Hard Drive / Install Configuration for repeated installs

[super]

Now that 710b3 is out, I intend to install it and play around with this version of LMCE. I do have a question/suggestion for documentation (willing to document it myself if the answers are given on this thread).

How do you setup your hard-drive configuration so you can re-install LMCE without erasing your media?
e.g. If I have 2 hard-drives, 500 GB each, am I required to reserve ALL of one drive for LMCE (this is overkill in terms of space needed)? I was thinking of partitioning the first drive to 100 & 400 GB partitions and use the 400 GB partition for recording TV etc. Is 100 GB sufficient for LMCE for the long term? Will re-install of the next LMCE version erase my 400 GB partition TV recordings? What about the other 500 GB hard-drive? Do I need to unplug it when re-installing LMCE to prevent erasing my media? I am asking this because I know I will end up re-installing LMCE atleast 2 - 3 times before it is 'finalized'.

I can collect answers from here and put out a 'best practice' on the Wiki if people post answers to this thread.

Thanks
super

[totallymaxed]

Now that 710b3 is out, I intend to install it and play around with this version of LMCE. I do have a question/suggestion for documentation (willing to document it myself if the answers are given on this thread).

How do you setup your hard-drive configuration so you can re-install LMCE without erasing your media?
e.g. If I have 2 hard-drives, 500 GB each, am I required to reserve ALL of one drive for LMCE (this is overkill in terms of space needed)? I was thinking of partitioning the first drive to 100 & 400 GB partitions and use the 400 GB partition for recording TV etc. Is 100 GB sufficient for LMCE for the long term? Will re-install of the next LMCE version erase my 400 GB partition TV recordings? What about the other 500 GB hard-drive? Do I need to unplug it when re-installing LMCE to prevent erasing my media? I am asking this because I know I will end up re-installing LMCE atleast 2 - 3 times before it is 'finalized'.

I can collect answers from here and put out a 'best practice' on the Wiki if people post answers to this thread.

Thanks
super

The only way to use soft partitions at present is to use the CD installer... this will allow you to target a specific partition on your physical drive that has been sized to suit your needs. The downside of the CD installer is that it will take much longer to install... 20 mins doe the DVD v's 2+hours for a CD install.

[tkmedia]

I currently store all media on a nas drive to address this Issue -
My e-Sata drive should work the same way.

[fibres]

Dito TKMEDIA

I also use a nas to store my media so that I can reinstall mce without loss.
I have a 500gb hard drive which I use just for linuxmce. This is over kill but I had it lying around and cannot really buy smaller or at least here in uk 500gb is about the best to uy for price.

You do not need a nas. As super suggested using one drive for linuxmce and the other for data will work fine. Dont know if you need to unplug the data drive when reinstalling but wont harm and will make sure no damage is done.
The other option is if you have a small drive lying round say 80-120gb use that as a linuxmce drive and the other 1 for data. This way you can use the dvd install which I will advise as a much better option having installed mce numerous times using both mehods.

Running them in the same machine is fine. I only use the nas as again I had a linksys box which makes a usb drive into a nas and a spare external usb drive going spare from a previous project.

[totallymaxed]

Dito TKMEDIA

I also use a nas to store my media so that I can reinstall mce without loss.
I have a 500gb hard drive which I use just for linuxmce. This is over kill but I had it lying around and cannot really buy smaller or at least here in uk 500gb is about the best to uy for price.

You do not need a nas. As super suggested using one drive for linuxmce and the other for data will work fine. Dont know if you need to unplug the data drive when reinstalling but wont harm and will make sure no damage is done.
The other option is if you have a small drive lying round say 80-120gb use that as a linuxmce drive and the other 1 for data. This way you can use the dvd install which I will advise as a much better option having installed mce numerous times using both mehods.

Running them in the same machine is fine. I only use the nas as again I had a linksys box which makes a usb drive into a nas and a spare external usb drive going spare from a previous project.

Well you have multiple options here... have a second drive in your Core for data only, add an MD that has a data drive internally or attached to a USB port and add that drive when its detected - hey presto instant NAS!... or use a Windows PC's drive as a storage location (another NAS solution really) or finally if you have a self contained NAS just add that.

[super]

totallymaxed, tkmedia, fibres

Thanks for your suggestions. I think I will go with one drive for LMCE and the other for media storage. This way, the reinstalls will go much smoother.

