Server - NAS

RAID (Redundant Array of Independent Disks)

SHR (Synology Hybrid RAID)

Minimum HDD required : 2(with data protection)

Pros : 1 HDD redundancy & optimized volume size.Best used when combining hard disks of varying sizes.


SHR-2 (Synology Hybrid RAID)

Minimum HDD required : 4

Pros : 2 HDD redundancy & optimized volume size. Best used when combining hard disks of varying sizes.


RAID 0

Minimum HDD required : 2

Pros : Data is divided into equal shares and written into the hard disks. Data access is quicker and more efficient.

Cons : If one drive fails, all data is lost and you must restore from additional backup.


RAID 1

Minimum HDD required : 2

Pros : The same data is mirrored to all HDDs. If one drive fails, data integrity will not be affected.

Cons : The available volume is limited to the storage capacity of one HDD.


RAID 5

Minimum HDD required : 3

Pros : It offers 1 HDD redundancy. Data is striped across multiple disks with a parity check bit to the data. If one drive fails, the parity check bit will ensure data integrity.

Cons : The storage capacity of 1 drive is reserved for data integrity check and therefore slightly affects the available volume size.


RAID 6

Minimum HDD required : 4

Pros : It offers 2 HDD redundancy. Data is striped across multiple disks with a parity check bit to the data. The parity check bit ensures data integrity.

Cons : The storage capacity of 2 drives are reserved for data integrity check and therefore slightly affects the available volume size.


RAID 10

Minimum HDD required : 4, the number must be even

Pros : It offers the benefit of both RAID 0 and RAID 1 – data access efficiency and mirroring protection.

Cons : The available volume is half of the total HDD storage capacity.


Synology RAID F1

Minimum SSD required : 3

Pros : Designed for an array of SSDs, Synology RAID F1 provides one redundant SSD with a parity check to ensure data integrity and avoids all SSDs from being worn out simultaneously by reallocating parity bits within the array of SSDs.

Cons : RAID F1 will reserve one SSD for data integrity check, based on RAID 5 technology, and therefore affect the available volume size. Learn more about Synology RAID F1