BSoD

Alternatively referred to as a bluescreen or bugcheck in Microsoft Windows NT, 2000, and XP, BSoD is short for Blue Screen of Death and is a full blue screen error message generated by Microsoft Windows operating systems. Below are some examples of what a BSoD may look like. Example of a Microsoft Windows 95, Windows 98, and Windows ME blue screen of death

Example of a Microsoft Windows XP blue screen of death

How do I fix the Windows blue screen errors?

The blue screen is most commonly encountered and associated with

computer running Microsoft Windows. However, other operating systems such as the Apple Macintosh may also get a blank blue screen, which is also referred to as a BSOD. Apple computers that have a blank blue screen indicate that the hard disk drive is bad in that computer. How do I fix the Windows blue screen errors?
Question
How do I fix the Windows blue screen errors?

Answer
Before fixing a Microsoft Microsoft Windows blue screen or blue screen of death error (BSoD) you must first identify what error it is. Since there are different blue screen errors. Note: If you're getting a blue screen and then your computer immediately reboots without being able to read the text in the blue screen, follow the steps below. If you're unable to get into Windows to perform the steps below, boot the computer into Safe Mode. 1. 2. 3. 4. 5. From the desktop right-click on My Computer. Click the Properties option. In the System Properties window click the Advanced tab. In Advanced click the Settings button under Startup and Recovery. In the Startup and Recovery window uncheck the Automatically restart check box. 6. Click Ok. Blue screen errors Windows NT, 2000, XP, Vista, and later versions of Windows will have a blue screen error that's similar to the example shown below. Thankfully these error messages often contain more detailed information, and will contain information that can be more easily

searched for and found. If you're not getting a blue screen error that looks like the below skip to the next Fatal exception section.

1. Identify the blue screen by locating a line containing all capital letters with underscores instead of spaces, such as the above example: BAD_POOL_HEADER. Write this information down. If you do not see anything written in all caps with underscores like this, skip this step. 2. Get either the STOP: error message at the top of the error, or in the "Technical Information:" portion of the error. For example, in the above error it's STOP: 0x00000019 ... write the first potion of this error message down. 3. Finally, if technical information is shown write down the file and the address. Once you have the above information you can start troubleshooting the issue. Below are common blue screen errors and links to pages that contain the troubleshooting steps fore ach of these errors. If your error is not listed in the below section search for the error you wrote down. BAD_POOL_HEADER DRIVER_IRQL_NOT_LESS_OR_EQUAL DRIVER_POWER_STATE_FAILURE INACCESSIBLE_BOOT_DEVICE IRQL_NOT_LESS_OR_EQUAL NTFS_FILE_SYSTEM PAGE_FAULT_IN_NONPAGED_AREA STATUS_IMAGE_CHECKSUM_MISMATCH THREAD_STUCK_IN_DEVICE_DRIVER UNEXPECTED_KERNEL_MODE_TRAP UNKNOWN_HARD_ERROR Fatal exceptions

Many of the blue screen error messages you'll encounter with earlier versions of Windows will be fatal exception error messages or Fatal 0E messages. If your blue screen message starts out with A fatal exception 0E ... or An exception ... you're encountering this error. For these blue screen errors follow the fatal exception error troubleshooting steps.

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How do I change my IP address?

Question
How do I change my IP address?

Answer
Users often want to change their IP address because of one or more of the below reasons. 1. Network confliction or other network related issue. 2. Network application requires specific IP address or IP range. 3. Trying to protect themselves from other users.

4. Trying to deceive a vicious software program, user, or company. The basics Before reading any of the below information, you need to be aware of some network basics. 1. Know the difference between a static IP address and a dynamic IP address. See each of the links for additional information about each of these terms. 2. When on the Internet, it is up to your Internet Service Provider (ISP) to assign and give you your network address seen by the Internet. Additional details posted below. 3. If you're planning on designating or using a static IP address, you should be aware of how IP address ranges are handled and netmasks. See each of these links for additional information. Changing your Internet IP address Modem users When connecting to the Internet, your ISP will assign your computer an address each time you connect. This means that often each time you connect you'll have a different IP address. If you're wanting to change your IP address, try disconnecting and reconnecting. Broadband users Broadband service providers will assign your computer or home network a static IP address. If you're connected to a broadband network and need to change your IP address we suggest contacting your broadband provider. Changing your home network IP address Microsoft Windows users To change or specify the IP address of your computer for your own local area network (LAN), follow the below steps. Keep in mind that if you're connecting to the Internet with a broadband connection, adjusting your network settings may cause issues with your broadband connection. Finally, if your home network is setup through a network router, that router could be assigning your computer dynamic IP addresses, and specifying a static IP address may cause issues. 1. Get to the Microsoft Windows desktop. 2. Right-click on My Network Places or Network Neighborhood and click Properties. 3. Right-click on Local Area Connection and click Properties.

