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
- [UM-LINUX] RAIDs in linux Nick Cummings
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