RAID 10 is a combination of RAID 1 and RAID 0. Such array is RAID of the first level made of the zero level RAID, i.e. mirror made of stripes. RAID 10 continues to operate in case if one and sometimes even two disks fail. This array was created by specialists to ensure high reliability and high speed of data storage. Thanks to that RAID 10 recovery as compared to other types of RAID arrays is quite a rare procedure.RAID 10 array is a combination of zero level with first level, in other words it is two stripes united in a mirror. Minimum four drives are used in arrays of this type. In case of malfunction of a disk that is part of RAID 0 there is a chance that RAID 10 recovery will not be required because array may be fully operational. Naturally, in there is no sense to recover data from RAID 10 array in such case.
In case of problems, before starting RAID 10 recovery one shall make sure what the problem is – it may be disks or it may be controller.
In case of problems at the level of controller, our specialists determine which hard disk drives are pairs that constitute stripe. Main thing in such procedure is not to confuse drives because it will inadvertently lead to the absence of any result and, as a consequence, to the time waste. In view of that it is not recommended to recover RAID 10 by yourself because all the nuances of this procedure are known only to professionals. That is why if you use the services that our compeny offers, you may rest assured that RAID 10 recovery will be successful. After stripe pairs have been successfully identified, our experts take one of such pairs and take out all the information in a manner that is used to retrieve data from an independent zero level RAID.
During the operation of RAID 10 arrays it sometimes happens that two drives fail simultaneously. In that case the following options are possible:
- Both drives relate to the same stripe, controller correctly processes information, hence, array continues to function normally. RAID 10 recovery in this case is not necessary.
- Both drives relate to the same stripe, although RAID array simply collapses. In such situation our company’s experts take an operable stripe and perform data recovery from RAID 10 array through software integration.
- Drives relate to completely different stripes, although in one of such drives the first and in another the second disk is safe. In such situation our experts recover data from RAID 10 array through software integration of RAID 0.
- Failure of disks that relate to different stripes. In this case experts of our company perform RAID 10 data recovery in the following manner. First they repair or take out data in any other way from one of the failed drives and then they do software integration.
RAID 10 advantages are high performance and resiliency. Limited scaling, quite high cost and difficult recovery of RAID 10 arrays may be referred to disadvantages.
