On 12/1/05, Jeff Nelson <stutterstutt at comcast.net> wrote: > > I'm considering swapping out SuSE 9.2 for Ubuntu (Breezy). What's > stopping me is that I have a multi-disk logical volume group. I've > looked at the LVG HOWTO at tldp.org and it seems that I should first > export the LVG and then import it when the new distribution is up and > running. > > The data are not backed up and I'm nervous about making a mistake. I'd > back it up if I knew of a reasonably-priced archive option that worked > on Linux that could handle 500GB of data (it could easily double in the > next year). That rules out popping over to the local store to pick up a > dual-layer DVD-RW. The data are already compressed so I do not expect to > achieve much by compressing while writing to tape, either. > > Now's your chance to offer advice. If you were me what would you do? > Should I just trust the LVG export/import capabilities? I plan to keep > the SuSE distribution available while I switch to Ubuntu, so hopefully I > could revert back if things go wrong. > > Personal replies will be summarized back to the list if you'd rather > send to me directly rather than the whole list. > You have 500GB of data that you're concerned about, and it's not backed up? Something wrong with that picture... Honestly, the whole process should be relatively painless if the data resides on disks/partitions and volume groups outside of your OS. -print out your /etc/fstab -run a vgcfgbackup /de/vgXX (VG you are backing up) and store it to a safe place such as a floppy, cdrom or network share -Install your OS -Modify your /etc/fstab to add in the VG/LV info from the other data -vgscan -mount -a There are a couple of caveats: 1) LVM2 is backwards compatible with LVM1, however LVM1 does not work with LVM2 2) Backups are critical. I'd suggest a disk to disk copy backup at least and a tape drive if you can. I have yet to really need to run a vgcfgrestore when swapping disks to another system if they are the only parts of the VG. Or, when reinstalling an OS. vgscan and the fstab modifications typically work. -- -Shawn -Nemo me impune lacessit. Ne Obliviscaris.. -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: http://shadowknight.real-time.com/pipermail/tclug-list/attachments/20051201/81b8942b/attachment.htm