Can anyone confirm that when you unplug and replug your media storage drive in (via internal SATA port), LMCE sees the drive immediately? Are there any special steps required to make LMCE search for the drive, or is it plug'n'play just like Windows?

super

[Zaerc]

Can anyone confirm that when you unplug and replug your media storage drive in (via internal SATA port), LMCE sees the drive immediately? Are there any special steps required to make LMCE search for the drive, or is it plug'n'play just like Windows?

I wouldn't go around (un/re-)plugging drives into internal SATA ports while the machine is still on.

[fibres]

I cannot say 100% as I have never done this with an internal drive. However once you have finished the install and gone through the setup wizards after the first reboot and the plug n play engine is alive this should then detect the drive once plugged in and pop up a screen asking what you want to use it for.
So once you have finished installing and you have linuxmce working with an orbiter on screen shutdown the machine, plug in the drive and boot back up and should be detected.

Im not 100% on how you would tell linuxmce to record tv shows to this drive as im currently still recording tv to the local dive, however as this is not something I do a lot of is not a problem copyoing the mpg file to the nas when I want to reinstall. If someone could let us know how to set this in mythtv would help me out too.

Regards

[Zaerc]

IIRC, linuxmce will ask you wether it's allowed to use the drive automaticly for storing TV and other data when it detects and configures the drive/share.

[fibres]

Yes it does ask that question and I have answere yes.
However it still saves recorded tv to the localhard drive by default.
I assume it will only use the extra drive if the main drive which it is installed on becomes full.
How do I tell linuxmce to store it on the drive whatever. There is a section in mythtv that asks where it should store tv but Im not quie sure where linuxmce mounts the drive on the external nas.

Regards

[Zaerc]

I'm not that familiar with MythTV, but you would probably want to direct it to /mnt/device/##/tv_shows_# where ## is the device number of the share, and # I think is the device number of the media director that does the recording.  But I could be wrong and I reckon doing this manually could very well make a mess of things.

[super]

Can anyone confirm that when you unplug and replug your media storage drive in (via internal SATA port), LMCE sees the drive immediately? Are there any special steps required to make LMCE search for the drive, or is it plug'n'play just like Windows?

I wouldn't go around (un/re-)plugging drives into internal SATA ports while the machine is still on.

I meant turning the machine off and on ofcourse. Just don't want to accidentally overwrite my music collection!

[fibres]

Hi Super

Well that would be my best advice. The install is unlikely to touch the other drive and is not supposed to. But with all good intentions and evrything this is beta software and by definiton is prone to be errornous. Removing the drive during install will not hurt and will avoid and possible loss.

Regards

[super]

So I installed my second drive, but LMCE does not seem to detect it i.e. I don't get any popup that says how I want to use my drive etc. I even tried 'Manage Drives' from the LMCE menu. Do I need to install it in kubuntu, mount it etc. and LMCE will recognize it only then?

super

[cirion]

I had a core with a mainboard wich supported 4 sata drives had only one Nic and used one PCI slot for the second Nic.
I had one 500GB Sata LinuxMCE disk and 3x750GB Sata disks.
I was using the software RAID5 support in LinuxMCE for the 3x750GB Sata disks.

I had another machine with a much more powerful mainboard, that has double gigabit nic's and 6port SATA + ESata.
So I decided to swap mainboard...

Instead of using my 500GB Sata disk in the core, I went for a 200GB IDE drive I had lying around for LinuxMCE. Freeing up 1 sata port.
I installed my mainboard and installed LinuxMCE with the DVD and plugged in my 3x750GB Sata disks.
WOOT! LinuxMCE found them and the database automagically filled with all my previusly indexed media!

To add to the fun I added a 4th 750GB Sata drive... And added it as a spare.
Some linux magic and now its GROWING!

Still rebuilding, but the media is there... You can follow my progress here:
http://forum.linuxmce.org/index.php?topic=4377.0

Maybe my next project will be adding 4x1TB drives to the old Core motherboard and set that up as a Diskless MD/NAS with a RAID5 inside

I might even add 2xSata disks for RAID0 to my MD's for TV recordings...

For me, knowing that I can get my RAID up and running on any sata controller without using data makes LinuxMCE RULE even more than it already does... Who needs a NAS when the Core and MD's are on and using power already...