Only a few RAID levels matter in a database context. Perform these steps to decide which one is right for this server:
- If this is an Online Transaction Processing (OLTP) database primarily for handling very high-speed queries, use RAID level 1+0.
- If this is a non-critical development or staging system, use RAID level 5.
- If this is a non-critical Online Analytic Processing (OLAP) reporting system, use RAID level 5.
- If this is a critical OLAP reporting system, use RAID level 6.
- If this is a long-term storage OLAP warehouse, use RAID level 6.