Linux Software RAID - A Belt and a Pair of Suspenders

[ Thanks to An Anonymous Reader for this link. ]

"The original intent of RAID was to improve IO performance as well as using smaller disks to create larger virtual disks (although the phrase “virtual” disk was not originally used, in this age of “virtual-everything” it seems appropriate). The basic concept was then embraced and developed from the 1987 inception to today.

"RAID has evolved into a technology that is ubiquitous as storage drives themselves. It allows system designers to add in performance while also providing some additional data protection (don’t forget to wear your “belt”). There are many choices with RAID such as various RAID levels and software and/or hardware RAID. Software RAID means the RAID functionality is provided in software by the OS. Hardware RAID means the RAID functionality is provided by a card, usually in a PCI or PCIe slot. There a couple of articles that can present the pros and cons of the various RAID options, here and here. But this article will focus on software RAID with Linux using the md capability of Linux"

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