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I am new to Linux/Ubuntu and am trying to learn.

I have a new PC with 1 SSD (m2) for O/S (Ubuntu 22.04.01 LTS) and 4 HDD (4TB each) for storage. I want to create a raid5 of the four 4TB HDD. Motherboard is a MSI z690 Unify-x with the most recent bios version installed. CPU is an Intel i9-12900k.

At the BIOS level, I can create a raid5 set of the four 4TB HDD and it shows that it is sized appropriately (10.9TB).

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When I boot the O/S, there are a couple of error messages from device manager about unknown target types.

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In "disks" the device size (5.4TB) is smaller than the BIOS (10.9TB)

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I can't find away to get the raid5 device to be the proper 10.9TB size.

dmraid shows the four 4TB drives in the raid set and the proper (10.9TB) total size.

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This shows both disks and lsblk, which I used to verify the GUI did not have a size limitation:

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What do I need to do to get a 10.9TB raid5 volume using the four 4TB hdd? I have tried a new install of Ubuntu and also a "try Ubuntu" install all with the same results. The pictures were taken over different attempts, including changing the volume name from raid5_1 to r5_1. But the results are always the same. The four HDD are new and have no data on them, so I can format as needed. The system will not be dual-booted to other operating systems.

As a second question, is using Intel Raid Storage Technology at the BIOS level true hardware raid? It configures and feels a lot like software raid, so I am pretty sure it is "fake raid"?

Artur Meinild
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SkiBum
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1 Answers1

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After days of searching and researching, I have come to the conclusion that RAID5 is not heavily used in the consumer space. There are very few responses to most RAID based questions on this forum and in many others.

Going with hardware based RAID, on the surface felt like the best idea, but the requirement of vendor supplied drivers made me concerned about the manufacture dropping support of a specific card, and that the current driver may not work with future versions of the operating system. Which would leave me in an ultimately unsupported configuration.

Software raid has similar challenges as well. That, and I just don't trust software raid.

I worked in the technology hosting environment and my mindset had always been driven by what we did there. Stepping back, I looked at what I was trying to protect in my data. Most of the storage would have been media files, that I can recreate if I wanted (music and movies that I have the media for). The exception would be pictures or personal videos. So, instead of using RAID for data protection of things I could recreate, I decided to just backup the files I could not recreate. I will use an external USB drive for items that can't be reproduce and connect that occasionally to make a new backup. When not connected, I will store it in a fire proof safe. That will provide security for data corruption, hardware failure and accidental deletion (because it is not connected) as well as fire, theft or some other bad thing.

Also, I can buy a large backup USB drive(s) for less than I would spend on a quality hardware raid controller.

It took a long-time to switch my mindset away from RAID, but that is the route that I am going. I had wanted RAID5 for speed, redundancy and least lost space caused by RAID.

I am posting so others can see one person's logic. It may not apply to everyone, but it will work for me.

SkiBum
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