4. Click Internet Protocol (TCP/IP) and click Properties. If this is not present, you'll need to install this protocol. 5. In the Internet Protocol (TCP/IP) Properties window, select "Use the following IP address" if not already selected and specify the new IP address you wish to use. While entering this data you'll also need to specify the subnet mask and default gateway. Linux users The below information is for how to specify and adjust your network settings through the command prompt. Changing your network settings will require root access. 1. Get to the command prompt. 2. Move to the /etc/sysconfig/network directory. 3. Edit the interfaces file and adjust your network settings in this file. Can someone else change my IP address? Someone who's outside your home network and does not have access to your network router cannot change your IP address. You should not be concerned about your computers security if your IP address has changed, it's more likely that it's normal behavior than an attack.

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My Windows computer boots up slow.

Question
My Windows computer boots up slow.

Answer
A slow Microsoft Windows boot up can be caused by a wide variety of issues. Below are various suggestions and tips that can help improve the overall speed of your computers startup. In addition to the below steps, if you use your computer frequently you may also consider either not turning off the computer or having your computer go into a hibernation mode when pressing the power button. Disable startup programs Programs that are loading up as the computer starts up to remain active in memory, are often one of the main causes of a slow boot in Windows. Disabling programs you don't often use from automatically starting up each time the computer boots can increase the boot time. A program that makes managing your Windows startup programs easily is Mike Lin's Startup Control Panel. Using this program, you can disable any program in any of the locations programs use to start themselves automatically.

How to remove TSRs and startup programs.

Scandisk / Defrag Running Microsoft ScanDisk and Defrag or similar disk utilities on the computer can help verify the hard disk drive has no errors, as well as make sure the data on the hard disk drive is organized in the most efficient method. We suggest running both of these utilities at least once every few months. Hard disk drive space If your computer does not have at least 250MB of free available hard disk drive space this can cause an overall slowdown with your computer as well as decrease the boot time. Make sure your computer hard disk drive has 250MB or more of available disk space.

Determining available hard drive space.

Add memory Adding additional memory (RAM) to the computer will help increase the overall speed of the computer and in some cases can also increase the load times of your computer. Today, we suggest all computers be running a minimum of 1GB of memory in their computer. If your computer is running less than this it may be time to upgrade. Update drivers and Windows

Corrupt, incorrect, or out-of-date drivers can cause a number of different issues. Make sure your computer has the latest drivers as well as any available Microsoft Windows updates.

How to update a Microsoft Windows computer. How do I locate software or drivers for my computer?

Registry cleaner Although we don't often recommend registry cleaners in some rare situations running cleaners can help improve the overall performance of Windows including the Windows startup. If you've run through all of the above recommendations you may want to clean your system registry.

Do I need a Windows registry cleaner?

Format and reinstall If after following all the above steps your computer still seems to be slow you may want to erase everything from the computer and re-install Windows. This will clean your computer and make it like new.

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Boot
1. Alternatively referred to as boot up, booting is the process of powering on a computer and getting into the operating system. During the boot process, the computer will perform a self-diagnostic, also known as a POST and load necessary drivers and programs that help the computer and devices communicate.

POST troubleshooting steps to follow if your computer is not booting. What steps to take if your computer boots slow.

2. See the kick definition for additional information about what it means to get boot or booted from chat. Also see: Bootstrap loader, Chat definitions, Cold boot, Initialize, IPL, POST, Reboot, Shutdown

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Is it better to leave the computer on or turn it off?

