How to best partition only 2 HDDs in my server

Hi, I recently got 2 1TB HDDs and I put them in my server box, they are nor formatted and were in a windows system.
They are totally fine, with very low usage, so I want to use them.
I am thinking of creating a logical volume on my server running ubuntu server, is that the best solution ? And if possible how to do it and whether I am better doing that or going the route of a RAID setup.

sorry if I am a bit confusing, I just want to know before I commit my files and images in them

I lean towards a mirror. Will your OS be on an SSD?

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+1 on the mirror. It’s a RAID1 setup that essentially copies your data to both disks simultaneously, so each disk has all the data. That means if one disk goes bad, your data is still fine on the other disk. If you can get one or more disks of the same size (or larger) you can “upgrade” the system to RAID5 (1 extra disk) or RAID6 (2 or more extra disks). The extra disks allow for extra redundancy but at the same time also extra storage space.

One extra disk gives you the option for RAID5, which means you double the capacity but still have a single drive for redundancy and any one of the 3 disks can fail and you’d still have your data intact.

With 4 drives (2 you have now, plus 2 more) you can set up a RAID6. That means you’ll double the capacity like RAID5, but now you can have 2 random drives fail before losing data.

Some people advocate for RAID10 when using 4 drives, “because it’s faster”. I don’t, 'cause any RAID config that has a 0 (zero) in it means you’ll loose data sooner then you’d think :roll_eyes:

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s/if/when/

I prefer RAID 1+0 to RAID 5 on today’s hardware, in part because of shorter rebuild times.

I’ve never used RAID10, let alone rebuilding one. But I strongly recommend having a good backup. RAID10 has essentially a redundancy of 1 disk and if you’re very very very lucky a 2nd failure doesn’t destroy the array.

There’s 2 kinds of data-hoarders: those who’ve lost data and those who haven’t lost data, yet. I’m in the former group :file_cabinet:

My OS is running on a separate SSD, yes.
and one problem is that I don’t have extra sata ports on MOBO, my SSD is a sata one.

I will see if i can get a 3rd drive and do a RAID5 like suggested, 2TB of storage is fine for me, for now.

If I can get the drives, how can I apply the RAID5 ? i have an option on bios, but if that doesn’t work or doesn’t support the drives, how would i do it ?

RAID helps with availability. You’re right that it’s no substitute for (tested) backups.