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5.1. Software RAID
Redundant Array of Independent Disks "RAID" is a method of using multiple disks to provide different balances of increasing data reliability and/or increasing input/output performance, depending on the RAID level being used. RAID is implemented in either software (where the operating system knows about both drives and actively maintains both of them) or hardware (where a special controller makes the OS think there's only one drive and maintains the drives 'invisibly').
The RAID software included with current versions of Linux (and Ubuntu) is based on the 'mdadm' driver and works very well, better even than many so-called 'hardware' RAID controllers. This section will guide you through installing Ubuntu Server Edition using two RAID1 partitions on two physical hard drives, one for / and another for swap.