RAID, or Redundant Array of Independent Disks, is a technology of keeping data on multiple hard disk drives that operate together as a single logical unit. The drives could be physical or logical i.e. in the second case a single drive is split into independent ones using virtualization software. In any case, identical info is saved on all drives and the main advantage of employing this type of a setup is that in case a drive stops working, the data will still be available on the other ones. Using a RAID also improves the performance as the input and output operations will be spread among a couple of drives. There are several types of RAID based on how many hard drives are used, whether writing is carried out on all drives in real time or just on a single one, and how the data is synced between the drives - whether it's written in blocks on one drive after another or it is mirrored from one on the others. These factors imply that the fault tolerance as well as the performance between the various RAID types can vary.

RAID in Shared Web Hosting

The SSD drives which our cutting-edge cloud hosting platform employs for storage work in RAID-Z. This kind of RAID is created to work with the ZFS file system which runs on the platform and it takes advantage of the so-called parity disk - a specific drive where data stored on the other drives is cloned with an additional bit added to it. In case one of the disks stops working, your Internet sites will continue working from the other ones and once we replace the bad one, the info that will be copied on it will be recovered from what is stored on the remaining drives together with the data from the parity disk. This is done so as to be able to recalculate the bits of each file correctly and to verify the integrity of the info cloned on the new drive. This is another level of security for the information which you upload to your shared web hosting account together with the ZFS file system that analyzes a unique digital fingerprint for each and every file on all of the disk drives in real time.

RAID in Semi-dedicated Hosting

The SSD drives which are used for keeping any site content uploaded to the semi-dedicated hosting accounts which we provide work in RAID-Z. This is a special setup where one or more hard drives are used for parity i.e. the system will add an extra bit to any data copied on this type of a disk drive. In case that a disk fails and is substituted with a new one, what data will be cloned on the latter shall be a combination calculated between the data on the remaining hard disks and that on the parity one. This is done to guarantee that the info on the new drive shall be accurate. Throughout the process, the RAID will continue working normally and the problematic drive will not have an impact on the adequate operation of your Internet sites at all. Working with SSDs in RAID-Z is a great addition to the ZFS file system which runs on our top-notch cloud platform in terms of preserving the integrity of your files because ZFS uses special digital identifiers identified as checksums to prevent silent data corruption.

RAID in VPS

In case you use one of our virtual private server solutions, any content which you upload will be kept on SSD drives that work in RAID. At least a single drive is used for parity to ensure the integrity of the info. In simple terms, this is a special drive where information is copied with one bit added to it. In the event that a disk in the RAID stops functioning, your websites will continue working and when a new disk replaces the defective one, the bits of the information that will be cloned on it are calculated by using the healthy and the parity drives. By doing this, any probability of corrupting data throughout the process is prevented. We also use conventional hard drives which work in RAID for storing backup copies, so should you add this service to your VPS plan, your content will be stored on multiple drives and you will never need to worry about its integrity even in the event of multiple drive breakdowns.