RAIT (redundant array of independent tapes) is similar to RAID, but uses tape drives
instead of disk drives. Tape storage is the lowest cost option for very large amounts of
data, but is very slow compared to disk storage. For very large write-mostly storage applications
where MAID is not economical and where a higher performance than typical
tape storage is desired, or where tape storage provides appropriate performance and
higher reliability is required, RAIT may fit.
As in RAID 1 striping, in RAIT, data are striped in parallel to multiple tape drives, with
or without a redundant parity drive. This provides the high capacity at low cost typical of
tape storage, with higher than usual tape data transfer rates, and optional data integrity.