RAID 5 is characterized by a good price-performance ratio due to its efficient generation of redundancy. In contrast to other systems, the files are not saved in multiple versions, but only redundantly thanks to the parity blocks. Compared to use of individual drives, the storage capacity decreases, but RAID 5 networks retain acomparatively large chunk of the original capacity. On the other hand, RAID 5 is a cost-effective solution to boost read speed. The striping of the data allows parallel access to several parts of a related data block, so that inquiring devices can complete the read process much faster.
Another strength of RAID 5 is increased reliability. If a hard disk fails because it is defective, or if the data on a disk is lost for other reasons, operations can still be maintained. Since the remaining storage media are used more heavily during the recovery process, the risk of failure increases significantly during this period.
However, RAID 5 is not without its disadvantages. Each write process to the hard disk cluster is connected with an additional read step in order to check and recalculate the parity information that is available. Another step is needed to distribute the parity data for the newly stored user data on the disks. Compared to the individual drives and other RAID levels such as RAID 0, the write speed of the data carriers in a RAID 5 system is much lower.