After recently suffering some minor filesystem corruption, I've moved all of my data temporarily and now have the somewhat rare opportunity to re-layout all of my raid arrays. I should note that the OS (gentoo linux) boots from a mirrored pair of 160GB drives that are not included in any of this - changing the OS, or changing to a technology other than linux md-raid aren't really considerations. The case is a Norco 4020 - 20 bays if you aren't familiar (the OS drives are mounted internally, not in the hotswap bays).
As to data drives, this is what we have to work with:
6x 2TB 5900 RPM
3x 1TB 7200 RPM
9x 750GB 7200 RPM
I've currently got it built into 4 RAID-5 sets (still initializing, changes can be made without affecting data still), one each for the 1 and 2 TB drives, and two 4x750gb arrays, with an extra 750 ready for when I have my next failure. (I've had bad luck with 750's lately - used to have 12 of them). I take all of the arrays and use them as LVM physical volumes to tie it all together into a single filesystem.
I decided to split the 750's into two arrays to make it easier to slowly remove them to make room for newer/larger drives. As long as I have some free space, I can shrink the filesystem, then shrink the LVM logical volume, and then remove one of those arrays from the volume group.
Because of the pain involved in moving all the data around and rebuilding all the arrays, I don't plan on doing it again soon, so I want to make sure I get this right. Any other ideas on how to go about it?
As to data drives, this is what we have to work with:
6x 2TB 5900 RPM
3x 1TB 7200 RPM
9x 750GB 7200 RPM
I've currently got it built into 4 RAID-5 sets (still initializing, changes can be made without affecting data still), one each for the 1 and 2 TB drives, and two 4x750gb arrays, with an extra 750 ready for when I have my next failure. (I've had bad luck with 750's lately - used to have 12 of them). I take all of the arrays and use them as LVM physical volumes to tie it all together into a single filesystem.
I decided to split the 750's into two arrays to make it easier to slowly remove them to make room for newer/larger drives. As long as I have some free space, I can shrink the filesystem, then shrink the LVM logical volume, and then remove one of those arrays from the volume group.
Because of the pain involved in moving all the data around and rebuilding all the arrays, I don't plan on doing it again soon, so I want to make sure I get this right. Any other ideas on how to go about it?