Topic: Multiple Hard Drives

[timmer]

Would it be possible to incorporate an advanced install to define the file system such as Red Hat's disk druid.  This would allow the /home directory to be configured on a different drive (see Quota request).  

I really like the test install of e-smith I did, I just think it would be better if the /home directory where everyone would put files wasn't on the same partition as /.

[Robert Scifleet]

Multiple Hard Drive support would be good and the support for ide raid andtimmer wrote:
>
> Would it be possible to incorporate an advanced install to
> define the file system such as Red Hat's disk druid.  This
> would allow the /home directory to be configured on a
> different drive (see Quota request).
>
> I really like the test install of e-smith I did, I just think
> it would be better if the /home directory where everyone
> would put files wasn't on the same partition as /.

[Avinesh Bangar]

I agree that multiple hard drive support is a must nowadays.  

Most servers today are configured for multiple hard drives for redundancy and security -- why aren't multiple hard drives supported other than in RAID 1 mode?

So my wish list is:
- Multiple hard drive support (3+)
- Support for SCSI and IDE hard drives, allowing you to utilize both simultaneously

[Kees Blokland]

I had the same sentiments, and some smaller harddrives.

It occured to me that it should be possible to mount drives under any dorectory you like. Since last night I now have a 39G server made up from a 2+8+9+19G set.
2G is the main disk where I installed the normal e-smith stuff, the rest is used for ibays (19G) music(9G) users(. Ive just dumped the contents of my NT server in it, and all seems well!.
Since I'm still wet behind the ears as far as Linux is concerned, there might be issues here, that I have not discovered yet, so input from more knowledgable persons is highly appreciated!

This is my internal Howto:

I built a box with a 2G primary disk first and installed everything from a CD as usual. Once the install is completed, disconnect the cd. You now have 3 extra connections for ide drives. ( scsi is much easier of course)
Put all your fav. disks in the box and you are ready to go!

The directory structure is normally like this:
/home/e-smith/files/ibays
/home/e-smith/files/ibays/music
/home/e-smith/files/users

To add disks:  ( from: www.linuxnewbie.org/nhf/intel/hardware/hd_add.html)

connect the disk(s) to you motherboard and look at dmesg |more
see what the new disks are called.

mine were:

/dev/hdb  /dev/hdc and /dev/hdd
You need to partition them. I choose a single partition per disk.

fdisk /dev/hdb
fdisk /dev/hdc    
fdisk /dev/hdd

and create the partition with 'n'. don't forget to write it to the disk!
then

mkfs /dev/hdb1
mkfs /dev/hdc1
mkfs /dev/hdd1

make some directories under the / . I made 'ibays' and 'users'
( this is on the 2 G main disk)

mkdir users
mkdir ibays

copy the contents (should not be much) from  /home/e-smith/files/ibays/
to /ibays/

same for users..  ( you end up with  /home/e-smith/files/ibays/ibays, but
you have to keep the stuff in the original ibays somewhere, you can't (want)
keep the stuff in root.. think about it for a while..)

now use vi to edit /etc/fstab
my edited fstab now looked like this

LABEL=/               /                                    ext2    defaults 1 1
LABEL=/boot         /boot                              ext2    defaults 1 2
#/dev/hdb1              /home/e-smith/files/ibays/music ext2    defaults 1 1
/dev/hdc1               /home/e-smith/files/ibays ext2    defaults 1 1
/dev/hdd1               /home/e-smith/files/users ext2    defaults 1 1
/dev/cdrom             /mnt/cdrom                     iso9660 noauto,owner,ro 0 0
/dev/fd0                  /mnt/floppy                     auto       noauto,owner    0 0
none                      /proc                              proc       defaults        0 0
none                      /dev/pts                          devpts    gid=5,mode=620  0 0
/dev/hda5               swap                              swap     defaults 0 0

do a:  mount -a

and bingo.. all is well.
manually copy the files in ibays to the right place.
now create users, ibays etc..

Please note the asterix in front of hdb1
Since the music drive is mounted under the other one, you can not mount them at the same time the first time around. It's simply a matter of doing a mount -a twice, and editing the fstab in between. This is only a one-time affair.

I'm still tinkering with all this, but it looks good. Also maybe an idea not to create any users or ibays until you've done the setup.

Not quite an automatic install, but it does give my old drives a good home!