What is RAID 60?
RAID 60 is a type of RAID (Redundant Array of Independent Disks) configuration that combines two RAID 6 arrays in a RAID 0 array for increased performance and fault tolerance. Also called “RAID 6 + 0,” RAID 60 stripes data (RAID 0) across multiple RAID 6 configurations. Typically offering better performance than RAID 6 or RAID 10, RAID 60 provides data redundancy and fault tolerance using dual parity like RAID 6, while also utilizing disk striping like RAID 0 for increased speed.
RAID 60 requires a minimum of 8 disks arranged into two separate RAID 6 arrays which are then striped using RAID 0. This provides protection against up to two disk failures in each RAID 6 array. If more than two disks fail in a single RAID 6 array, all data will be lost. However, a single disk failure in each RAID 6 array can be tolerated without data loss.
The pros of RAID 60 compared to other RAID levels include better read performance than RAID 6 or RAID 10 and better rebuild times than RAID 50. The cons are higher cost than RAID 6 and lower performance for small reads compared to RAID 10. Overall, RAID 60 provides a balance of performance, redundancy, and rebuild efficiency for mission critical data.
Sources:
https://www.pcmag.com/encyclopedia/term/raid-60
When to Use RAID 60
RAID 60 is best suited for environments that require both high capacity and redundancy for critical data. The key advantage of RAID 60 is that it provides double distributed parity, meaning the array can survive up to two disk failures without data loss. This makes RAID 60 a good choice for mission-critical applications where downtime is unacceptable.
The tradeoff with RAID 60 is complexity and cost. At minimum, a RAID 60 array requires 8 drives, making it practical only for larger storage environments. The dual parity also comes at a write penalty, reducing overall performance compared to RAID 10 or RAID 50. So RAID 60 works best for large storage pools where reliability trumps speed.
When considering RAID 60, budget is a key factor. The high disk requirements mean increased hardware costs compared to other RAID levels. RAID 60 is really only cost-effective for large arrays where the redundancy provides sufficient value to justify the expense. For smaller deployments, the cost of RAID 60 may be prohibitive.
In summary, the core use cases for RAID 60 are critical, high-capacity data storage and archival systems where redundancy is paramount, performance is secondary, and budget accommodates the high disk overhead.[1]
RAID 60 Setup
RAID 60 requires a minimum of 8 drives to implement. The drives are configured into two separate RAID 6 groups with at least 4 drives in each group. This provides two parity drives per group for redundancy.
To set up RAID 60 on a hardware RAID controller, follow these steps:
- Open the RAID configuration utility in the controller BIOS or management interface.
- Select the drives you want to use for the array. You will need at least 8.
- Create the first RAID 6 drive group with 4 of the drives. This will use 2 drives for parity.
- Create the second identical RAID 6 drive group with the remaining 4 drives.
- Select the option to combine/span the two RAID 6 groups into a single array.
- Initialize and format the array.
The process may vary slightly between different RAID controller brands. Refer to your controller’s documentation for the exact steps.
On software RAID solutions like Windows Storage Spaces, you can also configure RAID 60 by first creating two mirrored spaces, then combining them into a spanned volume.
Always back up important data before creating a new RAID array.
RAID 60 Performance
RAID 60 offers excellent read and write speeds due to the striping and distribution of data across multiple drives. The exact performance depends on the number and speed of the drives used, but in general RAID 60 provides faster speeds than RAID 5 or RAID 10.
A typical 8-drive RAID 60 setup with 7200 RPM SATA drives can achieve sequential read speeds over 1000 MB/s and sequential write speeds of 800-900 MB/s. Random read and write speeds will be lower but still reach into the tens of thousands of IOPS.
RAID 60 read speeds match RAID 10 since both use striping, but RAID 60 write speeds are slower due to the dual parity calculation. Compared to RAID 5, RAID 60 has significantly faster read and write speeds due to the multiple drive striping.
Overall latency is also excellent with RAID 60, averaging 1-2 ms for reads and 2-3 ms for writes. Again this is faster than RAID 5 but slightly higher than RAID 10.
In summary, RAID 60 offers a great balance of speed and redundancy. Performance is much better than RAID 5 and close to RAID 10 speeds, while redundancy is higher than both.
RAID 60 Reliability
RAID 60 provides excellent reliability and tolerance for drive failures due to its multi-layered redundancy approach. With RAID 60, data is striped across disks and two parity drives are used to provide fault tolerance, similar to RAID 6. However, the disks are also mirrored, providing an additional layer of redundancy like with RAID 10. This means that RAID 60 can withstand multiple drive failures, up to two drives per RAID 6 set, without losing data. According to one study, RAID 60 can provide up to 99.999% data reliability in an 8-drive array (Khomonenko, 2007).
Rebuild times with RAID 60 will be longer than with RAID 10 or RAID 50 since parity needs to be recalculated twice. However, rebuild times are still better than RAID 6 as each RAID 6 set is only using a subset of the total disks. Overall, RAID 60 provides excellent resilience for critical data at the cost of some performance overhead for rebuilds (DRSDataRecovery, n.d.).
