dmraid

firmware RAID metadata discovery and activation

TLDR

List all RAID sets

$ dmraid -s

Activate all RAID sets

$ dmraid -ay

Activate specific RAID set

$ dmraid -ay [raidset_name]

Deactivate all RAID sets

$ dmraid -an

Show detailed RAID information

$ dmraid -s -s

List block devices

$ dmraid -b

Remove inactive RAID metadata

$ dmraid -E [/dev/sda]

dmraid discovers and activates software RAID sets using the Linux device-mapper. It supports various hardware RAID metadata formats including those from Intel, NVIDIA, VIA, and other motherboard RAID controllers.The tool reads RAID metadata from drives and creates device-mapper mappings that present the RAID array as a single block device. This enables Linux to work with "fake RAID" or "firmware RAID" commonly found on consumer motherboards.dmraid operates independently of the RAID controller's BIOS, allowing arrays to be used even without controller-specific drivers.

PARAMETERS

-s

Display RAID sets (double for details).

-ay

Activate RAID sets.

-an

Deactivate RAID sets.

-b

List block devices.

-r

List RAID devices.

-E DEVICE

Erase RAID metadata.

-n

Dry run (show but don't execute).

-v

Verbose output.

INSTALL

sudo pacman -S dmraid

sudo apk add dmraid

sudo zypper install dmraid

nix profile install nixpkgs#dmraid

CAVEATS

Only supports specific metadata formats. Some RAID levels may have limited support. Activating degraded arrays may risk data. Does not replace hardware RAID controllers or mdadm software RAID.

HISTORY

dmraid was developed by Heinz Mauelshagen at Red Hat to support hardware RAID metadata formats in Linux, addressing the need for compatibility with consumer motherboard RAID implementations that use software RAID with proprietary metadata formats. It is now largely unmaintained; most distributions have moved Intel IMSM and DDF "fake RAID" support to mdadm, which reads the same metadata and is the recommended tool for new setups.