RAID

ALSO CALLED: Array, R A I D Array, Storage Arrays, Arrays, RAID Array, Redundant Array of Inexpensive Disks, R A I D, Redundant Array of Independent Disks, Disk Arrays
DEFINITION: What is RAID?RAID (redundant array of independent disks; originally redundant array of inexpensive disks) is a way of storing the same data in different places (thus, redundantly) on multiple hard disks. By placing data on multiple disks, I/O (input/output) operations can overlap in a balanced way, improving performance. Since multiple disks increases the mean time between failures (MTBF), storing  … 
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RAID DEFINITION (continued): …  data redundantly also increases fault tolerance. Ask your RAID questions at ITKnowledgeExchange.comA RAID appears to the operating system to be a single logical hard disk. RAID employs the technique of disk striping, which involves partitioning each drive's storage space into units ranging from a sector (512 bytes) up to several megabytes. The stripes of all the disks are interleaved and addressed in order.In a single-user system where large records, such as medical or other scientific images, are stored, the stripes are typically set up to be small (perhaps 512 bytes) so that a single record … 
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