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Erik
Asked: 2013-02-10 07:29:03 +0800 CST

Ubuntu 12.04 RAID 5/6: Native RAID or ZFS?

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I have 8 hard drives of different sizes that I want in a RAID 5 or 6 configuration, the OS is Ubuntu 12.04 desktop.

Does the native RAID in Ubuntu support RAID configurations with hard drives of different sizes? Can i grow the RAID in the future?

If not, is ZFS a good alternative to this?

I have looked at other alternatives like FlexRAID (support is terrible and documentation is just as reliable), UnRAID, and snapRAID but there seems to be limitations with each of them. But, ZFS seems to be a good long term solution for RAID management and growth.

ubuntu

1 Answers

  1. Different sizes? Hmm...

    Your software RAID can support drives of different sizes. As for ZFS, there are some caveats to understand before deployment. The main issue would be that RAIDZ volumes can't be expanded. ZFS mirrors are almost always a better option for growth. Also, there are some boot considerations when attempting to do this in Linux.

    However, if you're concerned about a long-term solution, wouldn't it make sense to try to obtain like-sized disks?

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