References:
Khomonenko, A. D. (2007). Reliability Model of RAID-60 Disk Arrays. IVD – Mechanics, Automation, Control, 2007(12), 27–31. http://www.ivdon.ru/uploads/article/pdf/IVD_27__12_AbuKhasan_Khomonenko_Ermakov.pdf_f0703cec56.pdf
DRSDataRecovery. (n.d.). What is RAID 60? Exploring the Advantages of RAID 60. Reliability, Performance, and Peace of Mind. Twitter. Retrieved February 28, 2023, from https://twitter.com/DRSDataRecovery
RAID 60 vs. RAID 10
When comparing RAID 60 and RAID 10, there are a few key differences to consider in terms of capacity, performance, and cost:
Capacity – With the same number of disks, RAID 10 provides less overall capacity than RAID 60. For example, with 6 disks, RAID 10 would provide the capacity of 3 disks, while RAID 60 provides the capacity of 5 disks. This is because RAID 10 mirrors and stripes data across disks, while RAID 60 stripes and then mirrors the stripes.[1]
Performance – RAID 10 generally has better read/write performance compared to RAID 60. Writes in particular on RAID 60 can be slower due to the double parity calculation. However, real-world differences may not always be noticeable.[2]
Cost – RAID 10 has a lower overall storage cost compared to RAID 60 for the same capacity, since fewer disks are required. However, RAID 60 provides more usable capacity per disk. So from a cost per GB perspective, RAID 60 can be more efficient.[3]
In summary, RAID 10 is preferable when capacity and performance are top priorities, while RAID 60 offers greater overall capacity and efficiency, though slightly lower performance.
RAID 60 vs. RAID 50
One key difference between RAID 60 and RAID 50 is rebuild times. RAID 60 can recover from multiple drive failures more quickly than RAID 50. This is because RAID 60 spreads parity information across the array, while RAID 50 localizes parity to RAID 5 groups.
For example, let’s say you have a 12-drive array with 2 drive failures. For RAID 60, parity calculations are distributed across the array, allowing for faster rebuilds. With RAID 50, the affected RAID 5 group has to rebuild completely before the second failed drive can start rebuilding, taking longer (Source: https://juejin.cn/s/raid%2050%20vs%20raid%2060%20performance).
RAID 60 also provides higher IOPS (input/output operations per second) than RAID 50 in most scenarios. Because RAID 60 splits data evenly across all drives, it can fully utilize the performance of every disk. RAID 50 is limited by the IOPS of the RAID 5 groups. So with more drives, RAID 60 pulls ahead in throughput (Source: https://www.mcgm.gov.in/irj/servlet/prt/portal/prtroot/com.mcgm.AnonymousLanguageSwitch.ChangeLanguage?language=English&cURL=https://%D0%B2%D0%BB%D0%B0%D1%81%D1%82%D1%8C43.%D1%80%D1%84/m5xCyLuM10ny80).
RAID 60 Cost
RAID 60 has higher hardware costs compared to other RAID configurations due to the number of drives required. A minimum of 8 drives is needed for RAID 60, though most implementations use more drives. This large drive count contributes to the overall storage cost.
In addition to the drives, a RAID controller capable of supporting RAID 60 is required. The controller should have enough ports and processing power to manage the multiple drive configuration. Higher-end RAID controllers that support RAID 60 tend to be more expensive than basic controllers.
According to one analysis, RAID 60 had total storage costs approximately 2 times higher than RAID 10 and 4 times higher than RAID 5 (Citation). The tradeoff for this increased cost is greater data protection through double distributed parity.
When evaluating RAID 60 cost, the drive requirements and advanced RAID controller needs should be taken into account. While not the most cost-efficient option, the enhanced reliability of RAID 60 may justify the higher hardware expenses for mission-critical storage.
RAID 60 Applications
RAID 60 is well-suited for mission-critical, high-capacity storage systems that require both high performance and redundancy. Some common use cases where RAID 60 shines include:
Database servers – Databases often require fast I/O performance and the ability to withstand multiple disk failures. The combination of striping and double distributed parity in RAID 60 provides speed and resilience for database applications. https://www.microsemi.com/product-directory/raid-controllers/4047-raid-levels
Business-critical file servers – For organizations that need to protect irreplaceable data, the redundancy of RAID 60 provides an extra safeguard against data loss. Even if multiple disks fail, a RAID 60 array can continue operating. https://drivesaversdatarecovery.com/data-recovery-services/devices-supported/raid-nas-san/raid-60-data-recovery/
Large-scale virtualization – The performance and capacity of RAID 60 makes it well-suited for hosting many virtual machines with minimal latency. The redundancy also ensures virtual machine availability.
Media editing – For video production teams working with very large media files, RAID 60 provides fast scratch disks to edit high-resolution footage smoothly. The redundancy also protects in-progress work from drive failures.
Backup repositories – RAID 60’s fault tolerance allows it to serve as a reliable backup target that can withstand drive failures without data loss.
Alternatives to RAID 60
While RAID 60 offers excellent performance and redundancy for large arrays, there are other RAID configurations that may be better suited depending on your specific needs.
Some alternatives to consider include:
RAID 10
RAID 10 provides performance similar to RAID 0 by striping data across drives, while also duplicating data like RAID 1 for redundancy. RAID 10 requires a minimum of 4 drives. The pros are very high performance and the ability to tolerate multiple drive failures. The cons are lower overall capacity compared to RAID 60.
RAID 50
RAID 50 stripes data across multiple RAID 5 arrays, providing performance improvements over a single RAID 5 array. It requires a minimum of 6 drives. The pros are good performance and the ability to recover from a single drive failure per RAID 5 set. The cons are lower redundancy compared to RAID 60.
JBOD (Just a Bunch of Disks)
JBOD simply aggregates multiple physical drives into a single logical volume. The pros are flexibility and maximum overall capacity. The cons are no redundancy or performance improvements.
When evaluating alternatives, consider your performance, capacity, and redundancy needs to determine the right RAID level.