I am a new Ubuntu user with a fresh installation, and am eager to get started with it. However, all of my important data is on Windows software RAID 0 array, and I need it to stay there as I'm also dual booting Windows. I need access to this data on Ubuntu, and can't really get anything real done until I have access.
I have already researched this subject as best as I could, and I managed to find a very helpful post:
The post describes how to get Ubuntu to see a Windows RAID 0 array that is made up of two drives. The main command used is sudo mdadm --build /dev/md0 --chunk=64 --level=0 --raid-devices=2 /dev/sdd2 /dev/sdc2
. According to that user, and the other posters in the thread, it actually does work. That's great.
I have not tried following these instructions yet. Why? The post includes a warning about how you must not write to it if you enter the wrong chunk size; it's understandable how that could cause problems. My concern is that my setup is different to their example, and I am not sure that the commands should be entered exactly the same for my setup. I am afraid to break it by doing it wrong, and therefore wish to get the advice of somebody more experienced.
This is how my setup differs from their example:
- I have three 1 TB drives, not two drives (of whatever size they used).
- I have two RAID 0 partitions spread across those three drives: one 500 GB and 2.3 TB. This means that I need to NOT use the full disks when creating the RAID array, but instead use just part of them.
- I used a non-default block size for at least one of my RAID 0 partitions when I set them up years ago. I have no idea if this block size is the same as the chunk size that they mention. My 500 GB partition has a block size of 4 kb (4096 bytes per cluster), and my 2.3 TB partition has a block size of 64 kb (65536 bytes per cluster).
The relevant output from sudo lsblk -o NAME,FSTYPE,SIZE,MOUNTPOINT,LABEL
(for just those three RAID0 drives) is:
NAME FSTYPE SIZE MOUNTPOINT LABEL
sdb 931.5G
├─sdb1 1M
├─sdb2 127M
└─sdb3 931.4G
sdc 931.5G
├─sdc1 1M
├─sdc2 127M
└─sdc3 931.4G
sdd 931.5G
├─sdd1 166.7G
└─sdd2 764.7G
The relevant output from cat /proc/partitions
(for just those three RAID0 drives) is:
8 16 976762584 sdb
8 17 1024 sdb1
8 18 130048 sdb2
8 19 976631478 sdb3
8 32 976762584 sdc
8 33 1024 sdc1
8 34 130048 sdc2
8 35 976631478 sdc3
8 48 976762584 sdd
8 49 174763008 sdd1
8 50 801865728 sdd2
The "Disks" program in Ubuntu displays the following partitions for my drives:
/dev/sdb: GUID Partition Table .
/dev/sdb1: 1.0 MB, Microsoft LDM metadata.
/dev/sdb2: 133 MB, Microsoft Reserved.
/dev/sdb3: 1.0 TB, Microsoft LDM data.
/dev/sdc: GUID Partition Table partitioning.
/dev/sdc1: 1.0 MB, Microsoft LDM metadata.
/dev/sdc2: 133 MB, Microsoft Reserved.
/dev/sdc3: 1.0 TB, Microsoft LDM data.
/dev/sdd: Master Boot Record partitioning.
/dev/sdd1: 179 GB, Unknown.
/dev/sdd2: 821 GB, Unknown.
/dev/sdd: 136 MB, Unallocated space.
I hope I've provided enough information here. So now, my question is this: what is the proper command for me to enter with my setup, so that I can access both of my Windows RAID 0 partitions from Ubuntu?
Thank you very much in advance.