The acronym RAID means Redundant Array of Independent (or Inexpensive) Disks. When originally developed at the University of California at Berkeley in 1987, the word was “Inexpensive,” referring to the fact that it was basically an array (or group) of relatively inexpensive disk drives grouped together in such a way that to the computer it appeared to be one very large (and thus very expensive) hard drive. Comparatively speaking, the cost of hard drives is now much less, so when you mention “RAID,” your colleague is most likely thinking “Redundant Array of Independent Disks.” Five levels of RAID were originally defined, each providing different trade-offs in features and performance.

   Why is RAID important?

There are two main purposes to RAID – a method of storing the same data in different areas (which is where the word “Redundant” comes in), and a way to speed up and stabilize your computer’s performance. Through trial and error, the Berkeley group developed different types of RAID that balanced the need for increased performance with the desire for more reliability in data storage.

One might think that with today’s high-speed and large capacity drives, RAID would no longer be relevant. However, transfer rates and capacity of current individual drives cannot keep pace with the continuingly increasing need for data storage capacity and high speed data access. RAID is still the best answer to the question of how to provide quick access to a lot of stored data at a reasonable cost, with the added plus of data protection.

RAID is not necessarily easy to install and maintain on your own computer system, but if you have ever had a hard drive crash, you know how costly in time and effort it is to restore the data on that hard drive. Our current web hosting packages include RAID protection on all servers so you will never have to worry about a hard drive crash.

   How will it help keep my site up?

Our RAID protection introduces the benefit of “mirroring,” or copying all of your data onto at least one another drive, perhaps even onto many other drives. This ensures that your data will be duplicated in whole on at least one other hard disk, so if data is lost in a disk failure, there is at least one extant copy immediately available resulting in absolutely no downtime.