Gateway 840 VT-100, User Manual

Page: 24 / 250

19
Understanding arrays
www.gateway.com
Understanding arrays
You can create an array at any time. The table below describes the drive
requirements for each RAID level.
Terminology
The following describes the terminology used when creating and managing
arrays.
RAID Level Minimum No. of Drives Maximum No. of Drives
0 1 12
1 2 12
5 3 12
50 6 12
10 (Mirrored) 4 12
Important Before you create more than one array, you must be sure
that your host operating system supports multiple Logical
Unit Numbers (LUNs). Most operating systems do support
multiple LUNs, or have an option for it. If your operating
system does not support multiple LUNs, the host will only
be able to see one array at the first disk LUN.
Term Description
Array A group of drives that are combined together to create a
single large storage area. Up to 64 arrays are supported,
each containing up to 12 drives per array. There is no limit
for the drive size in the arrays.
Chunk Size This is the amount of data that is written on a single drive
before the controller moves to the next drive in the stripe.
Stripe Size This is the number of data drives multiplied by the chunk
size.
Cache Flush Array This is the array that is used to automatically flush cache
data in the situation where power has failed to some of the
drives.