RAID, which is short for Redundant Array of Independent Disks, is a software or hardware storage virtualization technology that allows a system to employ multiple hard drives as one single logical unit. To put it differently, all the drives are used as one and the data on all of them is the same. Such a configuration has 2 key advantages over using a single drive to save data - the first is redundancy, so in the event that one drive doesn't work, the info will be accessible through the others, and the second one is improved performance since the input/output, or reading/writing operations will be distributed among different drives. There're different RAID types depending on what amount of drives are employed, if reading and writing are both performed from all drives at the same time, whether data is written in blocks on one drive after another or is mirrored between drives in the same time, and many others. Based on the particular setup, the error tolerance and the performance could differ.

RAID in Hosting

The hard disks that we use for storage with our innovative cloud web hosting platform are not the classic HDDs, but quick NVMes. They operate in RAID-Z - a special setup created for the ZFS file system which we work with. All the content that you upload to your hosting account will be saved on multiple hard disks and at least 1 will be used as a parity disk. This is a specific drive where a further bit is included to any content copied on it. In the event that a disk in the RAID stops functioning, it will be changed with no service disturbances and the information will be recovered on the new drive by recalculating its bits thanks to the data on the parity disk plus that on the remaining disks. This is done in order to guarantee the integrity of the data and together with the real-time checksum authentication that the ZFS file system runs on all drives, you will never have to worry about losing any information no matter what.

RAID in Semi-dedicated Hosting

The information uploaded to any semi-dedicated hosting account is saved on NVMe drives which function in RAID-Z. One of the drives in such a setup is used for parity - any time data is copied on it, an additional bit is added. In case a disk turns out to be problematic, it will be removed from the RAID without interrupting the functioning of the websites because the data will load from the other drives, and when a new drive is added, the data that will be copied on it will be a mix between the data on the parity disk and data saved on the other hard disks in the RAID. This is done so as to guarantee that the data which is being copied is accurate, so the moment the new drive is rebuilt, it could be integrated into the RAID as a production one. This is an additional warranty for the integrity of your information as the ZFS file system which runs on our cloud web hosting platform compares a unique checksum of all the copies of the files on the separate drives so as to avoid any probability of silent data corruption.

RAID in VPS Hosting

In case you employ one of our virtual private server plans, any content which you upload will be kept on NVMe drives that work in RAID. At least 1 drive is used for parity so as to guarantee the integrity of your data. In simple terms, this is a special drive where info is copied with one bit added to it. If a disk in the RAID stops functioning, your Internet sites will continue working and when a new disk replaces the defective one, the bits of the info that will be copied on it are calculated using the healthy and the parity drives. That way, any potential for corrupting data throughout the process is avoided. We also use standard hard disk drives that work in RAID for storing backups, so should you include this service to your VPS package, your site content will be stored on multiple drives and you won't ever have to worry about its integrity even in the event of multiple drive breakdowns.