What technology increases fault tolerance by spreading data and parity information across three or more disks?

RAID 5 is a technology that enhances fault tolerance by distributing data and parity information across a minimum of three disks. The parity data allows for the recovery of lost information in the event of a single disk failure. In a RAID 5 configuration, data is divided into blocks, and for every data block, a corresponding parity block is created and stored on a different disk. This means that if one disk fails, the system can continue to operate normally while using the parity information to reconstruct the missing data from the failed disk.

This RAID level strikes a balance between performance, storage efficiency, and fault tolerance. Unlike mirrored configurations like RAID 1, which require duplication of data and therefore only allow for one disk failure, RAID 5 provides the ability to continue functioning with one disk out of service, thus offering a more resilient setup for data redundancy. This makes RAID 5 an ideal choice for environments that prioritize both availability and storage capacity, particularly for file servers and transactional databases.