Nvidia 4 - Manual (Page 9)

NVIDIA Corporation 5
C HAPTER 1
About NVIDIA® MediaShield™
RAID 0
How RAID 0 Works
In a RAID 0 array, the controller ʺstripesʺ data across multiple drives in the RAID
subsystem. RAID 0 breaks up a large file into smaller blocks and then performs disk reads
and writes across multiple drives in parallel. The size of each block is determined by the
stripe size parameter, which you set during the creation of the RAID 0 set. Performance of
applications running with a RAID 0 can vary greatly depending on the stripe size
configured when creating the array. The default stripe size is 64K, but 32K or 16K may be
more efficient if the application issues many smaller I/O operations. Some amount of trial
and error may be appropriate to find the optimum stripe size.
Figure 1.1 RAID 0 Array Diagram
RAID 0 is ideal for applications that require high bandwidth but do not require fault
tolerance. RAID 0 has the best performance and capacity of any RAID level, but the lowest
availability (no fault tolerance). If one drive fails, the entire array fails because part of the
data is missing with no way to recover it other than restoring from a backup.
Summary of Features and Benefits
• Benefits: Provides increased data throughput, especially for large files.
• Drawbacks: No fault tolerance—all data is lost if any drive in the array fails.
• Uses: Intended for non-critical data requiring high data throughput, or any
environment that does not require fault tolerance.
• Drives: Minimum: 1. Maximum: Up to 8, depending on the platform.
• Fault Tolerance: No.