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RAID Calculator
Calculate usable capacity and fault tolerance for RAID 0, 1, 5, 6, and 10.
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Storage & Data Transfer Tools
RAID capacity, file transfer time, RAM timings, and a visual tour of the memory hierarchy.
5 tools in this category
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Data Transfer Calculator
Estimate transfer times for files over USB, WiFi, Ethernet, and more.
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Power Cost Estimator
Estimate annual electricity costs for your PC, Server, or TV.
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Data Read Visualizer
Visualize the massive speed difference between CPU cache, RAM, and storage.
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RAM Latency Calculator
Convert DDR3/DDR4/DDR5 timings (CL, tRCD, tRP, tRAS) into true latency in nanoseconds.
Use Tool ➜About Storage & Data Transfer Tools
TechCompare's storage and data tools handle the two questions that come up every time you plan a drive, NAS, or RAM upgrade: how much usable capacity and fault tolerance am I getting, and how long is this going to take? The RAID Calculator covers RAID 0, 1, 5, 6, and 10; the Data Transfer Calculator converts a file size into an expected time at any link speed; and the Data Read Visualizer shows, to scale, how much slower an SSD is than RAM, and RAM than L1 cache.
Use these together when designing a home server, sizing a backup plan, or reasoning about why a workload feels slow. The RAM Latency Calculator turns DDR3/DDR4/DDR5 timings into true nanoseconds of latency, which is usually more informative than the marketing numbers printed on the box.
Frequently asked questions
Which RAID level should I use for a home NAS?
For most home setups, RAID 5 (one drive of redundancy) or RAID 6 (two drives) hits the best balance of capacity and safety. The RAID Calculator shows the usable capacity and the number of drives you can afford to lose at each level, so you can trade protection against cost explicitly.
How long will it take to copy files over USB or WiFi?
Divide file size by link speed — the Data Transfer Calculator does this automatically for USB 2/3/3.1/3.2, Thunderbolt, Gigabit and 2.5/10 GbE Ethernet, and common WiFi standards. It also factors in typical real-world overhead so the estimate reflects what you'll actually see, not the theoretical peak.
What does true latency mean for RAM?
True latency in nanoseconds equals CL (CAS latency) divided by memory frequency, times 2000. A DDR5-6000 CL30 kit works out to roughly 10 ns. Lower is better, but for most workloads bandwidth matters more than tight timings — the RAM Latency Calculator shows both numbers so you can compare honestly.
Why is storage so much slower than RAM?
Physics and distance. The Data Read Visualizer makes the gap tangible: if an L1 cache access took one second, a RAM access would take about a minute, and an SSD read would take half an hour. That's why moving a hot dataset into RAM (or swapping to a faster tier) produces outsized speedups.
Do these calculators handle mixed-size drives in a RAID?
The RAID Calculator assumes equal-size drives because most traditional RAID arrays do. If you have unequal drives, enter the smallest drive size — that's the per-drive capacity the array will use, with the extra space on the larger drives wasted unless you're on ZFS or Unraid.