Question 118 of 144
SK0-005 server-hardware-installation-management Practice Question
A small business has purchased a new server to function as a file server for 25 employees. The server is equipped with four 1TB SATA hard disk drives and no hardware RAID controller; the operating system supports software RAID. The business owner's primary requirements are data redundancy to protect against a single drive failure and maximum usable storage capacity, while keeping costs low. The IT technician is tasked with configuring the storage. The technician evaluates the following options: RAID 0 striping across all four drives; RAID 1 mirroring using two pairs (drives 1+2 mirrored, drives 3+4 mirrored), providing two separate volumes; RAID 5 with parity across all four drives; and RAID 10 combining mirroring and striping. The technician needs to recommend the configuration that best meets the requirements. Which of the following should the technician implement?
Answer choices
Why each option matters
Answer the question above first, then reveal the full breakdown to understand why each option is right or wrong.
Correct answer & explanation
✓
Configure RAID 5 to stripe data and parity across all four drives, providing 3TB of usable storage with single-drive fault tolerance.
Option C is correct because RAID 5 provides single-drive fault tolerance and maximizes usable capacity (3TB out of 4TB), offering the best balance between redundancy and storage space. Option A provides no redundancy. Option B uses mirroring, which wastes half the total capacity (only 2TB usable). Option D also provides only 2TB and adds performance benefits that are not the primary requirement, while costing more in usable space.
Answer analysis
Option-by-option breakdown
For each option: why learners choose it and why it is or isn't the right answer here.
- ✗
Configure RAID 10 by mirroring two pairs and striping across them, providing 2TB of storage with high performance and redundancy.
Why it's wrong here
RAID 10 offers excellent performance and redundancy but consumes half the total capacity for mirroring (2TB usable). It does not maximize storage capacity as required.
- ✓
Configure RAID 5 to stripe data and parity across all four drives, providing 3TB of usable storage with single-drive fault tolerance.
Why this is correct
RAID 5 uses one drive's worth of capacity for parity, resulting in 3TB usable. It tolerates a single drive failure and meets both redundancy and maximum capacity requirements within a software RAID setup.
- ✗
Configure RAID 0 to stripe across all four drives for maximum 4TB storage and performance.
Why it's wrong here
RAID 0 offers no data redundancy; a single drive failure results in total data loss, which fails the requirement for protection against drive failure.
- ✗
Configure RAID 1 with two mirrored pairs, providing 2TB of total storage across two volumes, ensuring redundancy.
Why it's wrong here
While this provides redundancy, it yields only 2TB of usable storage, which is less than RAID 5 and does not maximize capacity.
Quick reference
RAID Level Comparison
| RAID Level | Min Disks | Fault Tolerance | Read | Write | Usable Capacity |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| RAID 0 | 2 | None | Excellent | Excellent | 100% |
| RAID 1 | 2 | 1 disk | Good | Moderate | 50% |
| RAID 5 | 3 | 1 disk | Good | Moderate | 67–94% |
| RAID 6 | 4 | 2 disks | Good | Lower | 50–88% |
| RAID 10 | 4 | 1 disk per mirror | Excellent | Good | 50% |
RAID is not a backup strategy — it protects against disk failure but not against accidental deletion, ransomware, or site-level events.
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Last reviewed: Jul 26, 2026
This SK0-005 practice question is part of Courseiva's free CompTIA certification practice question bank. Courseiva provides original exam-style practice questions with explanations, topic-based practice, mock exams, readiness tracking, and study analytics to help learners prepare for the SK0-005 exam.
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