RAID 50 Setup
Raid 50 like a RAID 10, RAID 50 is a nested RAID configuration. It consists of striping RAID 0 over two or more RAID 5 arrays. RAID 50 gives an added performance boost over RAID 5 with the limitation of being twice as expensive (assuming two RAID 5 sets are being combined into a RAID 50). RAID 50 provides better performance than RAID 5 with limited loss in capacity. RAID 50 is able to achieve high data transfer rates as a result of the RAID 5 segments and good I/O rates for small requests due to the RAID 0 striping layered over the RAID 5 segments.
RAID 50 RECOVERY PROCESS
RAID 50 suffers from a similar intolerance as RAID 10 in terms of degradation of a member RAID 5 set. A failed member RAID 5 set, which can occur if two drives from within the same RAID 5 set fail, in a RAID 50 array will bring down the entire array resulting in loss of all data.
If a failed RAID 50 hard drive is not immediately replaced, the corresponding drives in its set could potentially fail, resulting in data loss. Most RAID 50 systems include a hot spare to prevent this type of occurrence, but data loss is always a possibility during rebuild procedures.
All RAID devices can have a higher-than-average chance of failure during rebuilds due to the relatively large amount of stress that the rebuild places on the RAID member disks. We regularly receive RAID failure cases entirely because of improper rebuilds. In some cases, RAID rebuilds failed due to hardware or software issues unrelated to the condition of the RAID member drives but it always results in a significant data loss.
Data Recovery Labs engineers have extensive experience with all nested drive configurations and manufacturers, including Areca, Synology, Dell, Promise Technology, Thecus and other. We have the facilities, tools, and expertise behind us to provide timely solutions for businesses and individuals to minimize any downtime associated with RAID 50 failure.