A disk array is a

disk storage Disk storage (also sometimes called drive storage) is a general category of storage mechanisms where data is recorded by various electronic, magnetic, optical, or mechanical changes to a surface layer of one or more rotating disks. A disk drive is ...

system which contains multiple disk drives. It is differentiated from a disk enclosure, in that an array has cache memory and advanced functionality, like RAID,

deduplication The term deduplication refers generally to eliminating duplicate or redundant information. *Data deduplication, in computer storage, refers to the elimination of redundant data *Record linkage Record linkage (also known as data matching, data l ...

, encryption and virtualization. Components of a disk array include: * Disk array controllers * Cache in form of both volatile random-access memory and

non-volatile Non-volatile memory (NVM) or non-volatile storage is a type of computer memory that can retain stored information even after power is removed. In contrast, volatile memory needs constant power in order to retain data. Non-volatile memory typic ...

flash memory Flash memory is an electronic non-volatile computer memory storage medium that can be electrically erased and reprogrammed. The two main types of flash memory, NOR flash and NAND flash, are named for the NOR and NAND logic gates. Both us ...

. * Disk enclosures for both

magnetic Magnetism is the class of physical attributes that are mediated by a magnetic field, which refers to the capacity to induce attractive and repulsive phenomena in other entities. Electric currents and the magnetic moments of elementary particle ...

rotational hard disk drives and electronic solid-state drives. * Power supplies Typically a disk array provides increased availability, resiliency, and maintainability by using additional redundant components (controllers, power supplies, fans, etc.), often up to the point where all

single points of failure A single point of failure (SPOF) is a part of a system that, if it fails, will stop the entire system from working. SPOFs are undesirable in any system with a goal of high availability or reliability, be it a business practice, software ap ...

(SPOFs) are eliminated from the design. Additionally, disk array components are often hot-swappable. Traditionally disk arrays were divided into categories: * Network attached storage (NAS) arrays * Storage area network (SAN) arrays: ** Modular SAN arrays ** Monolithic SAN arrays ** Utility Storage Arrays * Storage virtualization Primary vendors of storage systems include

Coraid, Inc. Coraid, Inc. is a computer data storage vendor that provides storage area network (SAN) products that use Ethernet, headquartered in Athens, Georgia. History The company was founded by Brantley Coile, who previously worked on the Cisco PIX fir ...

, DataDirect Networks, Dell EMC,

Fujitsu is a Japanese multinational information and communications technology equipment and services corporation, established in 1935 and headquartered in Tokyo. Fujitsu is the world's sixth-largest IT services provider by annual revenue, and the la ...

, Hewlett Packard Enterprise, Hitachi Data Systems, Huawei, IBM, Infortrend, NetApp,

Oracle Corporation Oracle Corporation is an American multinational computer technology corporation headquartered in Austin, Texas. In 2020, Oracle was the third-largest software company in the world by revenue and market capitalization. The company sells da ...

Panasas Panasas is a data storage company that creates network-attached storage for technical computing environments. History Panasas is a computer data storage product company and is headquartered in San Jose, California. Panasas received seed fundi ...

, Pure Storage and other companies that often act as OEM for the above vendors and do not themselves market the storage components they manufacture.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Disk array Computer data storage Fault-tolerant computer systems RAID