Software RAID under Ubuntu 12.04

CaffeineMe

Greetings,

Looking for some advice before I build a new home server.

Planning on installing Ubuntu 12.04 Server onto it's own hard drive. I'll also have a pair of matching drives (2 @ 2TB ea.) that I think I'm going to configure as mirrored drives using Ubuntu's built in software RAID controller (mdadm).

What happens if/when I lose my single, non-RAID boot drive, and I have to rebuild the OS from scratch? Is mdadm "smart" enough to rebuild and recognize the mirroring?

I'm more concerned about preserving the data on the array than I am the OS. The OS can be reinstalled easily enough.

Thanks for any input!

Tushon

I believe it is very easy to remount them, but have not done this personally. I would test this process yourself before depending on it

http://www.jeffsplace.net/node/14

Some other useful info: https://help.ubuntu.com/10.04/serverguide/advanced-installation.html

Generally, I've had excellent experience getting help with specific questions by asking on ubuntuforums.org. Let me know if there is anything else I can help with!

ardichoke

If you're using mdadm mirroring, you should just be able to mount each drive individually and read them like normal. Also, mdadm is smart enough that if you reconfigure it with two drives that were originally in an mdadm mirror, it will recognize it and let you read the data. It's a good system like that.