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StashRaid

Storage Parameters

Usable Capacity

12 TB

Fault Tolerance

4

Array Resilience

Architecture

RAID 5 • Parity

Fault Tolerance

1 Concurrent Failures Allowed

Current Configuration

RAID 5 (Parity)

12 TB Usable

Total RAW: 16 TB

Disk 01DATA
Disk 02DATA
Disk 03DATA
Disk 04PARITY

Total Drives

4 x 4 TB

Efficiency

75% Utilized

Usable: 12 TBWasted to redundancy: 4 TB

Pros & Cons

  • PRO: Good balance of capacity/speed/safety

  • PRO: Cost-effective redundancy

  • CON: Slower writes due to parity calculation

    This setup prioritizes redundancy but has associated performance or capacity costs.

All Guides

Everything you need to plan, build, and maintain your RAID storage. From RAID fundamentals to advanced performance tuning — find the guide that matches your project.

RAID Fundamentals

RAID Capacity Guide

Understand usable capacity, parity overhead, and fault tolerance for every RAID level. Start here if you're new to RAID.

RAID Rebuild Time Guide

How long will your array be vulnerable during a rebuild? Formulas by RAID level, URE risk, and why 20TB+ drives change the math.

Drive Failure Math: URE, MTBF & Survival Probability

Why 1-in-10¹⁴ becomes scary at 12TB+. Rebuild survival probability and when enterprise drives matter.

RAID Expansion Guide

Add drives without starting over. SHR expansion, ZFS vdev expansion, mdadm grow — and which RAID levels can't expand at all.

RAID Comparison & Selection

RAID Comparison Tool

Side-by-side comparison of all 13 RAID levels.

TrueNAS vs Unraid vs Synology DSM

Head-to-head comparison of TrueNAS Scale, Unraid, and Synology DSM. Filesystem, expansion, ECC needs, Docker support, and pricing.

ZFS vs Hardware RAID

Copy-on-write vs write-hole vulnerability, ARC vs hardware cache, and when a used HBA in IT mode beats a RAID card.

NAS Build Guide

From parts to pool. CPU selection, HBA vs onboard SATA, OS choice matrix, budget tiers.

Performance & Optimization

SLOG/ZIL Performance Guide

Optane vs NAND SLOG devices, sync write acceleration, sizing rules.

SSD Caching for NAS

L2ARC vs SLOG vs metadata vdevs. When caching helps and when it hurts.

Network Bottlenecks

1GbE to 10GbE throughput. Will your RAID outrun your network?

Performance Methodology

Arcserve write-penalty framework, per-level penalties, benchmarks.

NAS Power Consumption & TCO

Drive power by type, annual electricity costs, 3/5-year TCO comparisons across build tiers.

Storage Protocol Guide

iSCSI vs NFS vs SMB vs Fibre Channel. Protocol comparison matrix and when each shines.

Hardware & Drive Selection

CMR vs SMR Hard Drives

Never put SMR drives in RAID. Which models to avoid and which to buy.

Used & Refurbished Enterprise Drive Guide

Where to buy, SMART attributes to check, burn-in procedures, and when savings are worth the risk.

HBA & RAID Controller Guide

IT mode vs IR mode, recommended models by port count, cross-flashing, and where to buy.

Storage Architecture Guide

DAS vs NAS vs disk shelves. Software vs hardware RAID.

Media & Use Cases

RAID for Plex & Media Servers

Recommended RAID levels by library size, capacity planning for 4K Blu-ray, transcoding considerations.