[mythtv-users] Partitioning 1TB disk to MythTV

Andre mythtv-list at dinkum.org.uk
Tue Jun 29 15:51:14 UTC 2010


On 29 Jun 2010, at 00:22, Josu Lazkano wrote:

> Thanks for every post! I have lots of information to start with it. I
> ama  Debian user, I will install on Squeeze with debian-multimedia
> sources.
> 
> So first I will buy a 2,5 SATA drive to /, any recomendation?
> (capacity, rpm, file system type, ...)

Whatever is a good price because whatever you have will be much bigger than you need, 40GB is probably the smallest you will find new. If you want to run some other things maybe bigger is useful?
The database will be much quicker when it's on a separate drive to recordings so even a 4200rpm is probably good, 5400 is the normal though. I would get a single platter drive (9.5mm) as they are usually cooler and quieter.

MySQL guys don't recommend XFS for database files, EXT3 is a safe and reliable (well proven) bet, "I" wouldn't go with EXT4 just yet. H'mm my database files are on XFS, maybe I should change that!
I would put the OS install and everything except mythtv /recordings on the new drive, then it's also possible to spin the 1TB drive down when there are no recordings or playback, there are always some logs writing or something. My slave backend/ frontend does this because it is in the living room, also it is quieter because the database is on the master backend in the office, I also send logs remotely so there is very little disk activity other than recordings.

Andre

> 
> About the 1TB drive, I found this interesting link:
> http://www.mythtv.org/wiki/Optimizing_Performance#Combat_Fragmentation_2
> 
> Which is the best way to format the drive on Debian in XFS?
> 
> Thank you very much, I have lots of work to do.
> 
> Kind regards.
> 
> 2010/6/28 Jake <jakeisawake at gmail.com>:
>>> On Mon, Jun 28, 2010 at 8:08 AM, Josu Lazkano <josu.lazkano at gmail.com>
>>> wrote:
>>>> 
>>>> Thanks for your replyes, I am not any expert on this, so I must read
>>>> lots before start to config the partition, I used to select automatic
>>>> partition on my last Debian installs.
>>>> 
>>>> For the second drive, ¿which will be the ideal one? ¿SSD? My HTPC has
>>>> a small box, so it will be 2,5 inches, it is SATA.
>>> 
>>> 
>>> SSD is overkill, but would work well. If you need a 2.5, a basic laptop HDD
>>> will work fine as well. I used an old 40G IDE drive from a TiVo and it
>>> worked great. Boot was a little slow, but still plenty quick and I didn't
>>> see it waiting on the DB much. Recordings should go on a dedicated drive,
>>> you will be much happier as you start loading the system down with
>>> recordings and such. I had to switch after the fact, much harder than doing
>>> it right the first time.
>>> 
>>> I don't really recommend the slowest drive you can find either, but I had
>>> the 40G sitting in a box and wanted to see if it would help. It did. For the
>>> 1TB, I would do a single partition, XFS with the parameters mentioned on the
>>> wiki. Personally, I would skip LVM on a drive for recordings. You don't need
>>> it and it's another layer for the data to go through. If you want to expand,
>>> all you need to do is add another drive or replace the existing one with a
>>> file copy before starting Myth again. Another benefit to using the whole
>>> drive for recordings only. :)
>>> 
>> 
>> i totally support the above two recommendations. no need for LVM as
>> myth now supports multiple directories for everything. XFS is a good
>> choice but just be aware that you can't shrink an XFS partition if
>> that ever is an issue. even though myth supports media in multiple
>> directories you can always use aufs if you want an easier file system
>> to browse!
>> 
>> as for the distro choice, i am a debian user tracking testing and you
>> should have no more trouble installing and using myth than on another
>> distro. if you're a debian user and are looking for mythtv packages
>> you should know about http://debian-multimedia.org/ if you don't
>> already.  if you want to build from source apt-get build-dep mythtv
>> should bring in all the required dev packages but to run myth you
>> probably have to manually install a few things (mysql?)  good luck!
>> 
>> hth and welcome to the mythtv community!
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>> 
> 
> 
> 
> -- 
> Josu Lazkano
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