[mythtv-users] Drive specs best for Myth

Michael T. Dean mtdean at thirdcontact.com
Mon Apr 23 19:45:01 UTC 2007


On 04/23/2007 12:57 PM, Kevin Kuphal wrote:
> My LVM isn't stripped or anything so it is really just a bunch disks 
> glued together but perhaps the single spanned filesystem isn't helping 
> either.
>   

Yeah.  That's the part that I think causes the issues. 

Uneducated guessing:  It seems to me that having a filesystem that spans 
multiple drives means every change to the filesystem requires waiting 
until the drive on which the filesystem headers and/or journal is 
written is available.  If so, even with multiple spindles, you may have 
single-spindle performance (or worse because of differences in seeking 
requirements).

> Ultimately I think my best bet if my /var migration doesn't pan out is 
> to get a big 500 or 750GB PATA drive and use it to unLVM my system and 
> then use it for DVD rip and Video storage since it will likely be the 
> slowest per-spindle performance due to it's size. 

I have 3 750GB disks and--although they run /very/ hot--love them.  I 
used the first of mine to break up an LVM for myself.  A friend for whom 
I maintain a Myth box just deleted shows about which he didn't care to 
get the amount of space he was using down to an amount smaller than his 
available "extra" space on other systems (he wouldn't let me break his 
up before I started using my 750GB's).  Another approach is to get a 
drive larger than the largest drive in your LVM--even if it's smaller 
than the entire volume--and move/"condense"/shrink the filesystem of the 
LVM (if possible with your filesystem).  But, IMHO, the cost of a 750GB 
(or two) is worth the time savings for doing it the easy way and the 
long-term benefit (having enough recorded HDTV to get you through the 
off-season) is icing.  :)

Mike


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