Which RAID level is used for both redundancy and improved performance through mirroring and striping?

RAID 10, also known as RAID 1+0, is an excellent choice for achieving both redundancy and improved performance. It combines the benefits of mirroring and striping. In a RAID 10 configuration, data is mirrored across pairs of disks, ensuring redundancy so that if one disk fails, the data remains available on its mirrored counterpart. Additionally, these mirrored pairs are then striped, which enhances performance by allowing read and write operations to occur simultaneously across multiple disks. This configuration effectively balances the need for data redundancy and higher I/O throughput, making it suitable for environments requiring both data protection and high availability.

While RAID 1 offers redundancy through mirroring, it does not incorporate striping and therefore does not provide the same level of performance improvement. RAID 0 focuses solely on performance through striping but lacks redundancy because there is no mirroring or parity; if one disk fails, all data is lost. RAID 5 provides redundancy through distributed parity but lacks the performance benefits that come with mirroring, as it involves complex parity calculations that can slow down write operations. Thus, RAID 10 stands out for its ability to offer both redundancy and better performance.