RAID 2

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What Does RAID 2 Mean?

RAID 2 is another RAID standard level configuration that provides very high data transfer rates. In RAID 2, a central controller synchronizes the disks by making them spin at the same angular orientation so that they all reach the index simultaneously. RAID 2 uses bit-level striping and each sequential bit is placed on a different hard drive. The error correcting code (ECC) used is the Hamming code parity, which is calculated across bits and stored separately in at least a single drive.

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RAID 2 is one of at least nine types of RAID.

Techopedia Explains RAID 2

RAID 2 differs from other levels of RAID because it does not use the standard way of mirroring, striping or parity. It implements these methods by separating data in the bit level and then saving the bits over a number of different data disks and redundancy disks. Hamming code is used to compute for the parity of the redundant bits to check and correct errors.

This configuration requires special driver hardware to make the disks spin synchronously. The
RAID 2 controller was expensive and hard to implement. As a result, it never really caught on and was almost never used. Most of what RAID 2 offers is now is available in modern hard disks as a standard like ECC, so there’s no reason to use it. Other RAID levels provide protection beyond ECC.

Unlock cost-effective storage solutions with a RAID calculator.

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Margaret Rouse
Technology expert
Margaret Rouse
Technology expert

Margaret is an award-winning writer and educator known for her ability to explain complex technical topics to a non-technical business audience. Over the past twenty years, her IT definitions have been published by Que in an encyclopedia of technology terms and cited in articles in the New York Times, Time Magazine, USA Today, ZDNet, PC Magazine, and Discovery Magazine. She joined Techopedia in 2011. Margaret’s idea of ​​a fun day is to help IT and business professionals to learn to speak each other’s highly specialized languages.