Raid 5 Drive Calculator

RAID 5 Minimum Drives Formula:

\[ \text{MinDrives} = 3 \]

Minimum Drives for RAID 5:

Usable Capacity:

Parity Drives:

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1. What is a RAID 5 Drive Calculator?

Definition: This calculator determines the minimum drives required for RAID 5 configuration and calculates usable storage capacity.

Purpose: It helps IT professionals and system administrators plan their storage arrays with proper redundancy.

2. How Does the Calculator Work?

The calculator uses RAID 5 principles:

\[ \text{MinDrives} = 3 \] \[ \text{Usable Capacity} = (N - 1) \times \text{Drive Capacity} \]

Where:

\( N \) — Total number of drives in array
\( \text{MinDrives} \) — Minimum drives required for RAID 5 (3)
\( \text{Drive Capacity} \) — Capacity of individual drives

Explanation: RAID 5 requires at least 3 drives and provides single-drive fault tolerance by distributing parity across all drives.

3. Importance of RAID 5 Configuration

Details: Proper RAID 5 setup ensures data redundancy while maximizing usable storage capacity.

4. Using the Calculator

Tips: Enter the total number of drives (minimum 3) and individual drive capacity in TB. All values must be valid positive numbers.

5. Frequently Asked Questions (FAQ)

Q1: Why is the minimum 3 drives for RAID 5?
A: RAID 5 requires at least 3 drives - 2 for data striping and 1 for parity information.

Q2: What's the maximum number of drives in RAID 5?
A: While technically unlimited, practical limits exist (typically 16-32 drives) due to rebuild times and performance.

Q3: How does RAID 5 differ from RAID 6?
A: RAID 6 uses double parity (can survive 2 drive failures) but requires minimum 4 drives and has more overhead.

Q4: What happens if a drive fails in RAID 5?
A: The array continues operating in degraded mode until the failed drive is replaced and rebuilt.

Q5: Is RAID 5 suitable for SSD arrays?
A: While possible, RAID 5's write penalty makes it less ideal for SSDs compared to RAID 10 or other configurations.