RAID: Level 50

RAID 50 combines the striping of RAID 0 with multiple RAID 5 arrays to deliver enhanced performance and fault tolerance.

The configuration stripes data across several RAID 5 groups, distributing parity within each group, which ensures data redundancy while improving speed.

This level requires at least $6$ disks, and its fault tolerance depends on the ability of each RAID 5 group to survive a single disk failure. By leveraging the performance of striping and the redundancy of distributed parity, RAID 50 balances speed, reliability, and storage efficiency better than either level alone.

It is particularly suitable for large-scale applications, such as data centers and high-transaction environments, where both high throughput and fault tolerance are required. Nonetheless, rebuilding an array can still be resource-intensive, and the configuration is more complex to implement and manage compared to simpler levels.

Despite its higher cost and complexity, RAID 50 is favored for handling both random and sequential workloads efficiently.