ioSafe Duo User Manual
2.3 RAID Configuration
If you purchased the ioSafe Duo with pre-installed drives and you intend to use the default
RAID 1 mode, skip this section.
2.3.1 Introduction to RAID
A RAID (Redundant Array of Independent Disks) is an array of multiple data drives that
are combined in a way that provides faster performance or data safety. The ioSafe Duo is
capable of several RAID and RAID-like modes. Choose your preferred mode based on fac-
tors such as disk capacity, desired data safety, and desired performance.
ioSafe recommends that you use this product as a RAID 1 device. RAID 1 automatically maintains
an exact copy of all data stored on the Duo and protects you against the loss of a single drive. If
you purchased an ioSafe Duo with pre-installed drives, no additional steps are necessary to do
use it in this mode. The Duo works as a RAID 1 device right out of the box.
Supported RAID Modes
Mode Description
Required No.
of Drives
RAID 0
All drives are combined into one single volume and benefit from
increased read and write speeds at the cost of a higher risk of failure.
If one drive fails, the data on all drives is destroyed.
2
RAID 1
Known as mirroring. All data is replicated on two separate disks, so
only half of the combined disk capacity is available for data storage.
2
Supported RAID-Like Modes
Mode Description
Required No.
of Drives
JBOD
All drives are treated as individual volumes and will appear as sepa-
rate volumes in your operating system.
1
SPAN
All drives are combined into one single volume at the cost of a higher
risk of failure. It does not benefit from the same speed advantages
that RAID 0 does. If one drive fails, the data on all drives is destroyed.
2
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