Add drive to Logical volume and not lose data

umpalumpa1985 · 2010-03-31 20:58:36

Is there any way to take a drive with existing data and add a second drive and make a logical volume without losing data on the first drive. For example, I have a 1 TB drive nearing capacity, and a 200GB drive just sitting around doing nothing. Can i make an lvm array and not lose the preexisting data on the 1TB drive?

Last edited by umpalumpa1985 (2010-03-31 20:59:08)

umpalumpa1985 · 2010-07-08 02:36:36

Bump. Anybody?

mikesd · 2010-07-08 12:07:36

If the first drive was setup using LVM it would be possible to add another drive.

If the first drive is not setup on LVM then I don't think it is possible without copying the data off and back on.

zenlord · 2010-07-08 12:12:13

If I'm not mistaken, creating an LVM destroys all the data on the disk[*]. You will have to move all the existing data to another location to create the LVM and after that, you never have to worry again about capacity problems.

I will have the same problem in a couple of months. When I set up my RAID-5, I didn't take the time to read up on LVM. Upon adding a new drive to my RAID, I probably will have to move all the data...

[*] http://tldp.org/HOWTO/LVM-HOWTO/recipethreescsi.html

umpalumpa1985 · 2010-07-08 23:27:59

Great. Anybody got a spare 1 TB drive they can mail me ;-)

tomk · 2010-07-09 00:08:10

I'm told there are these places called "shops" where you might get one.

Seriously though - if you've almost filled 1TB, how much time is another 200GB going to last? You're going to need more TBs at some stage, so why not now?

umpalumpa1985 · 2010-07-09 01:48:47

Well, it was just an interim solution, I'm gonna get another TB. But it's all 1080p movies, and I just wanted to have them all in one folder, and I'm too lazy to structure it and make symlinks so that it looks like one folder :-) I have another couple hd bays open, so I was gonna add this 200gb drive, then the TB to the array when I got it.

Any magic way to to compress 965 gb to 200 gb, that way I could move the files, make the array, and move it back (I've got nothing but time, by the way!)

Arch Linux

#1 2010-03-31 20:58:36

Add drive to Logical volume and not lose data

#2 2010-07-08 02:36:36

Re: Add drive to Logical volume and not lose data

#3 2010-07-08 12:07:36

Re: Add drive to Logical volume and not lose data

#4 2010-07-08 12:12:13

Re: Add drive to Logical volume and not lose data

#5 2010-07-08 23:27:59

Re: Add drive to Logical volume and not lose data

#6 2010-07-09 00:08:10

Re: Add drive to Logical volume and not lose data

#7 2010-07-09 01:48:47

Re: Add drive to Logical volume and not lose data

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