Why is data redundancy important in storage systems?

Data redundancy is crucial in storage systems primarily because it protects against data loss and enhances overall availability and reliability. When data is duplicated or stored in multiple locations, it mitigates the risk of losing information due to hardware failure, accidental deletion, or corruption. This redundancy ensures that a backup copy is available, allowing for recovery and continued access to critical data when primary storage experiences issues.

Additionally, high availability is a key aspect of many applications and services, meaning that users and systems can depend on consistent access to their data. By having redundant copies, storage systems can often failover automatically to an alternative source without noticeable disruption to users, thereby maintaining operational continuity.

While aspects like cost reduction, compliance, or management simplification are valuable in their own right, they do not address the fundamental purpose of data redundancy, which is to safeguard data integrity and ensure service reliability.