Vote of the day: RAID10 vs RAID6

[maestromasada]

Got a QNAP 8 x 2TB as a repository for Veeam, configured as RAID10 giving us 8TB of redundancy storage. For nearly a year of usage no problem, but I'm wondering now if I should configure it as RAID6, thus giving us 12TB of still redundancy space, 4TB more to backup that will come very handy

 

Should I be bother to reconfigure? I take it RADI6 will be slower to write, but considering the backup take place off production hours, who cares if it needs a few more hours to finished? I originally chose RAID10 as the word 'parity' give me the itch after a fight lost with some RAID5s. What would you do?

[snagrat]

If you need the space then I would go to RAID6

 

RAID10 would be a lot quicker but if you don't need speed....

[Guest Guest]

If you need the space then I would go to RAID6

 

RAID10 would be a lot quicker but if you don't need speed....

 

This. Pretty much general rule for me is raid 10 for production, raid 6 for backup.

[pcstru]

In your situation, the storage is a backup so I'd probably go Raid 6. Any production device would be Raid 10.

[wardsidjame]

Really depends in use and number of disks, for your need 6 would be fine.

 

I run an san which is capable of running raid 10 and 6, it runs over 24 drives and the performance in 10 although faster isn't required so we run it in production in raid 6, still have plenty of iops headroom based on this.

 

Storage is a tricky one, and is something that needs planning for the actual use, there simply isn't an answer to 10 or 6 as they both have merits, one should be used for this or that, you need to calculate your space requirements now and what they will be in 5 years time against budget, then calculate the iops that will be required now and also in 5 years time, allowing for spikes in performance (such as backup is all write). Then work out can the system support you in allowing for what you need now and your plans within the budget, sometimes it is better to load across more devices opposed to faster devices, spread load also = speed.

 

Long story short, a bit of time with a pen and paper and a calculator can save a lot of money and a load of time in the future.