Enhancing Storage Performance with RAID Configurations

What is the RAID configuration level that provides increased performance using only two disks?

a. RAID 1

b. RAID 2

c. RAID 0

d. RAID 5

Answer:

The RAID configuration level that provides increased performance using only two disks is RAID 0.

RAID 0, known as striping, provides increased performance by splitting data across two disks but does not offer redundancy. RAID 1 offers redundancy without performance increase, while RAID 5, which needs at least three disks, offers both. RAID 2 is not common or practical for two-disk setups.

Explanation:

The RAID configuration that provides increased performance using only two disks is RAID 0. This level of RAID, known as striping, splits data across multiple disks, allowing reads and writes to occur simultaneously on each disk. This configuration essentially doubles the performance of a single disk on its own. However, it is important to note that RAID 0 does not provide any redundancy, meaning if one disk fails, all data is lost.

In contrast, RAID 1 (mirroring) writes the same data on two disks for redundancy but does not increase performance. RAID 5 requires at least three disks to provide both increased performance and redundancy through disk striping with parity. RAID 2 is not a commonly used configuration and relies on a bit-level striping with dedicated Hamming-code parity, which is not practical for just two disks.