How to set up RAID 5?

• Which RAID level do you require?
• What hardware is required to set up RAID 5?
• Configuration of the adapter

Mechanical devices such as hard drives are widely used for data storage. But when these disks fail, one can also lose data. To overcome this problem, there is RAID 5 providing both data storage and fault tolerance. But to take benefit of RAID, one must first set up RAID 5.

Which RAID level do you require?

To setup RAID, one must first decide one out of the various RAID levels. Level 5 is preferred by many for its low cost, high fault tolerance and considerably good performance. It does not contain a separate disk for storing the parity information. The parity information is striped with the data on all the disks in the RAID array.

It basically consists of at least 3 drives where the data storage capacity is of 2 disks while the rest is used up in parity. If out of these 3 drives, if one fail then the data on the failed drive is extracted by the parity information in the other drives.

What hardware is required to set up RAID 5?

• A RAID 5 controller: These are generally very high-end adapter cards. In some motherboards, there is a built-in controller whereas the others require a controller to be placed in the PSI slot of the computer.
• The number of drives: In this case 3 is an absolute necessary.
• Tool kit: It is required to open the screw and place the disk drives and the controller in the right place inside the computer. Installation of the controller
• Installation of the controller is a very easy process and is the first step to set up RAID 5.
• Just dissemble the computer to access its interior portion.
• Take the card out of its casing and then hold it around its edges to press it slightly on the PSI slot.
• Connect the three drives to the controller also and then reassemble your computer.

Configuration of the adapter

The process to configure RAID adapter will vary according to the adapter and how you set up RAID 5. Although the basic steps for adapter RAID configuration remains almost the same:

• A combination of such as Control-A or Control-R might be required for launching the set up RAID 5 program, which should be done during the boot up process. After the disk configuration, you will get an option to create the array.
• You will be asked to select a stripe size. It is the best to make it “default”. With a little toying around with this stripe size, the performance could be increased.

By successfully, completing this process one can set up RAID 5.