Comparing Different Implementations of RAID Levels

The following tables show the advantages and disadvantages to using the various implementations of RAID (redundant array of independent disks).

RAID implementation	Advantage	Disadvantage
Microsoft Windows 2000 or later RAID-5 volumes	No added hardware cost.	Uses system processing resources.
Hardware-based striping	Does not compete for processor cycles. Best performance of all RAID implementations.	Additional cost of specialized hardware.

RAID solutions that are typically used with SQL Server 2005 provide varying levels of redundancy and fault tolerance.

RAID implementation	Advantage	Disadvantage
Hardware-based RAID 3, 5, or 10	Excellent performance. Does not compete for processor cycles.	Cost.
Hardware-based RAID 1	Excellent redundancy. Does not compete for processor cycles.	Additional cost because of more hardware.
Hardware-based RAID 10	Excellent performance. Excellent redundancy.	Additional cost because of more hardware.
Windows 2000 or later mirrored volumes	Good redundancy. Low cost.	Uses system processing resources.
Windows 2000-based RAID 5	Excellent read performance. Low cost.	Uses system processing resources.

See Also