What is JBOD?
The word JBOD stands for Just a bunch of drives. It is a drive enclosure which is used as an accommodation for multiple disk drives. These enclosures can be attached to a raid managing system thereby giving a very simple means to expand the capacity of the array several times and in a quicker manner. JBOD array is different from a raid array.
Unlike raid, JBOD takes a bunch of drives or disks and turns them into one large partition. Also, there is no redundancy offered by JBOD. Thus, the disadvantage is that unlike RAID arrays, the whole JBOD arrays fails if there is a failure of one disk in the array. In simple words, JBOD can be thought of as the opposite of partitioning. In case you are using JBOD you will find that there is no fault tolerance, no improvement in performance unlike the raid technology.
What are the advantages of JBOD over RAID?
- There is no wastage of data in the drive. There is no loss in the capacity as JBOD array lets you to combine the individual disks into one single large unit. For instance, a 10GB drive and a 40GB drive would add up to form a 50 GB volume of JBOD while only 30GB of RAID zero array. The advantage however is relatively smaller these days since drives are cheap in cost.
- There is easier recovery during disaster. In a RAID volume, data on each disk is destroyed since all the files are striped in it, but if the same drive in the JBOD set of array dies then there is easier recovery of files on the other drives. Thus, JBOD recovery in such instances is better than RAID data recovery.
JBOD and RAID levels:
There are several disadvantages of JBOD though as compared to the RAID levels. It is hence considered to be a cheaper option for a RAID system.
- JBOD does not offer redundancy unlike the raid technology.
- There is no increase in the performance of the system using JBOD array unlike RAID which betters the performance and offers higher reliability.
- JBOD lacks fault tolerance.
- Unlike RAID recovery, JBOD recovery can be a bit tougher.
JBOD-RAID recovery:
There are various categories of software available to recover your JBOD. You can get file recovery after a virus attack or a sudden shut down of the system, system crash, etc. In case of accidental deletion of files on your file system, you can use utilities that are available over the Internet. You can easily obtain a quick and an effective solution to restore all the files that you have lost.
Thus, the purpose of a JBOD is primarily to increase the capacity of the disk.