From mboxrd@z Thu Jan 1 00:00:00 1970 Received: from mx1.redhat.com (mx1.redhat.com [172.16.48.31]) by int-mx1.corp.redhat.com (8.11.6/8.11.6) with ESMTP id j5KGAfu30026 for ; Mon, 20 Jun 2005 12:10:41 -0400 Received: from clown.omnifarious.org (dsl254-016-017.sea1.dsl.speakeasy.net [216.254.16.17]) by mx1.redhat.com (8.12.11/8.12.11) with ESMTP id j5KGAWZ2001431 for ; Mon, 20 Jun 2005 12:10:35 -0400 Date: Mon, 20 Jun 2005 09:10:21 -0700 From: Eric Hopper Subject: Re: [linux-lvm] Is LVM safe? Message-ID: <20050620161021.GG25606@omnifarious.org> References: <1119268975.25392.34.camel@volt> <200506201517.01268.krienke@uni-koblenz.de> <1119275366.25392.48.camel@volt> <20050620144233.GB12491@null.msp.redhat.com> <1119279649.18965.24.camel@volt> Mime-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: multipart/signed; micalg=pgp-sha1; protocol="application/pgp-signature"; boundary="tvOENZuN7d6HfOWU" Content-Disposition: inline In-Reply-To: <1119279649.18965.24.camel@volt> Reply-To: LVM general discussion and development List-Id: LVM general discussion and development List-Unsubscribe: , List-Archive: List-Post: List-Help: List-Subscribe: , List-Id: To: LVM general discussion and development --tvOENZuN7d6HfOWU Content-Type: text/plain; charset=us-ascii Content-Disposition: inline Content-Transfer-Encoding: quoted-printable On Mon, Jun 20, 2005 at 04:00:49PM +0100, John Rowe wrote: >=20 > > > Yes, it's easy. You just need a kernel with DM-Support and the=20 >=20 > > But this is similar to what > > happens if the partition table gets busted on a normal disk. >=20 > So the previous poster's "Yes" actually means "No". And a broken > partition table will zap a disk with an LVM partition too won't it? So > the bottom line is that if I want to move an LVM partition to a > different system I have to hold my breath and pray. No, it means "Yes" just like he said. There is a condition that you didn't explicitly state in the original question. If the LVM metadata is messed up somehow (which doesn't generally happen unless you do something stupid), you can't recover the LVM volumes without a filesystem backup of the metadata. > The idea that a disk partition needs Unix file to be able to read it is > absolutely astonishing. Umm, try this sometime... dd if=3D/dev/zero of=3D/dev/hda bs=3D512 count=3D1 Then just try to resurrect the partition. Unless you've created a backup of your partition table into a Unix file, then you aren't going to recover the partition table, period. So, poof, there, you have a disk partition that needs a Unix file to be able to read it. Since LVM maintains backups of all of this metadata in files, it's signficantly better for recovery than Unix partitions are. *sigh*, --=20 "It does me no injury for my neighbor to say there are twenty gods or no Go= d. It neither picks my pocket nor breaks my leg." --- Thomas Jefferson "Go to Heaven for the climate, Hell for the company." -- Mark Twain -- Eric Hopper (hopper@omnifarious.org http://www.omnifarious.org/~hopper)= -- --tvOENZuN7d6HfOWU Content-Type: application/pgp-signature Content-Disposition: inline -----BEGIN PGP SIGNATURE----- Version: GnuPG v1.2.6 (GNU/Linux) iD8DBQFCtuptjtsvlOwvazYRAvU1AKCwY8uVhw5nYmw8f0YhxsFp+DI53gCg1Bft 3/ducRCUpBdeRVfz1T/d+zQ= =6s4u -----END PGP SIGNATURE----- --tvOENZuN7d6HfOWU--