Question
Is it better to leave the computer on or turn it off?

Answer
In the past (1993 and earlier) it may have been beneficial to leave the computer on because of potential power switch related issues with some computer manufacturers. However, this issue was not always applicable and today is no longer an issue with any computer. Although it is still possible for components to become bad in a computer, it is almost always not attributed to turning the computer on and off each day. The answer to this question really depends upon how you use your computer. Our recommendation for most users is when the computer is first turned on that it remains on until it is late and you don't plan on using it until the next day. However, if you are actively running anything on the computer or you wish for tasks to run during the night such as a backup, scandisk, defrag, or a virus scan, it is recommend that the computer remain on all night. In short, it is neither good nor bad to turn off the computer each day or for you to leave the computer on all day every day.

Note: If you decide to leave your computer on all day we still recommend that the computer monitor be turned off. Additional thoughts For companies or homes that have several dozen/thousand computers it may be beneficial to turn the computer off each night or at the end of the work day to help conserve power. Although many computers and electronic devices have power saving features, they will still consume power, and hundreds of computers consuming power can be costly each month. Does turning off the computer each night cause power surges through the computer potentially damaging components? No. Does turning off the computer cause hot electrical components or soldiering to cool down causing damage or cracks to electrical components? No. Although it is true that the electrical components within the computer are going to cool down, it is no more likely to cause a failure turning off the computer frequently than leaving the computer on all the time. For example, many individuals will turn on and off their TV each day, sometimes several times a day. Much like a computer, components within the TV get hot and cool down when a television is turned off and have no issues. Does turning off the computer each night or often cause moving parts such as fans to wear down? No. Will turning off the computer often wear down the power button? This had been an issue with a very tiny portion of old OEM computers. However, today this issue does not exist with any computer or case manufacturer. Will turning my computer off help prevent a power surge? A power surge will destroy an electrical device regardless if it is on or off. Therefore, turning the computer off will not prevent this from occurring. As the computer is booting it takes up much more power. Not true. Leaving a computer on will cause it to overheat.

Unless a fan within the computer fails while the computer is on it will not overheat. In fact a computer that is left on and is not doing anything will be much cooler than a computer that is on and being used. A laptop is different than a desktop it should be turned off. Although physically different a laptop can also remain on for 24/7 just like a desktop and all the above information also applies to a laptop.

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My computer is running slow what steps can I do to fix it?

Issue
My computer is running slow what steps can I do to fix it?

Cause

This issue can be caused by any of the below possibilities. 1. Not enough hard disk space. 2. Left over programs and bad files.

3. 4. 5. 6. 7.

Data Corruption. Missing Windows updates / Outdated drivers. Computer is overheating. Corrupt OS. Bad Hardware.

Solution
Below are steps for Microsoft Windows users that should help speed up the computer or determine why the computer is running slow. Reboot If your computer has not been reboot recently make sure to reboot it before following any of the below steps. Not enough hard disk drive space Verify that there is at least 200-500MB of free hard disk drive space. This available space allows the computer to have room for the swap file to increase in size as well as room for temporary files.

Determining available hard drive space. Regaining computer hard disk drive space.

Hard drive corrupted or fragmented

Run ScanDisk or something equivalent to verify there is nothing physically wrong with the computer hard disk drive. Run Defrag to help ensure that data is arranged in the best possible order.

Background programs Remove or disable any TSRs and startup programs that automatically start each time the computer boots. To see what programs are running in the background and how much memory and CPU they are using open Task Manager. If you are running Windows 7 run Resmon to get a better understanding of how your computer is being used. If you've got an anti-virus scanner on the computer, spyware protection program, or other security utility make sure it's not scanning your computer in the background. Often when these programs begin to scan the computer it can decrease the overall performance of your computer. Scan for malware

Today, spyware and other malware is a big cause of many computer problems including a slow computer. Even if an anti-virus scanner is installed on the computer we recommend running a malware scan on the computer. Use the free version of Malwarebytes to scan your computer for malware. Hardware conflicts

Verify that the Device Manager has no conflicts. If any exist resolve these issues as they could be the cause of your problem.

Update Windows

Make sure you have all the latest Windows updates installed in the computer. If you are on the Internet when your computer is slow also make sure all browser plugins are up-to-date.

