply works by using one of the remaining ones as the main production drive. Employing RAID-Z together with the ZFS file system that uses checksums to warrant that no data shall get silently corrupted on our servers, you will not need to worry about the integrity of your files.

RAID in VPS Hosting

In case you take advantage of one of our virtual private server solutions, any content which you upload will be stored on NVMe drives which work in RAID. At least a single drive is employed for parity to guarantee the integrity of the info. In simple terms, this is a special drive where data is copied with one bit added to it. In case a disk part of the RAID breaks down, your sites will continue working and when a new disk substitutes the faulty one, the bits of the data that will be duplicated on it are calculated using the healthy and the parity drives. By doing this, any possibility of corrupting data throughout the process is averted. We also use regular hard disk drives that function in RAID for storing backup copies, so in case you include this service to your VPS package, your website content will be kept on multiple drives and you won't ever need to worry about its integrity even in the event of multiple drive breakdowns.