From owner-freebsd-questions@FreeBSD.ORG Thu Dec 29 15:05:07 2005 Return-Path: X-Original-To: freebsd-questions@freebsd.org Delivered-To: freebsd-questions@freebsd.org Received: from mx1.FreeBSD.org (mx1.freebsd.org [216.136.204.125]) by hub.freebsd.org (Postfix) with ESMTP id 181B016A420 for ; Thu, 29 Dec 2005 15:05:07 +0000 (GMT) (envelope-from joe@netmusician.org) Received: from netmusician.org (netmusician.org [209.67.223.75]) by mx1.FreeBSD.org (Postfix) with ESMTP id B1CC143D49 for ; Thu, 29 Dec 2005 15:05:02 +0000 (GMT) (envelope-from joe@netmusician.org) Received: from localhost (unknown [127.0.0.1]) by netmusician.org (Postfix) with ESMTP id 2902F730C6; Thu, 29 Dec 2005 10:13:21 -0500 (EST) Received: from netmusician.org ([127.0.0.1]) by localhost (netmusician.org [127.0.0.1]) (amavisd-new, port 10024) with ESMTP id 59308-10; Thu, 29 Dec 2005 10:13:20 -0500 (EST) Received: from [192.168.0.2] (12-223-193-72.client.insightbb.com [12.223.193.72]) (using TLSv1 with cipher RC4-SHA (128/128 bits)) (No client certificate requested) by netmusician.org (Postfix) with ESMTP id 82413730AA; Thu, 29 Dec 2005 10:13:16 -0500 (EST) In-Reply-To: <1135847660.2006.14.camel@lmail.bathnetworks.co.uk> References: <1135847660.2006.14.camel@lmail.bathnetworks.co.uk> Mime-Version: 1.0 (Apple Message framework v746.2) Content-Type: text/plain; charset=US-ASCII; delsp=yes; format=flowed Message-Id: <336CE4EB-C1F3-4C6E-8057-1F068BFEE3BA@netmusician.org> Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7bit From: Joe Auty Date: Thu, 29 Dec 2005 10:05:00 -0500 To: Robert Slade X-Mailer: Apple Mail (2.746.2) X-Virus-Scanned: by amavisd-new at netmusician.org Cc: "freebsd-questions@freebsd.org" Subject: Re: your advice on vinum, RAIDs X-BeenThere: freebsd-questions@freebsd.org X-Mailman-Version: 2.1.5 Precedence: list List-Id: User questions List-Unsubscribe: , List-Archive: List-Post: List-Help: List-Subscribe: , X-List-Received-Date: Thu, 29 Dec 2005 15:05:07 -0000 On Dec 29, 2005, at 4:14 AM, Robert Slade wrote: > On Thu, 2005-12-29 at 06:09, Joe Auty wrote: >> Hello, >> >> I've been considering buying another hard drive for my FreeBSD >> machine, and building a RAID with my current hard drive so that both >> drives are treated as one. >> >> Do any of you have experience in this area? Is this advisable? I'm >> assuming I'd be looking at creating a RAID-5? Can this be done >> without reformatting my current drive? Does this setup work well? Do >> you have any general advice for me? I need to know if there is risk >> involved here. >> >> >> >> Thanks in advance! > > Joe, > > It depends on what you need to do. If you just want data integrity > then > you need raid 1 - mirroring and GEOM is your friend. There is a good > section in the Handbook on setting a GEOM raid 1 without formatting > the > original drive. > > > If you are also looking for more drive space, then raid 5 gives a > measure of both. > > In both cases, the warning of backing up the system first applies. > Hmmm..... What I need is more drive space. Should I look at GEOM rather than vinum? Do you know whether the drives would need to be reformatted in order to setup the RAID? I'll definitely heed your advice on backing up the drive first! ----------- Joe Auty NetMusician: web publishing software for musicians http://www.netmusician.org joe@netmusician.org