Originally published July 24, 2023 by Tony Phung. Updated October 2026.
Why your RAID setup matters, in plain words
RAID (Redundant Array of Independent Disks) joins several drives so the server keeps working if one of them fails. The way the drives are joined affects both speed and safety. For a busy dental practice database, the choice is worth a few minutes of your time.
The common RAID types
- RAID 1 mirrors the same data onto two drives. It’s simple and reliable, and it’s a good fit for small jobs such as the drives that hold the operating system. It uses half of the total space, and it doesn’t add speed for heavy database writing.
- RAID 5 spreads data and protection information (called parity) across three or more drives. It survives one failed drive and gives more usable space. Every small write needs extra work to update the parity, so it can be slow for a database that saves constantly.
- RAID 6 is like RAID 5 with a second set of parity. It survives any two failed drives. It has the same extra work on small writes, and rebuilding after a failure takes longer.
- RAID 10 mirrors pairs of drives and then combines the pairs for speed. It needs at least four drives and gives up half of the space. In return it’s fast at the small, frequent writes a practice database makes, and it keeps working when a drive fails.
What we use, and why
RAID 10 is our recommendation for a clinic server. Chairside charting, scheduling and posting payments all write to the database all day, and RAID 10 handles that well. RAID 6 is our budget option. You get more usable space per dollar and it survives two drive failures, but writes are slower, and we explain that trade-off when we choose it. A small RAID 1 is fine for system drives.
One drive failing in RAID 10 doesn’t stop the clinic. If two drives fail in the same mirrored pair, the array is lost, which is one more reason to replace a failed drive quickly and to keep a spare.
RAID is not a backup
RAID protects you from a failed drive. It doesn’t protect you from a deleted file, a mistake, ransomware, a fire or a stolen server. You still need tested backups with a copy kept offsite.
Find out what your clinic runs on
If you aren’t sure which RAID your server uses, it’s easy to find out. We’re happy to take a look and explain it in plain words. There is no pressure and no jargon.
Contact or call (604) 813-7881 for a free consult with Tony.
