Editing Data striping (section)

== Terminology ==
The segments of sequential data written to or read from a disk before the operation continues on the next disk are usually called ''chunks'', ''strides'' or ''stripe units'', while their logical groups forming single striped operations are called ''strips'' or ''stripes''.  The amount of data in one chunk (stripe unit), often denominated in bytes, is variously referred to as the ''chunk size'', ''stride size'', ''stripe size'', ''stripe depth'' or ''stripe length''.  The number of data disks in the array is sometimes called the ''stripe width'', but it may also refer to the amount of data within a stripe.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://access.redhat.com/documentation/en-US/Red_Hat_Enterprise_Linux/6/html/Storage_Administration_Guide/ch-ext4.html|title=Red Hat Enterprise Linux 6 storage administration guide, chapter 6. The ext4 file system|date=9 October 2014|accessdate=8 February 2015|publisher=[[Red Hat]]}}</ref><ref>{{cite web|url=http://linux.die.net/man/8/mdadm|title=mdadm(8) – Linux man page|accessdate=8 February 2015|website=linux.die.net}}</ref><ref>{{cite web|url=https://raid.wiki.kernel.org/index.php/RAID_setup|title=Linux kernel documentation: RAID setup|date=11 November 2014|accessdate=8 February 2015|website=kernel.org}}</ref><ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.xyratex.com/sites/default/files/Xyratex_White_Paper_RAID_Chunk_Size_1-0.pdf#page=8|title=RAID chunk size|date=January 2008|accessdate=8 February 2015|website=xyratex.com|format=PDF|pages=6&ndash;7|url-status=dead|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140801150001/http://www.xyratex.com/sites/default/files/Xyratex_White_Paper_RAID_Chunk_Size_1-0.pdf|archive-date=1 August 2014}}</ref>

The amount of data in one stripe multiplied by the number of data disks in the array (i.e., ''stripe depth'' times ''stripe width'', which in the geometrical analogy would yield an area) is sometimes called the ''stripe size'' or ''stripe width''.<ref>[http://docs.oracle.com/cd/B10501_01/server.920/a96533/iodesign.htm "Stripe depth is the size of the stripe, sometimes called stripe unit. Stripe width is the product of the stripe depth and the number of drives in the striped set."]</ref>  ''Wide striping'' occurs when chunks of data are spread across multiple arrays, possibly all the drives in the system. ''Narrow striping'' occurs when the chunks of data are spread across the drives in a single array.