Disk shadowing can yield significant performance improvements for typical M applications. Disk shadowing can reduce read access to the disk by 30 percent or more for a two disk shadow set. While read operations are significantly faster, there is a penalty for write operations. If your site uses applications which require heavy updating, disk shadowing may be inappropriate. For more information on disk shadowing, refer to the Volume Shadowing for OpenVMS or the OpenVMS System Manager's Manual: Essentials.

Disk striping also can yield significant performance improvements for typical M applications. Disk striping can improve the speed of both read and write operations. However, depending on your configuration, disk striping may reduce the mean time to failure of the disk system. Before deciding if this technique is appropriate for your site, refer to the OpenVMS documentation that describes which types are supported and how to use them.