[mythtv-users] Anyone using LVM2 w/ ext3 for video storage

[Andrew Close]

On Apr 1, 2005 9:39 AM, PAUL WILLIAMSON <pwilliamson at mandtbank.com> wrote:
<snip>
> 
> Related to this, I just picked up a new mobo last night with a
> 250gb sata drive.  The mobo has hardware raid (promise) and
> based on some of the posts to this list, this is not the
> best raid controller.  But, having said that, can I set
> this up and then add other drives to the Raid array
> and LVM later?  I know having a 1 drive RAID
> array does absolutely nothing, but having LVM
> set up with only one drive allows me to add drives
> to this without having to erase all the data on that
> drive when I want to do LVM...I already did that
> dance once...
> 
> Is having a hardware RAID and LVM overkill?

Paul,

i can't really answer your RAID question.  i was considering RAID when
i first started planning my MythBox, but from reading through this
list it didn't sound like RAID really offered a benefit.  in most
cases you're not too terribly worried about redundant backup since
you'll most likely delete a show after watching it. (in most cases ;) 
and performance isn't really an issue since ppl seem to prefer slower
drives since they are typically quieter.  maybe i'm mistaken, but i
was under the impression that RAID was overkill.  but hopefully if i'm
wrong someone will pipe up and educate me. :)
it definitely would be beneficial to create your LVM partitions up
front when building a new system.  not that it's difficult to retrofit
a system, but it can take a while to 'do the data dance' of shifting
large files back and forth.  i would suggest setting up LVM even if
you don't think you'll use it.  that way it's there when you change
your mind. :)  and if you really don't use it it's not a big deal; so
you spent an extra 15-30 minutes configuring your system when you
built it...