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Date: Wed, 19 May 2010 18:03:03 +0100
From: "Bryn M. Reeves" <bmr@redhat.com>
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Subject: Re: [linux-lvm] Adding a disk to expand an existing logical volume
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To: LVM general discussion and development <linux-lvm@redhat.com>

On 05/19/2010 05:37 PM, kevin wrote:
> 
>> If I were you, I would not bother with partition(s). I will add the
>> whole disk to LVM.
> 
> 
> I intend for the entire disk to be used -- so I should just skip the fdisk
> step?

You can either create a partition that spans the entire disk or create
the PV directly on the whole-disk device.

Both approaches have their advantages; with a partition table you are
less likely to run into problems with (buggy) software that assumes the
disks are "unformatted" because they do not contain an MBR-format
partition table and handily initialises them for you. On the other hand
it's somewhat easier (at least with older tools) to get alignment
constraints right when creating things on the bare disk (although you
still need to make sure that the start of the data area of the PV is
aligned properly if you want to get the best performance).

Regards,
Bryn.