RAID 6

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What Does RAID 6 Mean?

RAID 6 is a type of RAID level that utilizes block-level striping and distributes two parity blocks on each disk within the array.

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It is considered an enhancement to RAID level 5, but adds an additional parity block on each disk in the array.

RAID 6 is also known as double-parity RAID.

Techopedia Explains RAID 6

RAID 6 primarily has the ability to continue operations even if it faces two concurrent disk failures. This is achieved through the dual parity block or drive in RAID 6 providing enhanced fault tolerance and enabling RAID operations to continue even if it encounters a failure. RAID 6 write operations are slower than RAID 5, as it has to write to an additional parity block. A RAID 6 configuration has a minimum of four drives.

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Margaret Rouse
Technology Expert
Margaret Rouse
Technology Expert

Margaret is an award-winning technical writer and teacher known for her ability to explain complex technical subjects 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 by 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 helping IT and business professionals learn to speak each other’s highly specialized languages.