▼ Lesson Info

About XOR & RAID

XOR (exclusive OR) is a fundamental bitwise function. For any two bits, XOR returns 1 if exactly one bit is 1, and 0 otherwise. Some key properties:

• x ^ x = 0 (any value XOR itself yields 0)
• x ^ 0 = x (any value XOR 0 is the value itself)
• x ^ y = y ^ x (XOR is commutative)

Learn more in this Wikipedia article on XOR.

In RAID (Redundant Array of Independent Disks), XOR is often used to generate parity data. This means if one drive fails, the missing data can be reconstructed by XORing the remaining drives’ bits. See the Wikipedia article on RAID for details, or check out this XOR video explanation and RAID video explanation from the "Gary Explains" YouTube channel for a visual demo.

How to use this page:

• Generate Drives to create random bits for Drive 1 and Drive 2.
• Check Parity Answers to verify your XOR-based parity calculations.
• Simulate Drive Failure (a red flash) to mimic a failing drive that you can then repair.
• Check Drive Recovery to see a rolling highlight if your manual repair is correct.