Update your drivers Make sure you've got the latest drivers for your computer. Especially the latest video drivers. Having out-of-date drivers can cause an assortment of issues. Computer or processor is overheating Make sure your computer and processor is not overheating, excessive heat can cause a significant decrease in computer performance some processors will even lower the speed of the processor automatically to help compensate for the heat related issues.

What temperature should my processor be running at?

Dust, dirt, and hair can also constrict a proper air flow on your computer, which can also cause a computer to overheat. Make sure your computer case is clean and fans are not obstructed.

Steps on cleaning your computer.

Memory upgrade If you've had your computer for more than one year it's likely you're computer is not meeting the memory requirements for today. Today, we suggest at a minimum the computer have 1GB of memory.

Determining how much RAM is installed and available.

Specific operating system basic troubleshooting

Basic Microsoft Windows XP troubleshooting. Basic Microsoft Windows 2000 troubleshooting. Basic Microsoft Windows NT 4.0 troubleshooting. Basic Microsoft Windows ME troubleshooting. Basic Microsoft Windows 98 troubleshooting. Basic Microsoft Windows 95 troubleshooting. Basic Microsoft Windows 3.x troubleshooting. Or go through the other basic troubleshooting steps. Run registry cleaner We normally do not recommend registry cleaners. However, if you have followed all of the above steps and your computer is still slow try running a registry cleaner on the computer. Erase computer and start over If none of the above solutions resolve your issues, it is recommended that you either reinstall Windows or erase everything and then start over. Old computer If your computer is older than five years come to terms that it is likely the age of the computer that is causing it to be slow. Computers progress at an alarming rate as new programs and updates for programs come out their minimum requirements increase and will cause older computers to slow down. If your computer is older than five years we suggest purchasing a new computer or just realize it is going to run slow because it is old.

How often should I buy a new computer?

Hardware issues Finally, if your computer continues to be slow after going over each of the above recommendations it's possible that your computer is experiencing a more serious hardware related issue such as a failing component in the computer. This could be a failing or bad hard drive, CPU, RAM, motherboard, or other component.

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Why is my Internet connection so slow?

Question
Why is my Internet connection so slow?

Answer
A slow Internet connection could be caused by any number of reasons. Below is a short list of some of the more common reasons your Internet connection may be slow. As mentioned at the bottom of this page there is no magic program or tweak that will increase your overall Internet speed, but this page can give you a better understanding of why it may be slow. If everything on your computer is slow including the Internet, this may be another issues. Slow Internet connection If you're using a dial-up connection or a modem this will be much slower than any broadband connection or connection you may be using at work or school. If you're using a modem no mater how fast your computer is the speed of the Internet will remain the same or very close and can cause some users to believe their computer is slow. If broadband is available in your area and you would like a much more enjoyable experience on the Internet we highly recommend getting it. See the broadband definition for additional information on this term and the broadband available. Site or download Depending on the website you're visiting or the download you're receiving your Internet connection may appear to be slow. A site such as Computer Hope, which is 90% composed of text documents will load much faster than a website such as YouTube, which is composed of movie files. Downloading while browsing

If you're doing more than one thing while on the Internet you'll notice browsing the Internet is slower. For example, if you or your kids are downloading a game, movie, music, or other file. While the computer is getting that data all other browsing will be slower. Time of day or day The time of day or what day it is can often affect the overall speed of the Internet as well as your individual connection. When more people are online, servers and Internet connections can become overloaded and cause delays in the response. In addition users who are using broadband cable to connect to the Internet share an individual cable with neighbors who are also subscribed. If all your neighbors are on at the same time you will notice a decrease in your speed. Times when people are at home, e.g. off from work or school (after 3PM) or weekends (Saturday / Sunday) are often slow times. Sites like Internet Traffic Report actually report the flow of data around the world. This site can give you a rough idea of busy times. Server or website location The location of the web page you're visiting can also determine the speed of the Internet. If you're accessing a web page that is in a different part of the world it will be much slower than a page that is hosted closer to you. Visitors on site A server or web site can often only handle so many people at once. If hundreds, thousands, or millions of people are trying to visit the site at once that page will be much slower and in some cases pages may not even respond. Network or site maintenance If your Internet service provider or the host of the web site is performing maintenance on their network, computers, or network equipment this can cause speed related issues. Other major event If a major event is occurring around the world, it may cause speed related issues. For example, during the tragic events of September 11, 2001, where terrorists attacked United States many of the news sites were so overwhelmed with visitors that they would either take several minutes to load or not load at all. Third-party programs and tweaks No matter how many web services or programs you see advertised there is no magic program or tweak that is going to increase your actual overall Internet speed. There are

