Abstract; Introduction - HP 381513-B21 - Smart Array P800 Controller RAID Technology Brief

Abstract

RAID 6 with HP's patented Advanced Data Guarding (ADG) technology is a cost-effective solution for
storing large volumes of enterprise data with fault tolerance. Its performance, like that of other RAID
levels, depends on the nature of the application.
Organizations implementing a large drive array should consider RAID 6 because it can tolerate up to
two simultaneous drive failures without downtime or data loss. By differentiating among the available
RAID schemes, this paper provides information to help IT managers select the RAID scheme that will
best meet all the needs of their specific computing environment.

Introduction

An increasingly important IT challenge is finding cost-effective storage technologies to protect the data
that businesses amass as a result of e-business and traditional applications such as transaction
processing, enterprise resource planning, and decision analysis. An effective storage solution must
meet three very important needs: fault tolerance, efficient use of storage capacity, and high
performance. Organizations implementing a large storage array should consider an HP RAID 6
solution because it can tolerate up to two simultaneous drive failures without downtime or data loss.
This paper describes the functions and limitations of available RAID schemes for protecting data in
large storage systems. It describes the most important factors for consideration in choosing a storage
solution. By differentiating among the available RAID 1 schemes, this paper provides information to
help IT managers select the RAID scheme that will best meet all the needs of their specific computing
environment.
1 RAID is an acronym for redundant array of independent disks.
2