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<H1>Understanding stripe size </H1>
<P>With RAID technology, data is <B>striped</B> across a group of physical
drives. This data-distribution scheme complements the way the operating system
requests data.
<P>The granularity at which data is stored on one drive of the pool before
subsequent data is stored on the next drive of the pool is called the
<B>stripe size</B><I>.</I>
<P>You can set the stripe size to 16 KB, 32 KB, or 64 KB, 128 KB, 256 KB, 512 KB, or 1024 KB.
You can maximize the performance of your controller by setting the
stripe size to a value that is close to the size of the system I/O
requests. For example, performance in transaction-based environments, which
typically involve large blocks of data, might be optimal when the stripe
size is set to 32 KB or 64 KB. However, performance in file and print
environments, which typically involve multiple small blocks of data, might be
optimal when the stripe size is set to 16&nbsp;KB.
<P>The collection of stripe units, from the first drive of the pool to the last
drive of the pool, is called a <B>stripe</B><I>.</I>
<P><img src=images/hstraid1.gif width=37 height=32>&nbsp; After you
configure an pool and store data on the logical devices, you cannot change the
stripe size without destroying data in the logical devices. </P>

<H2>More information</H2>
<UL>
  <LI><A href="wadvstcc.htm">Changing the stripe size</A>
</LI></UL>
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