Why Not Use RAID?
For those who aren’t familiar with the term RAID it’s an acronym for Redundant Array of Independent Disks. Basically RAID allows a computer to use multiple drives together, called an array, as one drive. RAID has various configurations, but most are used to provide redundancy. It’s the nature of the beast and every software package is about compromise. In this case Microsoft developed the Drive Extender service as a method to provide redundancy and value to Windows Home Server and it works very well. The other option would have been to implement RAID (Redundant Array of Independent Drives). RAID needs a special controller, and a good controller can cost $500 alone, adding substantial cost to the software and hardware required to run Windows Home Server. The Drive Extender service can add and remove drives very easy, which is important for home users. In a RAID setup adding, removing, and replacing drives is much more complicated. Drive extender is a good compromise!
