What is the purpose of RAID technology?

The purpose of RAID (Redundant Array of Independent Disks) technology is to combine multiple physical disks into a single logical unit to enhance either data redundancy or performance, or both. By utilizing various RAID levels, it can provide data protection against disk failures, thereby improving reliability and availability. For instance, certain configurations can mirror data across multiple disks, ensuring that if one disk fails, the data remains accessible from another disk. Alternatively, RAID can also be configured to stripe data across disks, which can greatly increase read and write speeds, benefiting applications that require high throughput. This dual focus on redundancy and performance makes RAID a critical technology in storage solutions for both personal and enterprise-level systems.