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SK0-004 · Question #458

A technician is implementing a RAID 10 array on a server. Which of the following is the MINIMUM number of disks needed for this array?

The correct answer is C. Four. RAID 10 combines mirroring (RAID 1) and striping (RAID 0), requiring a minimum of four drives to form at least two mirrored pairs that can then be striped together.

Server hardware installation and management

Question

A technician is implementing a RAID 10 array on a server. Which of the following is the MINIMUM number of disks needed for this array?

Options

  • ATwo
  • BThree
  • CFour
  • DFive

How the community answered

(32 responses)
  • B
    3% (1)
  • C
    94% (30)
  • D
    3% (1)

Why each option

RAID 10 combines mirroring (RAID 1) and striping (RAID 0), requiring a minimum of four drives to form at least two mirrored pairs that can then be striped together.

ATwo

Two drives can form a RAID 1 mirror but cannot simultaneously provide the striping layer that defines RAID 10.

BThree

Three drives are the minimum for RAID 5, not RAID 10; an odd number of drives cannot be evenly divided into mirror pairs for a RAID 10 configuration.

CFourCorrect

RAID 10 is implemented by creating a minimum of two RAID 1 mirror pairs and then striping data across those pairs using RAID 0. Each mirror pair requires exactly two drives, so the smallest valid RAID 10 configuration uses four drives total. This minimum configuration provides both the redundancy of mirroring and the performance benefit of striping.

DFive

Five drives are not the minimum and cannot be evenly split into mirror pairs without leaving one drive unused in a standard RAID 10 implementation.

Concept tested: RAID 10 minimum disk requirements

Source: https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/windows-server/storage/storage-spaces/storage-spaces-fault-tolerance

Topics

#RAID 10#RAID configuration#minimum disks#mirroring striping

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