some tweaks that can be done and some programs that can help with the speed of downloading certain files or increase your local network speed (not Internet). But no program that will increase the overall speed of your Internet connection. Some programs such as download managers can help get downloads faster by downloading bits of a file being downloaded through different connections. However, this does not increase your Internet browsing experience and will not work with all Internet web page. You or your ISP is under DoS or being attacked Finally, although not a common situation a slow Internet connection can also be caused when you or your ISP is being attacked, e.g. a DoS attack. When this kind of an attack is performed the computer becomes so overwhelmed with requests that it will cause your connection to be slow or time out. If you believe you are under such an attack contact your ISP for additional recommendations. If it is your computer that is under attack one way to escape these attacks is to change your IP address.

How do I change my IP address?

Basic network troubleshooting.

Issue
Basic network troubleshooting.

Cause
If a computer is unable to connect to a network or see other computers on a network, it may be necessary to troubleshoot the network. A network may not work because of any of the below reasons. 1. 2. 3. 4. 5. Network card not connected properly. Bad network card drivers or software settings. Firewall preventing computers from seeing each other. Connection related issues. Bad network hardware.

Solution
Because of the large variety of network configurations, operating systems, setup, etc... not all of the below information may apply to your network or operating system. If your computer is connected to a company or large network, or you are not the administrator of the network, it is recommended that if you are unable to resolve your issues after

following the below recommendations that you contact the network administrator or company representative. Note: If you are being prompted for a Network password and do not know the password, Computer Hope is unable to assist users with obtaining a new or finding out the old password. Verify connections / LEDs Verify that the network cable is properly connected to the back of the computer. In addition, when checking the connection of the network cable, ensure that the LEDs on the network are properly illuminated. For example, a network card with a solid green LED or light usually indicates that the card is either connected or receiving a signal. Note: generally, when the green light is flashing, this is an indication of data being sent or received. If, however, the card does not have any lights or has orange or red lights, it is possible that either the card is bad, the card is not connected properly, or that the card is not receiving a signal from the network. If you are on a small or local network and have the capability of checking a hub or switch, verify that the cables are properly connected and that the hub or switch has power. Adapter resources Ensure that if this is a new network card being installed into the computer that the card's resources are properly set and not conflicting with any hardware in the computer. Users who are using Windows 95, 98, ME, 2000 or XP, verify that Device Manager has no conflicts or errors. Additional help and information about Device Manager and resources can be found on our Device Manager page. Adapter functionality Verify that the network card is capable of pinging or seeing itself by using the ping command. Windows / MS-DOS users ping the computer from a MS-DOS prompt. Unix / Linux variant users ping the computer from the shell. To ping the card or the localhost, type either ping 127.0.0.1 or ping localhost

This should show a listing of replies from the network card. If you receive an error or if the transmission failed, it is likely that either the network card is not physically installed into the computer correctly, or that the card is bad. Protocol Verify that the correct protocols are installed on the computer. Most networks today will utilize TCP/IP, but may also utilize or require IPX/SPX and NetBEUI.

Additional information and help with installing and reinstalling a network protocol.

