second harddrive

CyberTron · 2005-06-26 09:04:29

Hi!

I have been thinking on this for a while...
.I know that if I have installed a Linux on / on hda1...then it runs out of space. Instead of cleaning up I now can get a new hardrive and mount it to / also.

My question is, what happens to the data? what if I need to reinstall? is it a hazard for corrupted files?

this is not something I am planning to do, but I would like to now how it works

xerxes2 · 2005-06-26 12:04:42

partitions hide other partitions if they are mounted at the same point,

so if you mount your second drive at / you can't use your first drive,

tomk · 2005-06-26 13:40:15

CyberTron wrote:

Instead of cleaning up I now can get a new hardrive

Not good as a general policy, IMO. Get a new hard drive if you feel you need it, but I'd recommend establishing why your disk filled up, and cleaning up where necessary.

I'd use the new disk for one of your existing directories e.g. /home or /var, not /.

CyberTron · 2005-06-26 13:43:27

Yes, I would never do this, my question was just in theory...

I have read somewhere that you may use two harddrives to be "one big" in Unix/Linux (just by mounting them to the same point) so I wanted to see if that was true, which it apparently are not...

tomk · 2005-06-26 15:49:37

CyberTron wrote:

I have read somewhere that you may use two harddrives to be "one big" in Unix/Linux

Maybe you were reading about Unionfs? It's mainly used in Live CDs so far (including Archie) but the way I understand it, you could use it in the circumstances you describe as well - although not quite as simply as mounting the two disks to the same mount point.

CyberTron · 2005-06-26 16:18:06

I'm not sure, i was reading this som etime ago in a swedish slackware forum...

so not sure if it were true or not...

archdaemon · 2005-06-26 23:36:30

CyberTron wrote:

Yes, I would never do this, my question was just in theory...
I have read somewhere that you may use two harddrives to be "one big" in Unix/Linux (just by mounting them to the same point) so I wanted to see if that was true, which it apparently are not...

It is, but not in the sense you have it. As mentioned, mounting to the same point hides the original mount. But the point of adding a second hard drive in the same FS is getting at the idea of mounting it somewhere else. Not at the same *mountpoint* but at a mountpoint on the *same filesystem*. Say you buy drive #2 and format it - mount it at /mnt/foo and copy over /home or /usr or /opt or something. Once that data is on, you can blow out everything under /home or /usr or /opt and then remount your new disk to the old directory/mount point. Then you still have an integrated FS with everything in its place and a lot more room.

I already had a second disk in but it's a similar principle - on one distro I hadn't intended to have any opt but ended up with a bit. So then I started running out room. So I moved /opt to a free partition on the other drive. Voila! Plenty of room.

But, again, as mentioned, that's only for when you know there's a good reason for running out of room. Otherwise, you need to do some filesystem administration rather than throwing more hardware at the problem. You noted that, but it bears repeating.

CyberTron · 2005-06-27 08:48:49

yes ou are right

I am, in fact, using different /home/names on different harddrives on my server...

thanx for clearing things up to me everyone

Arch Linux

#1 2005-06-26 09:04:29

second harddrive

#2 2005-06-26 12:04:42

Re: second harddrive

#3 2005-06-26 13:40:15

Re: second harddrive

#4 2005-06-26 13:43:27

Re: second harddrive

#5 2005-06-26 15:49:37

Re: second harddrive

#6 2005-06-26 16:18:06

Re: second harddrive

#7 2005-06-26 23:36:30

Re: second harddrive

#8 2005-06-27 08:48:49

Re: second harddrive

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