Best fit
RAID 5
Arrays where one-drive tolerance and higher usable capacity fit the risk and recovery plan.
- • Single-drive fault tolerance.
- • Rebuild and workload constraints still matter.
- • Needs an independent backup path.
Redundancy choice
RAID 5 or RAID 6?
Compare single and dual parity by usable capacity, fault tolerance, drive count, and what a degraded array means for your data.
Best fit
RAID 6
Larger or more important arrays where the capacity cost of dual parity is acceptable.
- • Uses an additional drive worth of capacity.
- • Requires enough bays to remain capacity-efficient.
- • Does not protect against deletion or site loss.
Decision rule
Compare both results using the same drive size, planning horizon, and backup plan. The meaningful question is whether the extra fault tolerance is worth the capacity and bay cost in your situation.
Build the baseline firstSources and scope
Last reviewed 2026-07-13. This page separates the decision it supports from the facts that still require a platform or model-specific check.
Applies to
Equal-size drive capacity and redundancy planning.
Does not coverController-specific rebuild behavior or a replacement for backup.