[RAID] Configure multiple RAID5 drives as the OS (Ubuntu) partition.

Ubuntu 22.04 RAID5 Configuration

Drive Type: NVMe U.2 SSD

Size: 3.84TB

QTY: 4

Begin Ubuntu 22.04 Installation.

Configure storage layout to custom.

There are four available Samsung 3.84TB disks.

Set the drive as a Boot Device.

This will create the /boot/efi partition. This is the first one named, “partition 1”. The /boot/efi partition cannot be created as RAID5. Now all 4x Samsung drives are bootable in case one drive fails. You can see this partition listed under, “USED DEVICES”.

Next add a GPT Partition on the first local disk.

The new partition should be 1GB and leave it unformatted.

You will see “partition 2…” as the newly created 1.000G entry. Now add another GPT Partition using the “free space”.

Create a 10g unformatted partition.

You will see “partition 3…” as the newly created 1.000G entry. Now add another GPT Partition using the “free space”.

Create the past unformatted partition using the remaining available space on the drive. Leaving the value blank will do this.

The task to configure the 1^st drive is completed. The purpose of this task is to prepare space for the defined partitions of /boot, swap, and / (root).

Now repeat the same steps on the 2^nd local disk.

Once that task has been completed, you should see an exact copy of local disk 1 and local disk 2.

Again, follow the same steps for the 4^th local disk.

Now all 4x NVMe U.2 3.84TB SSD have the same partition configurations. The next step is to create the RAID5.

Here is the menu selection when creating the RAID. You can name the RAID and choose the RAID level. The next step is to select the desired partitions/drives.

Select RAID Level: 5. There is a minimum of 3x drives for a RAID5 configuration.

For the 1^st RAID5 configuration, select the 4x “partition 2”. The idea is to group together all 1GB partitions to create the /boot which will be assigned later.

Under “USED DEVICES” it is displaying “partition 2” as RAID 5 named as “md0”.

Next step is to create the RAID5 “partition 3” from the four disks which has the size 10GB. The name is “md1”.

Now you will see that partition added to “USED DEVICES”.

Now create another RAID5 named “md2”. This will contain the remaining four “partition 4” with the size 3.481TB disks.

Finally, all 4x Samsung local disks are prepared with the same exact partitions (1-4).

The next phase is to create the /boot, swap, and / (root) partitions on RAID md0, md1, and md2. Select “md0” and add GPT partition.

In the Adding GPT partition to md0 options, leave the size blank. Leaving the value blank will use all available space in this partition. The format should be set to “ext4”. The mount is set to “/boot”.

Looking at the “FILE SYSTEM SUMMARY”, you can see that “/boot” has been added.

On “md2”, add GPT partition.

Same as before, leave the size “blank”. The format will be set to “swap”.

At the top under “FILE SYSTEM SUMMARY”, you will see the “swap” partition added. The total size is based off of the 4x disks under RAID5 configuration. Under “USED DEVICES”, you can see the actual sizes on disk.

The remaining RAID, “md1” will be added as the ‘/’ (root) partition.

Same as before, leave the size “blank”. The format is “ext4” and the mount is “/”.

Now all 4x Samsung disks and partitions are prepared as RAID5. Press “Done” to begin writing to the drives.