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RAID 0 vs RAID 1: Differences & When to Use Each Level
By using RAID you can get better performance and data reliability
5 min. read
Published onOctober 23, 2023
published onOctober 23, 2023
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Key notes
There are different types of RAID each with its benefits and flaws, and in order to better understand them, in today’s guide we’ll take a closer look at RAID 0 vs RAID 1.
These two technologies use different principles, and we’ll analyze the speed and reliability of each system and help you find the right choice for you.
Advantages & disadvantages of RAID 0 & RAID 1
RAID 0
What is RAID 0?
RAID 0 is a storage virtualization technology that uses disk striping functionality to split the files into blocks and distribute them across all drives in the array.
Fault tolerance in RAID 0
By distributing files as blocks across multiple drives, it has zero fault tolerance. This means that if any drive in the RAID array fails, all blocks on that drive will become unrecoverable and they can’t be used to read or write files.
Benefits of using RAID 0
When to use RAID 0 vs. other levels?
RAID level 0 can be used in systems that require very high read and write speeds. It can be used for the following purposes:
RAID 1
What Is RAID 1?
Similarly to RAID 0, RAID 1 is a storage virtualization technology that uses a mirroring feature. Thanks to this feature, all data from a single drive is copied automatically to the second one.
Fault Tolerance in RAID 1
RAID 1 offers fault tolerance because it copies all data from a single disk to another one, so even if a drive failure occurs, you can continue using the second drive.
The only way for data loss to happen is for both drives to fail, which is pretty unlikely to occur. To make your data even safer, you can add an additional drive to RAID 1, so you can have two backups.
Benefits of Using RAID 1
When to use RAID 1 vs. other levels?
You should use RAID level 1 in systems that require data availability. Some of the main usage cases include:
Differences Between RAID 0 & RAID 1
Storage capacity differences
Disk failure differences
Which one should I use?
The RAID configuration depends primarily on your needs and whether you need performance or reliability:
Our choice would be RAID 1 since we prefer having a reliable backup, but if your configuration requires high read and write speeds, RAID 0 might be a better option.
This is everything you need to know about RAID 0 and RAID 1, and each of them has its benefits and drawbacks. As previously stated, we prefer RAID 1, and if you want to use it, we have a guide on how toconfigure RAID 1 on Windows 11.
You can also useexternal hard drives in RAID, but if this setup process seems too complicated, there is variousRAID softwareavailable that will make setting up RAID a breeze.
Have you ever used either of these RAID options? Share your experience with us in the comments section below.
More about the topics:backup,hard drive,storage
Milan Stanojevic
Windows Toubleshooting Expert
Milan has been enthusiastic about technology ever since his childhood days, and this led him to take interest in all PC-related technologies. He’s a PC enthusiast and he spends most of his time learning about computers and technology.
Before joining WindowsReport, he worked as a front-end web developer. Now, he’s one of the Troubleshooting experts in our worldwide team, specializing in Windows errors & software issues.
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Milan Stanojevic
Windows Toubleshooting Expert
Before joining WindowsReport, he worked as a front-end web developer. Now, he’s specialized in Windows errors & software issues.
