From owner-freebsd-questions@FreeBSD.ORG Thu Dec 29 16:22:04 2005 Return-Path: X-Original-To: freebsd-questions@freebsd.org Delivered-To: freebsd-questions@freebsd.org Received: from mx1.FreeBSD.org (mx1.freebsd.org [216.136.204.125]) by hub.freebsd.org (Postfix) with ESMTP id 0CFED16A41F for ; Thu, 29 Dec 2005 16:22:04 +0000 (GMT) (envelope-from bsd@bathnetworks.com) Received: from lmail.bathnetworks.co.uk (mail.bathnetworks.com [84.92.24.252]) by mx1.FreeBSD.org (Postfix) with ESMTP id 09A0B43D49 for ; Thu, 29 Dec 2005 16:22:02 +0000 (GMT) (envelope-from bsd@bathnetworks.com) Received: (qmail 7543 invoked by uid 510); 29 Dec 2005 16:24:31 +0000 Received: from 84.92.24.252 by lmail.bathnetworks.co.uk (envelope-from , uid 508) with qmail-scanner-1.24-st-qms (clamdscan: 0.87/1146. spamassassin: 3.0.2. perlscan: 1.24-st-qms. Clear:RC:0(84.92.24.252):SA:0(-3.8/5.0):. Processed in 2.431862 secs); 29 Dec 2005 16:24:31 -0000 X-Spam-Status: No, hits=-3.8 required=5.0 X-Antivirus-MYDOMAIN-Mail-From: bsd@bathnetworks.com via lmail.bathnetworks.co.uk X-Antivirus-MYDOMAIN: 1.24-st-qms (Clear:RC:0(84.92.24.252):SA:0(-3.8/5.0):. Processed in 2.431862 secs Process 7536) Received: from mail.bathnetworks.com (HELO ?84.92.24.252?) (bsd@bathnetworks.com@84.92.24.252) by lmail.bathnetworks.co.uk with SMTP; 29 Dec 2005 16:24:28 +0000 From: Robert Slade To: Joe Auty In-Reply-To: <336CE4EB-C1F3-4C6E-8057-1F068BFEE3BA@netmusician.org> References: <1135847660.2006.14.camel@lmail.bathnetworks.co.uk> <336CE4EB-C1F3-4C6E-8057-1F068BFEE3BA@netmusician.org> Content-Type: text/plain Message-Id: <1135873468.5677.8.camel@lmail.bathnetworks.co.uk> Mime-Version: 1.0 X-Mailer: Ximian Evolution 1.4.6 (1.4.6-2) Date: Thu, 29 Dec 2005 16:24:28 +0000 Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7bit Cc: "freebsd-questions@freebsd.org" Subject: Re: your advice on vinum, RAIDs 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: Thu, 29 Dec 2005 16:22:04 -0000 On Thu, 2005-12-29 at 15:05, Joe Auty wrote: > On Dec 29, 2005, at 4:14 AM, Robert Slade wrote: > > > On Thu, 2005-12-29 at 06:09, Joe Auty wrote: > >> Hello, > >> > >> I've been considering buying another hard drive for my FreeBSD > >> machine, and building a RAID with my current hard drive so that both > >> drives are treated as one. > >> > >> Do any of you have experience in this area? Is this advisable? I'm > >> assuming I'd be looking at creating a RAID-5? Can this be done > >> without reformatting my current drive? Does this setup work well? Do > >> you have any general advice for me? I need to know if there is risk > >> involved here. > >> > >> > >> > >> Thanks in advance! > > > > Joe, > > > > It depends on what you need to do. If you just want data integrity > > then > > you need raid 1 - mirroring and GEOM is your friend. There is a good > > section in the Handbook on setting a GEOM raid 1 without formatting > > the > > original drive. > > > > > > If you are also looking for more drive space, then raid 5 gives a > > measure of both. > > > > In both cases, the warning of backing up the system first applies. > > > > > Hmmm..... What I need is more drive space. Should I look at GEOM > rather than vinum? Do you know whether the drives would need to be > reformatted in order to setup the RAID? > > I'll definitely heed your advice on backing up the drive first! Joe, I if you are not worried about integrity, I would leave Raid alone. To add more space, just the drive and mount it. I have just added more space on a machine by mounting a new drive as /data and copying the home dirs across then relinking the /home dir to home. Have a look at: http://www.freebsd.org/doc/en_US.ISO8859-1/books/handbook/disks-adding.html Rob