RAID, or Redundant Array of Independent Disks, is a technology of storing data on a number hard disks that work together as one single logical unit. The drives could be physical or logical i.e. in the aforementioned case one drive is divided into different ones using virtualization software. In any case, identical data is saved on all the drives and the basic benefit of using such a setup is that in case a drive stops working, the data shall still be available on the remaining ones. Having a RAID also enhances the overall performance because the input and output operations will be spread among a few drives. There are several kinds of RAID depending on how many hard disks are used, whether writing is done on all of the drives in real time or just on a single one, and how the information is synchronized between the hard drives - whether it is written in blocks on one drive after another or it is mirrored from one on the others. All these factors indicate that the error tolerance as well as the performance between the different RAID types may differ.

RAID in Website Hosting

The SSD drives that our cutting-edge cloud web hosting platform employs for storage function in RAID-Z. This sort of RAID is intended to work with the ZFS file system which runs on the platform and it uses the so-called parity disk - a special drive where information saved on the other drives is cloned with an additional bit added to it. In case one of the disks fails, your websites shall continue working from the other ones and once we replace the malfunctioning one, the info which will be duplicated on it will be rebuilt from what is stored on the remaining drives as well as the information from the parity disk. This is done in order to be able to recalculate the elements of each file properly and to confirm the integrity of the information duplicated on the new drive. This is one more level of security for the content that you upload to your website hosting account along with the ZFS file system that analyzes a unique digital fingerprint for each and every file on all of the hard drives in real time.

RAID in Semi-dedicated Hosting

The SSD drives that are used for storing any website content uploaded to the semi-dedicated hosting accounts that we provide work in RAID-Z. This is a specific configuration where one or more disk drives are employed for parity i.e. the system will include an additional bit to any data cloned on this type of a hard drive. In the event that a disk fails and is replaced with a new one, what information will be cloned on the latter shall be a mix calculated between the data on the other disks and that on the parity one. This is done to ensure that the data on the new drive shall be accurate. Throughout the procedure, the RAID will continue operating normally and the malfunctioning drive will not affect the adequate operation of your sites in any respect. Using SSDs in RAID-Z is a great addition to the ZFS file system which runs on our revolutionary cloud platform with regard to preserving the integrity of your files since ZFS uses special digital identifiers known as checksums so as to avoid silent data corruption.

RAID in VPS Hosting

If you employ one of our virtual private server solutions, any content that you upload will be saved on SSD drives that work in RAID. At least one drive is intended for parity so as to ensure the integrity of your info. In simple terms, this is a special drive where info is copied with one bit added to it. In the event that a disk from the RAID stops working, your websites will continue working and when a new disk takes the place of the defective one, the bits of the information that will be cloned on it are calculated by using the healthy and the parity drives. This way, any probability of corrupting data throughout the process is prevented. We also use standard hard disks that operate in RAID for storing backup copies, so should you include this service to your VPS package, your website content will be stored on multiple drives and you'll never need to worry about its integrity even in the event of multiple drive failures.