Will I lose data if I lose a memory chip?

No. All new RamSan systems are shipping with Chipkill technology. Chipkill protects your data even if an entire memory chip fails. Chipkill works in concert with the system's built-in ECC error correcting logic. If a memory chip fails, the system's ECC logic automatically corrects the resulting single bit errors, thus preserving your data. IBM, one of the first companies to promote Chipkill, did a detailed study on the effect of Chipkill and suggests that it decreases the likelihood of data loss in a memory system by two orders of magnitude. The RamSan-440 comes equipped with a third level of protection: RAIDed memory (primary and secondary).

Our Flash based systems have two levels of Flash memory protection: ECC and RAID. Each level isolates the user from single bit and multi-bit errors. Our Flash SSDs have implemented RAID 5 across hot-swappable modules to protect against even an entire Flash module failure. In addition, we incorporate more Flash memory above and beyond the reported usable storage in the machine. This is available as hot spares to replace any Flash block or chip failures, as well as to assist in wear leveling to increase the life of the write functionality of the Flash.