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Paul Hartman writes: |
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> - utilizing device labels and/or volume labels instead of hoping |
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> /dev/sda stays /dev/sda always |
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Good idea. Or use LVM. |
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> - better partitioning scheme than my current root, boot, home (need |
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> portage on its own, maybe /var as well?) |
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I like to have many partitions. When my /usr/portage/distfiles or /tmp |
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gets full, I do not want this to affect my system. |
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> - some kind of small linux emergency/recovery partition? equivalent to |
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> a liveCD maybe. |
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Maybe, but a liveCD is also fine and can be used elsewhere, too. |
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> - best filesystem for portage? something compressed or with small |
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> cluster size maybe. |
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I think reiserfs with the notail option is recommended. |
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> - omit/reduce number of reserved-for-root blocks on partitions where |
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> it's not necessary. |
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I reduce it for large partitions, but do not set it to 0 in order to |
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prevent fragmentation. |
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> - I have never used LVM and don't really know about it. Should I use |
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> it? will it make life easier someday? or more difficult? |
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A little more difficult in the first place, until you get used to it. But |
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if you need to change things later, it makes this much easier. /var is too |
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small? Well, enter lvresize -L +1G /dev/myvg/var && resize2fs |
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/dev/myvg/var and you have 1G more of space after half a minute. No need |
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to take the system down, boot a rescue system and use parted. |
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Short how-to: |
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- create some partitions you will use for LVM (/dev/sda[56789]) |
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- make them physical volumes: pvcreate /dev/sda[56789] |
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- make them a volume group: vgcreate myvg /dev/sda[56789] |
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- create logical volumes: lvcreate -L 5G -n usr myvg (/usr partition) |
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- create file system: mke2fs -j -L usr /dev/myvg/usr |
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> - Is RAID5 still a good balance for disk cost vs usable space vs data |
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> safety? I can't/don't want to pay for full mirroring of all disks. |
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Probably, if you need RAID. But I'd say RAID is not a real backup, so you |
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would need even more disks space for that. I prefer to use a 2nd disk for |
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backups I make frequently with rdiff-backup. They have the same structure |
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as the original, only that each partition has an additional 'rdiff-backup- |
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data' directory that stores the data of older snapshots. |
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Some months ago my main drive started having errors, so I took it out, |
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booted with a CD, renamed the volume group of the backup disk to that of |
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the original one ("vgrename backup system"), and that was all. Using RAID |
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would have been even easier, but does not help when I accidentally remove |
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a file, or want a file as it was a whiel ago. |
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Keeping the older snapshots needs some extra space, but this is |
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compensated by not having to backup everything including |
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/usr/portage/distfiles, /var/tmp/portage etc. |
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Wonko |
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