[mythtv-users] Should I use LVM on this new raid?

[Trey Thompson]

On 9/21/07, Brian Foddy <bfoddy at visi.com> wrote:
> Building a new mammoth backend server.  It has a
> 3ware 9650 8port raid card, and I'm starting out with
> 2 x 1000GB HDs, initially I plan them in raid0.  As
> the budget will allow I'll probably add a couple more
> and go to raid5.  I won't guess how many total drives
> it might grow to, probably 4-5 in a raid5 setup.  And
> starting with 1000GB drives pretty much locks me into
> that size forever.
>
> As I get acquainted with the raid card, it has pretty
> easy support for adding  new drives to the raid without
> reformatting.
>
> In addition to the videos, the raid will also hold other
> bulky backups, mirrors of internet dirs, and other misc
> storage as needed, but predominately video.
>
> Would people suggest I add LVM software on top of this,
> or will I have enough flexibility with just the raid?  Also,
> I've normally used XFS, but with LVM the inability to
> shrink a filesystem gives me pause about using it.
> I've always had good luck with XFS tho, and really like its
> deletion speed.  Question to myself, would I ever need to
> shrink the video filesystem?
>
> A multi-TB filesystem isn't something that is easy to
> backup and reformat...
>
> Thanks,
> Brian
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Not sure of everyone else's thought, but, I'd usually use LVM in place
of RAID, not in conjunction with.  But I'm sure others do it.  I use
it to dynamically expand my system.  Can your RAID card do that?  If
you setup RAID 0 (striping), you'll have 2TB of storage, but can your
card convert that to RAID 5 when you add more drives?  Never heard of
that before, but that doesn't mean it doesn't exist!  :)