From owner-freebsd-questions@FreeBSD.ORG Tue Mar 13 19:21:18 2007 Return-Path: X-Original-To: freebsd-questions@freebsd.org Delivered-To: freebsd-questions@freebsd.org Received: from mx1.freebsd.org (mx1.freebsd.org [69.147.83.52]) by hub.freebsd.org (Postfix) with ESMTP id D043816A405 for ; Tue, 13 Mar 2007 19:21:18 +0000 (UTC) (envelope-from cswiger@mac.com) Received: from mail-out4.apple.com (mail-out4.apple.com [17.254.13.23]) by mx1.freebsd.org (Postfix) with ESMTP id AC99213C44B for ; Tue, 13 Mar 2007 19:21:18 +0000 (UTC) (envelope-from cswiger@mac.com) Received: from relay6.apple.com (relay6.apple.com [17.128.113.36]) by mail-out4.apple.com (8.13.8/8.13.8) with ESMTP id l2DJLIIN008150; Tue, 13 Mar 2007 12:21:18 -0700 (PDT) Received: from relay6.apple.com (unknown [127.0.0.1]) by relay6.apple.com (Symantec Mail Security) with ESMTP id 26A3D10BBC; Tue, 13 Mar 2007 12:21:18 -0700 (PDT) X-AuditID: 11807124-9c41ebb0000007df-5b-45f6f9ae7809 Received: from [17.214.13.96] (cswiger1.apple.com [17.214.13.96]) (using TLSv1 with cipher AES128-SHA (128/128 bits)) (No client certificate requested) by relay6.apple.com (Apple SCV relay) with ESMTP id 173861012D; Tue, 13 Mar 2007 12:21:18 -0700 (PDT) In-Reply-To: <539c60b90703131212m731986b1p8603a86eca00d6b2@mail.gmail.com> References: <539c60b90703131212m731986b1p8603a86eca00d6b2@mail.gmail.com> Mime-Version: 1.0 (Apple Message framework v752.2) Content-Type: text/plain; charset=US-ASCII; delsp=yes; format=flowed Message-Id: Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7bit From: Chuck Swiger Date: Tue, 13 Mar 2007 12:21:17 -0700 To: Steve Franks X-Mailer: Apple Mail (2.752.2) X-Brightmail-Tracker: AAAAAA== Cc: User Questions Subject: Re: mirror without destroying existing contents X-BeenThere: freebsd-questions@freebsd.org X-Mailman-Version: 2.1.5 Precedence: list List-Id: User questions List-Unsubscribe: , List-Archive: List-Post: List-Help: List-Subscribe: , X-List-Received-Date: Tue, 13 Mar 2007 19:21:18 -0000 On Mar 13, 2007, at 12:12 PM, Steve Franks wrote: > Anyone made a mirror w/o destroying what's in the disk already? The > atacontrol man page is less than adequate in this respect...is is even > possible? Oh, yes-- it's certainly possible to create a mirror with live data, but one is advised to be cautious and have a full backup available in case of problems. With hardware-based ATA controllers like Promise, 3ware, etc, they should have a BIOS utility which you can use to create the mirror-- make sure to add the drive with valid data first, and then add the second or additional drives to the mirror set. The same approach ought to work with software-mirroring such as (g) vinum. -- -Chuck