In a RAID 1 configuration, how many drives would ideally be mirrored?

In a RAID 1 configuration, data is mirrored across two or more drives to ensure redundancy and fault tolerance. The key aspect of RAID 1 is that it creates an exact copy of the data on one drive to another drive, meaning if one drive fails, the other still contains the complete set of data. Therefore, ideally, two drives are required for mirroring; one serves as the primary drive (the source) and the other as the mirrored backup.

Having additional drives beyond the minimum requirement does not enhance the mirroring itself but can provide additional fault tolerance in different RAID configurations. However, in a standard RAID 1 setup, the fundamental requirement is to have at least two drives that directly mirror each other. Thus, the correct answer reflects this foundational principle of RAID 1 configurations.