Software RAID is a good alternative to hardware raid. Disk Utility bundled with Ubuntu has a feature to create software RAID. We need to have an additional disk with similar or larger capacity.

1. In Ubuntu/Mint type disk and choose ‘Disk Utility.’
2. Go to File->Create->Raid Array.
3. Pick hard drives that have free, non-partitioned space.
4. Choose raid array size and click create.
5. If we get an error we need to install mdadm. Even otherwise we may prefer to install mdadm to manage the Array. The name is derived from the md (multiple device) device nodes it administers or manages. It replaced a previous utility mdctl. The original name was “Mirror Disk”. It was changed as the functionality increased. It is a free software under GPL.

mdadm can be installed from Ubuntu Software Center or from command line. Open terminal (ctrl+shift+t)  and type:

sudo apt-get install mdadm

enter password. choose yes and it is done.

For additional help on an alternative/manual method check this url: http://www.pwrusr.com/system-administration/add-raid-1-on-your-running-ubuntu-pt2-hands-on

© Sandeep Bhalla