When the TCP/IP protocol is installed, unless a DNS server or other computer assigns the IPX address, the user must specify an IP address as well as a Subnet Mask. To do this, follow the below instructions. 1. Click Start / Settings / Control Panel 2. Double-click the Network icon 3. Within the configuration tab double-click the TCP/IP protocol icon. Note: Do not click on the PPP or Dial-Up adapter, click on the network card adapter. 4. In the TCP/IP properties click the IP address tab 5. Select the option to specify an IP address 6. Enter the IP address and Subnet Mask address, an example of such an address could be: IP Address: 102.55.92.1 Subnet Mask: 255.255.255.192 7. When specifying these values, the computers on the network must all have the same Subnet Mask and have a different IP Address. For example, when using the above values on one computer you would want to use an IP address of 102.55.92.2 on another computer and then specify the same Subnet Mask. Firewall If your computer network utilizes a firewall, ensure that all ports required are open. If possible, close the firewall software program or disconnect the computer from the firewall to ensure it is not causing the problem. Additional time In some cases it may take a computer some additional time to detect or see the network. If after booting the computer you are unable to see the network, give the computer 2-3 minutes to detect the network. Windows users may also want to try pressing the F5 (refresh) key when in Network Neighborhood to refresh the network connections and possibly detect the network.

Additional troubleshooting If after following or verifying the above recommendations you are still unable to connect or see the network, attempt one or more of the below recommendations. If you have installed or are using TCP/IP as your protocol you can ping another computer's IP address to verify if the computer is able to send and receive data. To do this, Windows or MS-DOS users must be at a prompt and Linux / Unix variant users must open or be at a shell. Once at the prompt assuming, that the address of the computer you wish to ping is 102.55.92.2, you would type: ping 102.55.92.2 If you receive a response back from this address (and it is a different computer), this demonstrates that the computer is communicating over the network. If you are still unable to connect or see the network, it is possible that other issues may be present. Another method of determining network issues is to use the tracert command if you are a MS-DOS or Windows user or the traceroute command if you are a Linux / Unix variant user. To use this command you must be at the command prompt or shell. Once at the prompt, assuming that the address is again 102.55.92.2, type: tracert 102.55.92.2 or traceroute 102.55.92.2 This should begin listing the hops between the computer and network devices. When the connection fails, determine what device is causing the issue by reviewing the traceroute listing. An operating system, or OS, is a software program that enables the computer hardware to communicate and operate with the computer software. Without a computer operating system, a computer would be useless. Operating system types As computers have progressed and developed so have the operating systems. Below is a basic list of the different operating systems and a few examples of operating systems that fall into each of the categories. Many computer operating systems will fall into more than one of the below categories.

GUI - Short for Graphical User Interface, a GUI Operating System contains graphics and icons and is commonly navigated by using a computer mouse. See the GUI definition for a complete definition. Below are some examples of GUI Operating Systems. System 7.x Windows 98 Windows CE Multi-user - A multi-user operating system allows for multiple users to use the same computer at the same time and different times. See the multi-user definition for a complete definition for a complete definition. Below are some examples of multi-user operating systems. Linux Unix Windows 2000 Multiprocessing - An operating system capable of supporting and utilizing more than one computer processor. Below are some examples of multiprocessing operating systems. Linux Unix Windows 2000 Multitasking - An operating system that is capable of allowing multiple software processes to run at the same time. Below are some examples of multitasking operating systems. Unix Windows 2000 Multithreading - Operating systems that allow different parts of a software program to run concurrently. Operating systems that would fall into this category are: Linux Unix Windows 2000

Windows 7
Codenamed Vienna and Blackcomb, Windows 7 is the successor to Windows Vista that was officially released to the public October 22, 2009. Below is a picture of what the Windows 7 Desktop looks like.

System requirements:

1GHz processor or faster 32-bit (x86) or 64-bit (x64) 1GB of RAM for 32-bit or 2GB of RAM for 64-bit 16GB of hard disk space for 32-bit or 20GB for 64-bit DirectX 9 graphics device with WDDM 1.0 or higher.

Msconfig
Microsoft software utility first introduced with Windows 98 and included with all other versions of Windows released after it that enables users to quickly and easily configure how their computer starts and what programs or services automatically load each time the computer starts. Users running any of the above versions of Windows can quickly open msconfig by following the below steps. 1. Click Start and Run. 2. Type msconfig and press enter and you should see the System Configuration Utility window as shown in the below example picture.

Note: Users running Microsoft Windows XP and later need to have administrator rights to run this command.

