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I've read that running multiple operating systems/boot partitions in RAID arrays doesn't always work as planned and is difficult at best. Is this true only of software RAID arrays? If so, that makes a lot of sense, as software RAID would run at the operating system level and if you have multiple operating systems, each one would have to be configured with RAID to work. Is it any easier to, for example, have a dual-boot system (Linux/Windows) in a hardware-driven RAID-10 array?

Will I be able, for instance, to install Linux (swap partition, ext4 partition for /, another ext4 partition for /home) alongside a Windows install (one NTFS partition) on a hardware RAID setup running two SSDs in RAID-0?

Naftuli Kay
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2 Answers2

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If the hardware RAID is capable of handling INT 13h then it will support any OS you can throw at it, from the earliest versions of DOS all the way to Windows 8/Linux 3/FreeBSD 9 and beyond. The OS will have to support the hardware RAID to get anywhere after the bootloader, of course.

Ignacio Vazquez-Abrams
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(This answer is oriented for Linux. But this is probably very similar for Windows.)

I believe that the answer is Yes - you can use Linux to partition a RAID.

See the article Linux Hardware RAID Howto for advice as regarding partitioning the RAID and configuring the kernel.

The article Installing Ubuntu Server on hardware RAID is interesting to read. It details the experience of one person when installing Ubuntu on a RAID and underlines the importance of having the right drivers. The article actually includes a workaround for the case where the RAID driver is missing, so Linux can see the disks but not the RAID. The simple solution is to install on one of the disks (swapping the other out) and only afterward building the RAID.

harrymc
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