RAID, or Redundant Array of Independent Disks, is a technology for storing data on several hard drives which function together as a single logical unit. The drives can be physical or logical i.e. in the latter case one single drive is divided into separate ones via virtualization software. In any case, exactly the same information is saved on all of the drives and the main benefit of using this kind of a setup is that in case a drive stops working, the data will remain available on the other ones. Employing a RAID also enhances the performance since the input and output operations will be spread among a number of drives. There are several types of RAID depending on how many hard disks are used, whether writing is carried out on all of the drives in real time or just on a single one, and how the information is synced between the hard drives - whether it's written in blocks on one drive after another or it is mirrored from one on the others. These factors show that the fault tolerance as well as the performance between the various RAID types could differ.
RAID in Shared Web Hosting
The hard disks that we use for storage with our top-notch cloud Internet hosting platform are not the standard HDDs, but high-speed NVMes. They work in RAID-Z - a special setup created for the ZFS file system that we work with. All of the content that you upload to your shared web hosting account will be kept on multiple hard disks and at least 1 will be employed as a parity disk. This is a special drive where an additional bit is added to any content copied on it. If a disk in the RAID stops functioning, it will be replaced without any service interruptions and the data will be rebuilt on the new drive by recalculating its bits using the data on the parity disk along with that on the other disks. This is done so as to guarantee the integrity of the data and together with the real-time checksum verification which the ZFS file system runs on all drives, you will never need to concern yourself with the loss of any data no matter what.
RAID in Semi-dedicated Hosting
The NVMe drives that are used for saving any website content uploaded to the semi-dedicated hosting accounts that we offer function in RAID-Z. This is a special setup where one or more drives are employed for parity i.e. the system will include an additional bit to any data duplicated on this kind of a drive. In case that a disk fails and is replaced with a new one, what data will be copied on the latter will be a combination calculated between the data on the other hard disks and that on the parity one. This is done to ensure that the data on the new drive will be accurate. Throughout the procedure, the RAID will continue functioning normally and the faulty drive won't impact the proper operation of your sites at all. Using NVMes in RAID-Z is a superb addition to the ZFS file system which runs on our advanced cloud platform with respect to preserving the integrity of your files because ZFS uses specific digital identifiers identified as checksums so as to avoid silent data corruption.
RAID in VPS Hosting
The NVMe drives that we use on the machines where we set up virtual private servers function in RAID to ensure that any content you upload will be available and intact all the time. At least one drive is employed for parity - one bit of data is added to any data cloned on it. In the event that a main drive stops working, it is replaced and the information which will be duplicated on it is calculated between the remaining drives and the parity one. That’s done to ensure that the required data is copied and that no file is corrupted since the new drive will be included in the RAID afterwards. We also use hard drives functioning in RAID on the backup servers, so in case you add this upgrade to your VPS package, you shall use an even more reliable Internet hosting service since your content will be available on multiple drives irrespective of any sort of sudden hardware malfunction.