RAID

Short for Redundant Array of Inexpensive Disks, RAID is an assortment of hard disk drives connected and setup in ways to help protect or speed up the performance of a computer's disk storage. RAID is commonly used on servers and high performance computers. To the right is a picture of a Drobo and an example of a device using RAID technology. RAID uses several techniques used in RAID as explained below. Spanning / Software Striping Splitting information and writing it across multiple physical disk drives. RAID 0 utilizes this technique Mirroring Duplication of data from one disk drive to another. Duplexing Duplicates the disk drive as well as the disk controller. Deferred Data is cached in cache memory and writes to the hard disk drive as the disk drive becomes available. Hot Swapping

Failed disk drives can be replaced and data can be placed back onto the disk drive while the remainder of the system is in operation Hot Sparing Disk drive is automatically initialized into the array when another fails. Spindle Synchronization Synchronization of the rotation of all disk drives in the array allowing information to be written all at once. Versions of RAID RAID 0 Software stripping and Block Interleave (minimum 2 drives needed ). Data is written to each drive in succession, each block going to the next available drive thus the data is distributed across the array drives (striping) providing faster operation and less chance that one drive will get overloaded with data requests. The volume can of course be much larger than any single drive. Since no redundancy is provided, the failure of a single drive will bring the system down. This is the fastest and most efficient array type but offers no fault-tolerance. RAID 1 Disk Mirroring and Duplexing ( minimum 2 drives needed ). Drives are used in pairs and all data is written identically to both drives. Each drive can be duplexed by being connected to its own interface controller. The failure of one drive will not bring down the system, instead the other drive will continue to operate. Of course, two drives are now used for the equivalent storage capacity of one drive. There is no performance gain with this level. The array of choice for performance-critical, fault-tolerant environments. In addition, RAID-1 is the only choice for fault-tolerance if no more than two drives are desired. RAID 2 Data striping and bit interleave. Data is written across each drive in succession, one bit at a time. Checksum data is recorded in a separate drive. This method is very slow for disk writes. Seldom used today since ECC is embedded in almost all modern disk drives. RAID 3 Data striping with bit interleave and parity checking. This level is similar to lever 2 but more reliable. Data striping is done across the drives, one byte at a time. Usually 4 or 5

drives are used providing very high data transfer rates. One drive is dedicated to storing parity information. The failure of a single drive can be compensated by using the parity drive to reconstruct the failed drive contents. Since the parity drive is accessed on every write operation, the writing of data tends to be slower. The failure of two drives or more can be a problem. Can be used in data intensive or single-user environments, which access long sequential records to speed up data transfer, however, RAID-3 does not allow multiple I/O operations to be overlapped and requires synchronized-spindle drives in order to avoid performance degradation with short records. RAID 4 Block interleave data striping with parity checking. As in level 3, RAID 4 uses a single parity drive and block data striping like in RAID 0. The drives in this RAID level function individually, with an individual drive reading a block of data. A failure of the controller will of course be catastrophic. Offers no advantages over RAID-5 and does not support multiple simultaneous write operations. RAID 5 Block interleave, data striping with distributed check-data on all drives. The one to use for NetWare. Parity information is distributed across all drives. RAID 5 efficiency goes up as the number of disks increases. You can use hot spares to rebuild a failed drive on "the fly". The best choice in multi-user environments, which are not write performance sensitive. However, at least three, and more typically five drives, are required for RAID-5 arrays. RAID 6 Extension to RAID 5 which adds a log structured file system providing a mapping between a disk drives physical sectors and their logical representation. As information is written it will be placed to sequential physical disk sectors. RAID 10 Stripped array whose segments are RAID 1 arrays and containing the same fault tolerance as RAID 1. High I/O rates are achieved by stripping RAID 1 segments. Excellent solution for those considering RAID 1 as RAID 10 provides an additional write performance, however, it is a very expensive solution. RAID 53 Implemented as striped RAID 0 array whose segments are RAID 3 arrays. RAID 53 also contains the same Fault tolerance and overhead as RAID 3. Excellent solution for those considering RAID 3 as RAID 53 provides additional write performance, however, it is a very expensive solution and requires all drives to have the same synchronization.

What is RAID 0/1? Some computer and RAID manufacturers have created their own scheme of labeling their RAID devices. For example, RAID 0/1 would mean that it combines the striping of RAID 0 with the mirroring of RAID 1. vv