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Sure. First you set up a RAID5/6 array in mdadm. This is a purely software thing, which is built into the Linux kernel. It doesn't require any hardware RAID system. If you have 3-4 drives, RAID5 is probably best, and if you have 5+ drives RAID6 is probably best.
If your 3 blank drives are sdb1, sdc1, and sdd1, run this:
mdadm --create --verbose /dev/md0 --level=5 -n 3 /dev/sdb1 /dev/sdc1 /dev/sdd1This will create a block device called /dev/md0 that you can use as if it were a single large hard drive.
mkfs.btrfs /dev/md0That will make the filesystem on the block device.
This creates a mount point and mounts the filesystem.
To get it to mount every time you boot, add an entry for this filesystem in /etc/fstab
Do you need to do some maintenance to keep the data in the array intact?
I read of some btrfs scrub commands and md checks and such, but I am unsure how often to do them, and what they actually do.
In my system, the raid arrays seem to do periodic data scrubbing automatically. Maybe it's something that's part of Debian, or maybe it's just a default kernel setting. I don't think it helps much with data integrity -- I think it helps more just by ensuring the continued functionality of the drives.
When it's running, you can type
cat /proc/mdstatto see the progress.That command will also show you if there is a failing drive, so that you can replace it.
You should scrub your data regularly with btrfs. That's just a mean to verify the data is in-tact though; to detect corruption.
You cannot really do anything actively to keep the data in-tact. Failure can and will happen. To keep your data safe, you must plan for failure to happen:
Expect a power surge to fry all your disks at the same time.
Expect your house to burn down or flood.
Expect to run the wrong command and istantly hose your entire array.
Expect your backup server to get ransomware'd.
...
Only if you effectively mitigate these dangers will your data stay safe.
Thanks for the info!