Advantages

• This is the least expensive option because it requires no additional hardware.
• This method has great flexibility in administration (because it's software-based).
• This method has the advantage of compatibility between all machines equipped with the same software (i.e. the same operating system)
 

Disadvantages

• The major drawback is that this method is based on the layer of abstraction between the hardware devices that make up the RAID volume and the operating system. For various reasons, this layer can be imperfect and miss some important functions such as detection and diagnosis of defects in materials and / or the assumption of spare storage units.
• The management of RAID monopolizes resources systems (mainly the CPU and the bus system) that could be used for other purposes.The reduction in performance due to the RAID management software is particularly high in configurations where the system has to write duplicates of the same data (e.g. RAID 1) but relatively low in configurations without data redundancy (e.g. RAID 0).
• The use of RAID on the disk system is not always possible. For example, it cannot be used on a hard drive that is used to store the operating system. This is because the operating system must be loaded before the RAID software can start up.

Advantages

• Its biggest advantage lies in its ability to store the operating system within the RAID array. Eecause it is BIOS-based, it allows the RAID software to be loaded before the operating system boots up.
• The RAID controller incorporates the same RAID management software which allows the upper layers of the operating system to access the RAID volume through it, but not the hard drives directly.
 

Disadvantages

• It has the same performance as that of software RAID because it is actually RAID software integrated within the SATA/IDE controller.
• An important problem posed by these hybrids is their poor management of defects and the limited options in their BIOS.
• Their level of integration is very bad, especially when one considers that they are generally part of many motherboards. To access the RAID settings, you have to go into their separate BIOS setup menu, for example.
• When you change the motherboard, you will need to rebuild the RAID array.
• The reliability of these RAID controllers is quite controversial.

Page

Topic

1

• Introduction
• Background

2

• RAID Types
• Software RAID
• Fake Hardware RAID

3

• Real Hardware RAID

4

• RAID Levels
• Common RAID Levels

5

• Uncommon RAID Levels

6

• Combined RAID Levels

7

• Special RAID Levels

8

• Hot Plug / Hot Swap
• Parting Words