Which RAID level provides redundancy and striping but requires at least three disks?

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RAID 5 is the correct answer because it is designed to provide both data redundancy and striping. In RAID 5, data is divided into blocks and spread across at least three disks along with distributed parity information. The use of parity allows the array to continue operating even if one disk fails, making it fault-tolerant. This configuration not only enhances read speeds due to striping but also ensures data integrity and availability in the event of hardware failure.

Additionally, this RAID level achieves an efficient balance between performance, storage capacity, and data protection. It needs a minimum of three disks because, without that number, it cannot effectively distribute parity data across the drives, which is essential for its fault-tolerance feature. Options like RAID 0 and RAID 1 do not meet the conditions for redundancy and striping together in this context, as RAID 0 does not provide any redundancy at all, and RAID 1 requires only two disks to mirror data but does not use striping. RAID 10, while also providing redundancy and striping, requires a minimum of four disks, making RAID 5 the ideal choice for this specific question regarding a setup with at least three drives.

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