Which is better, RAID 6 or RAID 10? This article may help you understand the difference between RAID 6 and RAID 10.

Introduction of RAID 6 vs RAID 10

RAID is a redundant array of inexpensive disks. It is used to store data redundantly (multiple copies of the same data are stored on multiple disks) so that the data can still be accessed from the other disks if one disk fails. A RAID can be implemented with either hardware or software, but hardware RAIDs are generally faster and more reliable.

RAID 6 is a popular storage configuration that uses parity data to create a fault-tolerant array. Parity data is used to reconstruct the array if one of the drives fails. RAID 6 is a data storage virtualization technology that combines disk striping with parity. RAID 6 requires a minimum of four disks and provides fault tolerance for up to two failed drives.

RAID 6 is well suited for applications that require high data availability and can tolerate a lower write performance, such as video editing, medical imaging, and financial databases. The key advantage of RAID 6 over other RAID levels is its ability to continue functioning even if two drives fail. This is because RAID 6 writes data to two drives and uses a parity algorithm to calculate the parity blocks for each stripe.

If one drive fails, the data can be reconstructed from the remaining data and parity blocks. If two drives fail, the data can be reconstructed from the remaining data and parity blocks, but the process is much slower. RAID 6 is a good choice for data storage virtualization when data availability is more important than write performance.

RAID 10 uses a combination of RAID 0 and RAID 1. RAID 0 means striping across all disks. RAID 1 means mirroring across all disks. The advantage of using RAID 10 is that it can provide increased data protection. RAID 10 requires at least four hard drives. Two of the drives are used for the RAID 1 array, and the other two drives are used for the RAID 0 array. So, if one of the drives in the RAID 1 array fails, the data is still safe. RAID 10 increases reliability and performance compared to RAID 6. This provides a higher level of data protection and performance than either RAID 1 or RAID 0 alone.

The performance of RAID 10 depends on the number of drives used. The more drives that are used, the higher the level of parallelism and the greater the potential throughput. RAID 10 is well suited for applications requiring high data protection and performance levels, such as database servers, e-commerce servers, and media servers.

Conclusion: The above article discussed RAID 6 vs RAID 10 in detail. This post may assist you in making a decision if you aren't sure which one to use. When planning for RAID level, it is also important to consider your budget, capacity, read/write speeds, and rebuilding/recovery time.

That’s it.