RAID, or Redundant Array of Independent Disks, is a technology of storing data on a number hard disks that work together as a single logical unit. The drives can be physical or logical i.e. in the latter case a single drive is split into independent ones using virtualization software. In any case, identical information is saved on all of the drives and the basic benefit of using this type of a setup is that if a drive breaks down, the data shall still be available on the other ones. Having a RAID also boosts the overall performance as the input and output operations will be spread among a number of drives. There are several types of RAID dependant upon how many hard drives are used, whether writing is performed on all drives in real time or just on a single one, and how the information is synced between the drives - whether it's written in blocks on one drive after another or all of it is mirrored from one on the others. These factors show that the fault tolerance and the performance between the various RAID types can vary.

RAID in Cloud Web Hosting

The drives that we use for storage with our innovative cloud web hosting platform are not the traditional HDDs, but extremely fast NVMes. They operate in RAID-Z - a special setup intended for the ZFS file system which we work with. All the content that you upload to your cloud web hosting account will be stored on multiple hard disks and at least 1 shall be used as a parity disk. This is a special drive where an additional bit is included to any content copied on it. If a disk in the RAID fails, it'll be replaced without any service interruptions and the information will be rebuilt on the new drive by recalculating its bits thanks to the data on the parity disk plus that on the remaining disks. This is done so as to guarantee the integrity of the info and along with the real-time checksum authentication which the ZFS file system executes on all drives, you won't ever need to concern yourself with the loss of any information no matter what.

RAID in Semi-dedicated Hosting

The RAID type that we use for the cloud Internet hosting platform where your semi-dedicated hosting account shall be created is named RAID-Z. What is different about it is that at least 1 of the disks is employed as a parity drive. Put simply, whenever any data is cloned on this particular disk drive, one more bit is added to it and if a malfunctioning disk is replaced, the information that will be cloned on it is a combination of the data on the other hard drives in the RAID and that on the parity one. This is done to guarantee that your info is intact. Throughout this process, your websites will be working normally because RAID-Z makes it possible for a whole drive to fail without service disturbances and it simply uses one of the remaining ones as the main production drive. Using RAID-Z together with the ZFS file system which uses checksums to guarantee that no data shall get silently corrupted on our servers, you will never need to worry about the integrity of your files.

RAID in VPS

If you employ one of our virtual private server plans, any content which you upload will be stored on NVMe drives which function in RAID. At least a single drive is used for parity so as to guarantee the integrity of your data. In simple terms, this is a special drive where data is copied with one bit added to it. In the event that a disk in the RAID stops working, your websites will continue working and when a new disk substitutes the defective one, the bits of the information that will be copied on it are calculated using the healthy and the parity drives. This way, any possibility of corrupting data throughout the process is averted. We also employ standard hard drives that function in RAID for storing backup copies, so should you include this service to your VPS plan, your website content will be kept on multiple drives and you'll never have to worry about its integrity even in the event of multiple drive breakdowns.