An administrator is configuring a RAID array on a new server with parity and striping. Which of the following is the MINIMUM number of disks needed to implement this array?

A single disk cannot support striping or parity because both operations require data to be distributed across multiple independent physical drives.

Two disks can support RAID 1 mirroring but cannot implement distributed parity with striping, which requires a minimum third disk to hold parity information.

RAID 5 distributes parity data across all member disks alongside the striped data, requiring at least 3 disks so that one disk's equivalent of space can be used for parity while the remaining capacity stores usable data. With only 3 disks, one disk's worth of capacity is consumed by parity (distributed across all three), and the array can survive a single disk failure. Fewer than 3 disks cannot satisfy both the striping and distributed parity requirements simultaneously.

While RAID 5 can use 4 or more disks, the question asks for the minimum number required, which is 3, not 4.