I tried to set up fake-RAID1 in Ubuntu a while back, and had so much trouble with it that I switched to software-RAID1. As you've discovered, Ubuntu doesn't have very good support for setting up even software-RAID on install, but at least for RAID1 you can set it up after install by 1. doing a regular install to a single drive 2. setting up a RAID partition on the other disk as a two-disk set with one disk missing 3. copying files from the original partition to the RAID partition 4. reformatting the original drive for RAID and adding it to the set You should be able to find some guides on how to do this in detail.
Finally, while you may have reasons for wanting RAID0, bear in mind that it does make the partitions less reliable, since a failure of either disk will destroy all the data. -Derek > I was recently given a new mobo with an nForce chipset that claimed to > have a RAID controller and two identical SATA drives with the idea that I > could use it for a RAID0. Before being given this setup, I hadn't really > given a lot of thought to running a RAID, but I'm thinking its at least > now worth a try. > > After doing a bit of reading, it appears that the "RAID controller" on the > mobo is actually a so-called "fake RAID" that needs a driver which > actually implements much of the RAID functionality. My options then were > to try to find a working driver for Linux or to use a straight software > RAID. Anyone have any idea how the two of these compare? > > I read several claims that the software RAID in Linux is as fast or faster > than most of these fake RAIDs, but I remain a bit skeptical. Anyone know > about that? Stuff I read seemed to suggest that one downside of the fake > RAID is that it could only be read by that chipset (or a similar one) > while the software RAID could be read by any system with Linux (and > appropriate modules). I know an upside of fake RAID is that if you're > dual booting it can be read by Windows, but I'm not dual booting, so this > is a non-issue. > > I initially chose to go with the software RAID, thinking it would be > easier and more compatible, but I'm having a hell of a time getting Ubuntu > to setup the RAID and install. Right now my system won't boot properly > (seems it does not like having / on a RAID). So I have an opportunity to > reconsider my decision. > > Another related question is whether anyone know how the performance > compares of having two ordinary swap partitions set to the same priority > versus having a RAID0 swap partition using the two disk? Is one > significantly better than the other? Is neither all that useful? > > Finally, since Ubuntu's support for setting up a RAID at install seems > pretty bad, can anyone suggest distributions in which this goes more > smoothly? All things being equal, I probably prefer debian-based distros, > since that's what I'm familiar with. > > Thanks, > > Nick >
