Re: In-place migration to LVM?
On Wed, Nov 21, 2007 at 05:22:50PM +0100, Malte Forkel wrote:
>
> I have a data file collection on three hard disks, each with just one
> partition. The 'primary' partition has the complete directory structure.
> The two 'secondary' partitions partially mirror that directory structure.
> There are some data files on the primary partition. For each data file on
> one of the secondary partitions, there is a soft link to it from the
> primary partition. Each partition has a couple of GB space left.
> Is it possible to migrate these partitions into one logical volume without
> loosing or backing up the data? If I had a backup storage large enough to
> hold all the data ...
Ouch.
First, ensure that you have exhausted all backup options. Backup to
another machine?
How large are these disks? You say each has a couple of GB spare; is
that free-space on the drive or that a partition with a filesystem that
has some free space?
You don't necessarily need backup storage large enough for all the data,
just do do one partition at a time.
Is the data already compressed?
I've never tried resizing non-LVM partitions so I wouldn't attempt that
without a backup. Hey, I don't attempt anything without a backup;
including doing a backup.
Your best bet may be to buy a fourth disk and make it the firs physical
volume of a volume group, make your LV and put a filesystem on it.
Transfer one drives data to it and do the shell-game from there.
Or create an LV+filesystem and use it to hold a compressed tarball of
the first data partition. It all depends on the size of the data set
and the size of these drives.
Doug.
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