What is the point of RAID?

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In a new box I decided to install Etch with a RAID array. In that box I
had two 1 TB hard drives to use for a RAID 1 array. I discovered that
there is much to installing a RAID array which is not explained in the
Installation Guide.

The installer does not allow / (root), /boot or swap to be part of a
RAID array. I consequently had to put them in only one of these hard
drives as "ordinary" partitions, along with /tmp.

The only partitions which are set up as RAID arrays are /usr, /var and
/home. At least that what I think is the case, as the df command only
shows "ordinary" partitions.

Now, I assume that the purpose of RAID is to guard against loss of data
if one of the drives in the array dies. In that case the data on the
good drive will serve until the dead drive is replaced.

If however the dead drive contains any of the / (root), /boot or swap
partitions, the box would be unusable; as access to the good drive would
be impossible. In such a situation I would not want to contemplate the
hoops I would have to jump through to salvage the data from the good drive.

The only way I can think of to avoid such a situation in this particular
box where there are only two drives in the RAID array, it to have a
third drive with everything but the /home partition stored in it, and
use the RAID array only for /home. If so, I wonder why I should bother
with RAID, as all data in the /home partition-directory needs to be
backed up periodically in any event.

Regards,

Ken Heard



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