partition ext3 ---> RAID 1

[x2015-0706]

I have a little question :
Is it possible transfering an ext3 partition into a soft RAID-1 ?



I have a Fedora 10 already installed on IDE-1 master, which is a WD-100G hd.
I find another ide hd bigger than this ( WD-320G ).
and I remember in the installation steps, when I create new partitions,
I saw the RAID option there. I didn't build disk array at the time.


Can I build a soft RAID-1 now for my system in existent fedora10linux ?
A RAID set under linux must be a LVM , or RAID and LVM are different things?

hd space is getting bigger and cheaper everyday, no raid no good sleep if I really want to hosting something on my little desktop.

Thank you !

[x2015-0706]

btw, I also need to ask something about vga card changing.
I have searched here but didn't get useful results.

just maybe, if you remember some threads about this topic,
please give me the link(s) when you have time and mood.





I have 3 vga cards, all AGP interface;
nVidia MX440
ATI Radeon 9200 SE
ATI Radeon 9550

now in my computer is nVidia MX440, I am thinking about how to upgrade to ATI but no re-install.

[coopstah13]

for the graphics cards, you won't have to reinstall the OS when you put the new one in, if that is what you mean, you simply need to install the ATI driver and reconfigure xorg.conf to use the driver

If you create a raid between those 2 hard disks you will only have as much space as the smaller of the two disks, you'd be better off just backing up to the larger disk periodically instead of making a raid1 between them

I strongly recommend against using a single disk to make any raid, the performance will be terrible

[x2015-0706]

for the graphics cards, you won't have to reinstall the OS when you put the new one in, if that is what you mean, you simply need to install the ATI driver and reconfigure xorg.conf to use the driver

ok, thank you very much, I will goto ATI's web site to download proper driver for my vga card,
and do a google search to know about 1.how to "install the ATI driver" and 2.how to "reconfigure xorg.conf".
I have read the /etc/X11/xorg.conf in my computer, there is a segment marked "device" ,
so I think that's the part where I should do some edit.

If you create a raid between those 2 hard disks you will only have as much space as the smaller of the two disks, you'd be better off just backing up to the larger disk periodically instead of making a raid1 between them

I strongly recommend against using a single disk to make any raid, the performance will be terrible

I think it would be safer to have system partition (/) built in a RAID-1,
especially if I try to host a LAMP by this Linux.

and ... well ..., I am sorry but how can you make a RAID by using a single disk ?
As far as I know, RAID-1 needs 2 disks and RAID-5 needs at least 3.
It's quite easy to build a RAID under win2000server edition, now I am trying to understand what's the game rules of RAID under Linux.
Thank god the price of harddrive is much much cheaper than before, having a RAID-1 on a personal computer won't be that hurt. haha
but I still don't know is it possible to transfer an existing ext3 partition into a RAID-1 set under Linux environment.

Hope I can find a way to raid my linux root partition without reinstall everything again.

[x2015-0706]

after several trying on several distros,
I think it's impossible to transfer a existing ext3 partition to RAID format.


well, maybe it's just a common sense in linux system,
but still I post my conclusion here as an end.


.