Storage Calculator
Free storage calculator to plan storage requirements, compare RAID levels for capacity and redundancy, and estimate cloud storage costs. Plan your server, NAS, or cloud infrastructure.
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Plan Your Storage Infrastructure
Whether you're building a NAS, planning server storage, or estimating cloud costs, our storage calculator helps you make informed decisions. Calculate capacity needs, compare RAID configurations, and budget for cloud storage.
Understanding Storage Planning
Storage planning involves estimating capacity needs based on file sizes and growth, choosing the right RAID level for redundancy vs. capacity, and calculating costs for cloud storage. Proper planning prevents costly over-provisioning or dangerous under-provisioning.
RAID 5 Formula
Usable Capacity = (Number of Disks - 1) × Disk SizeWhy Storage Planning Matters
Data Protection
RAID configurations protect against disk failures. RAID 5 tolerates 1 failure, RAID 6 tolerates 2, RAID 10 offers the best performance with redundancy.
Cost Optimization
Cloud storage costs compound over time. Understanding your actual needs prevents overpaying for unused capacity.
Growth Planning
Data grows exponentially. Plan for 2-3 years of growth to avoid emergency migrations.
How to Use the Storage Calculator
Common Storage Scenarios
Home NAS - RAID 5
4× 8TB drives = 24TB usable. Good balance of capacity and protection for media storage.
Business Server - RAID 6
6× 4TB drives = 16TB usable. Double parity for critical business data.
Cloud Backup - S3 Standard
1TB at $0.023/GB = ~$23.50/month. Consider Glacier for archives at $0.004/GB.
High-Performance - RAID 10
8× 2TB SSD = 8TB usable. Maximum speed and reliability for databases.
Frequently Asked Questions
RAID 5 for capacity with single-disk protection (min 3 disks). RAID 6 for enterprise data with dual-disk protection (min 4 disks). RAID 10 for performance-critical applications (min 4 disks, 50% capacity). RAID 1 for simple mirroring. RAID 0 only for temp data.