GoKawiilNetBSD's 2026 GSoC project extends RAIDframe with N-way RAID 1 and disk scrubbing
As part of Google Summer of Code 2026, contributor Emmanuel Nyarko has been enhancing NetBSD's RAIDframe disk management system. The work adds an N-way RAID 1 extension letting mirrors span more than two disks with one primary and multiple secondaries, and introduces scrubbing support to proactively detect read failures across disks.
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RAIDframe's existing two-disk cap on mirroring and lack of scrubbing left NetBSD trailing behind other RAID implementations in redundancy and reliability, especially since RAID 6 support remains unreliable. These improvements make NetBSD's storage layer more resilient to hardware failures and better suited for production use in mission-critical systems.
- N-way RAID 1 allows more than two mirrored disks, improving fault tolerance beyond the old two-disk limit.
- New scrubbing support proactively checks disks for read errors, a feature previously missing from RAIDframe.
- RAID level 6 in NetBSD remains poorly tested and is still not recommended for production use.
Seagate IronWolf NAS Internal Hard Drive — If you're experimenting with NetBSD's improved RAIDframe and N-way mirroring, you need matched drives built for constant array duty. Seagate's IronWolf line is designed for multi-drive NAS and RAID setups, so it's a natural fit for building out a mirror set or testing the new scrubbing support.
See Seagate IronWolf NAS Internal Hard Drive on Amazon → Affiliate link — we may earn a commission on purchases, at no extra cost to you. Product picked by AI based on this article; it is not a tested recommendation.Source: blog.netbsd.org, 2026-08-24
Published there as: “NetBSD GSoC 2026 Improving RAIDframe”
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