RAID (Redundant Array of Independent/Inexpensive Disks/Devices)

Definition: RAID (Redundant Array of Independent/Inexpensive Disks/Devices): A method of providing data redundancy, improved performance and/or quick data recoverability from disk crashes, by spreading or duplicating data across multiple disk drives. Commonly used RAID types include RAID 0 (Data Striping), RAID 1 (Disk Mirroring) and RAID 5 (Striping with Distributed Parity). RAID configurations typically require SCSI disk drives (not IDE/EIDE) and may require identical drives (same capacity, brand, etc.). RAID arrays appear to the operating system as a single device. From I-gloss

* Linux/Unix/Computing Glossary