[Discuss] Multiple HDD setup in Linux

[David Bronaugh]

Murray Strome wrote:
> R. Langkamer wrote:
>> On 5/6/08 1:51 PM, Brian Burger wrote:
>>
>>> Last time I had to deal with multiple drives in one machine was
>>> several years ago when I still ran XP; I've managed nicely with just
>>> one partitioned harddrive in Linux until recently.
>>>
>>> As a result, I haven't a damn clue where to even start setting up  a
>>> multi-drive system in *nix... my old Windows habits come forward and I
>>> find myself thinking of D & E drives again...
>>>
>>> Here's the setup:
>>> Ubuntu 8.04
>>> 1 120GB HDD (a few years old, still solid, but stuffed to the brim 
>>> with files)
>>> 1 500GB HDD (new, not installed yet)
>>> ext3 across the board for formatting
>>>
>>> Currently I've got / as sda1, /home as sda2, no swap, no boot.
>>>
>>> I'd like to use the 500GB as the main drive, with /boot, /, /swap &
>>> the first part of /home on there, then use the entire 120GB as an
>>> extension of /home - ideally, set up so it's all seamless from the
>>> desktop end. I'm pretty sure I can set this up in LVM, but I'd
>>> appreciate pointers or links to current, usable tutorials & resources
>>> before I dive in!
>>>
>>> For bonus points, I'd like to install & partition the 500GB, leaving
>>> my data intact on the 120, then later copy my /home over to the new
>>> 500GB, then extend /home across into the entirety of the 120GB.
>>>
>>> I think 'dd' can handle the file movement side of this while keeping
>>> the permissions & such intact, and LVM looks flexible enough to handle
>>> the multi-stage re-deploying of partitions I'm thinking of above, but
>>> anyone with actual experience doing this sort of thing, please advise!
>>>
>>> (I'm going to fill a couple of DVDs with backups of stuff I really
>>> can't afford to loose, but hopefully the whole operation will go
>>> smoothly and I'll be able to destroy the backup DVDs unused...)
>>>
>>> I'll probably do a clean install of Ubuntu into the new partitions;
>>> there's a number of issues I"m having with my much-upgraded Ubuntu
>>> install that'll hopefully just go away with a clean install and lots
>>> more space to use...
>>>
>>> Thanks,
>>>
>>> Brian
>>
>>
>>     I'm unable to give details right now (I should be doing "work" 
>> instead of list lurking), but suffice to say, this is doable and as 
>> is the way in Linux land, there are many ways to accomplish this (off 
>> the top of my head, you can either use LVM or not, I am sure there 
>> are a few other ways as well though).
>>     Personally, I just put it all on one drive and if I had your 
>> drive configuration, I would use the 120GB as the main and the 500GB 
>> as the backup drive.
>>
> I am assuming that your 120GB HD is just two partitions, swap and /  
> -- is this correct? If so, this is what I would do (and what I have 
> done several times now)
>
> I would probably do a fresh install of Ubuntu (probably the new 
> version which I think is 8.04) on your new 500GB Drive. Just out of 
> habit, and since you will now have LOTS of space, I would select 
> manual partitioning:
>
> /  about 40GB should be plenty
> /usr about 40GB
> /etc about 10 GB
> /home maybe 150GB to make sure that you have room enough for 
> everything that you want from your old 120GB drive
> swap probably about twice as big as your RAM, but not a big deal.
> /Backup -- or whatever you want to call it for the rest of the space.  
> This will give you a partition where you can put anything you like, 
> like backups, or just some of your documents, photos, videos, 
> downloads or whatever.
I'd follow the KISS principle here instead.

/: 10gb
swap: 4gb
/home: the rest

You can put backup (and everything else) under /home. Keeps it simple, 
prevents you from swearing later.

David