RAID Types 0, 1, 5, 10 Explained: Pick the Right Setup for Your Next Server

When you spin up a new server deployment, “Which RAID type should I use?” is usually one of the first questions. The choice affects speed, stability, and how painful a disk failure will be. In this guide we’ll walk through the most common RAID types (0, 1, 5, 10) in simple language, so you can match them to real-world web hosting and dedicated server scenarios without guesswork.

By the end, you’ll know which RAID levels give you more speed, which ones protect your data, and which ones help you keep costs under control while staying online.

You’re about to deploy a new server. Coffee in hand, ISO ready. Then the installer asks: “Create RAID?” and throws a bunch of options at you: RAID 0, 1, 5, 10.

Let’s slow this down and walk through what each RAID type actually does, when to use it, and when to avoid it.

RAID 0 – All About Speed, Zero Mercy on Failure

What it does

RAID 0 takes two or more disks and stripes data across them. Think of it as splitting every file into chunks and spreading those chunks out evenly across all drives.

• More disks = more combined speed

• You get the full total capacity of all drives

• There is no redundancy at all

If one drive dies, the whole RAID 0 array is gone. Every file. Instantly.

When RAID 0 makes sense

Use RAID 0 when:

• You only care about raw speed

• The data is temporary or easy to recreate

• You already have solid backups somewhere else

Examples:

• Scratch space for video rendering

• Temporary build or cache servers

• Test environments where losing data is no big deal

For production web hosting, databases, or anything “mission critical,” RAID 0 is usually a bad idea. It’s like driving a race car with no seatbelt.

RAID 1 – Simple Mirroring for Important Data

What it does

RAID 1 mirrors your data between two disks. Everything written to disk is written twice:

• Two drives, both hold the same data

• If one drive fails, the other keeps working

• Reads can be faster (data can be read from either disk)

• Writes can be slower (data has to be written twice)

Sometimes a third disk is added as a hot spare. If one of the mirrored drives fails, the spare automatically steps in and rebuilds the mirror. That helps you avoid downtime.

Software RAID vs hardware RAID

• With software RAID, the operating system manages the mirroring, which can slow down writes a bit.

• With hardware RAID, a RAID controller manages the mirroring, often giving better write performance and taking load off the CPU.

When RAID 1 makes sense

RAID 1 is ideal when:

• Uptime is important

• Data is relatively small but critical

• You want something easy to understand and manage

Good use cases:

• Small but important databases

• Web hosting control panels and configs

• Small business servers where simplicity matters

In many “mission critical” scenarios, starting with RAID 1 is a very sane choice.

Before we go deeper, let’s be honest: building and tuning RAID by hand isn’t everyone’s idea of a fun afternoon. Sometimes you just want a fast, reliable dedicated server with the right RAID already done for you.

That’s where a good hosting provider makes a big difference. With the right platform, you can pick your location, choose SSDs, and get hardware RAID set up without babysitting disks or running long rebuilds yourself.

👉 See how GTHost gives you instant dedicated servers with hardware RAID ready to deploy in minutes

You spend less time staring at disk LEDs and more time running apps, databases, and actual workloads.

RAID 10 – Speed and Safety Working Together

What it does

RAID 10 (sometimes written as RAID 1+0) combines mirroring and striping:

• First, disks are paired into RAID 1 mirrors

• Then those mirrors are striped together like RAID 0

So you get:

• Speed from striping across multiple mirror pairs

• Fault tolerance because each pair is mirrored

• A minimum of four drives required

RAID 10 can survive multiple disk failures, as long as both disks in the same mirror pair don’t die at the same time.

Why people love RAID 10

• Very fast reads and writes

• Great for random I/O (databases, virtualization)

• Good resilience during disk failures and rebuilds

When RAID 10 makes sense

Choose RAID 10 when:

• You need both high speed and fault tolerance

• You’re running busy databases or lots of VMs

• You can afford more disks to get better performance and reliability

In many enterprise and high-traffic hosting environments, RAID 10 is the “default good answer.”

RAID 5 – Space-Efficient Redundancy with a Trade-Off

What it does

RAID 5 uses striping plus parity:

• You need at least three drives

• Data and parity information are spread across all disks

• If one drive fails, the array can rebuild the lost data from parity

The upside:

• You get more usable capacity than RAID 1 or RAID 10 for the same number of drives

• Reads are usually fast

• You still have fault tolerance if a single drive fails

The downside:

• Writes are slower because parity has to be calculated and written

• During a rebuild, performance can drop a lot

• Rebuilds on large drives can take a long time, which adds risk

When RAID 5 makes sense

RAID 5 is a fit when:

• Disk space is a priority

• You want fault tolerance but need to stay within a budget

• Workloads are more read-heavy than write-heavy

Typical use cases:

• File servers with mostly reads

• Backup or archive storage where performance is “nice to have”

• Some mission critical servers where capacity and cost are tight

For heavy write workloads (like busy transactional databases), RAID 10 is usually a safer choice than RAID 5 in modern dedicated server hosting.

Quick “Which RAID Should I Use?” Guide

If you just want a fast mental shortcut:

• RAID 0 – Maximum speed, zero protection
  Use only for temporary or non-critical data.
  
  

• RAID 1 – Simple redundancy
  Great for small but important workloads and straightforward high-availability setups.
  
  

• RAID 10 – High speed + high fault tolerance
  Ideal for production databases, virtualization nodes, and high-traffic hosting.
  
  

• RAID 5 – Good capacity + single-drive protection
  Works for read-heavy workloads and when budget and disk space are tight.
  
  

Whatever you pick, remember: RAID is not a backup. You still need off-server backups.

FAQ: RAID Types in Real Hosting Scenarios

Q: Does using RAID mean I can skip backups?
No. RAID protects you from a single disk failure. It does not protect you from accidental deletes, ransomware, corrupted data, or “oops, I dropped the entire database.” Always keep backup copies on separate storage.

Q: Which RAID type is best for a database server?
Most of the time, RAID 10 is the safest choice: fast reads, fast writes, and strong fault tolerance. RAID 1 can work for smaller, less busy databases. RAID 5 is usually not ideal for heavy transactional workloads due to slower writes and stressful rebuilds.

Q: Is software RAID good enough?
For many setups, yes. Modern software RAID is reliable and flexible. But when you want maximum performance and minimal CPU overhead, a good hardware RAID controller can help a lot, especially with RAID 10 and large arrays.

Q: What about SSDs, do I still need RAID?
SSDs are faster and often more reliable than spinning disks, but they still fail. Using RAID with SSDs gives you both speed and redundancy, which is why many hosting and cloud providers combine SSDs with RAID 1 or RAID 10.

Conclusion

Choosing between RAID 0, 1, 5, and 10 comes down to three things: how fast you need to be, how much downtime you can tolerate, and how much usable space you want for the price. Once you know whether speed, redundancy, or capacity matters more for your server deployment, matching the right RAID type becomes a lot easier.

If you’d rather focus on your applications instead of juggling disks, it’s worth looking at 👉 why GTHost is suitable for high‑performance RAID hosting scenarios — instant dedicated servers with hardware RAID, global locations, and fast setup mean your storage is stable, fast, and ready to go from day one.