On Fri, Oct 13, 2006 at 10:28:10AM -0400, Lennart Sorensen wrote: > On Fri, Oct 13, 2006 at 08:36:17AM -0400, [EMAIL PROTECTED] wrote: > > In Debian, is it only the loss of / that requires a reinstall? What > > happens if /var (especially /var/lib) or /usr get corrupted? Doesn't > > that also make the system extremely difficult/time-consuming to restore? > > What would cause such corruption? I have a machine running the same > debian install I did on it in 1998, and it has simply upgraded ever > since. Still runs perfectly. Corruption simply doesn't seem to happen > if you stick with debian packages for everything (or keep other stuff in > /usr/local where it belongs) with no exceptions.
That would be if / was on raid1 but /var wasn't and the drive that /var was on failed and had to be replaced. > > > If I were to get a second 80 GB SATA drive so that I could raid1 /, > > might I just as well have the whole base system on raid1? > > I raid1 everything. Why make exceptions unless you really happen to be > working with large temporary data files that would be trivial to > regenerate, and for which you would rather have the speed of raid0 (in > which case make a raid0 fast data drive, and raid1 everything else) > Ok Len, not only have you convinced me that this is the way to go (that part wasn't too hard) but I have learned enough to be comfortable doing it. I'll order the second 80 GB drive today. > Why not just a2 and b2. Logical partitions are a pain in the ass to > restore if you ever have to replace a disk. If you just have primary > partitions, then simply dd'ing the first 512byte sector gives you the > boot sector and the partition table all at once. If you have any > logical paritions you have to start doing the primary partitions, then > reread, then do the first 512bytes of the extended partition, and then > reread and than any further extended partitions inside those, and it > just becomes a mess. Two primaries with the two raids are much simpler, > and even gains you a few MB of disk space since you don't have waste a > track for the extended partition table. Logical partitions are a rather > wasteful design. > Good point, wilco. > > Thanks to your patient help, I'm gradually getting my head around this > > new world. Thank you. -- To UNSUBSCRIBE, email to [EMAIL PROTECTED] with a subject of "unsubscribe". Trouble? Contact [EMAIL PROTECTED]