On Sat, 21 Jul 2012 14:11:03 -0700 walt <w41...@gmail.com> wrote: > I know there are a few lvm2 experts lurking here :) > > I have a 500gig disk that is split roughly in half between two volume > groups, each containing four physical volumes, and each vg is > formatted into an ext4 filesystem of roughly 250GB. > > What I plan to do is merge the two volume groups into one, containing > one big ext4 filesystem, which will contain all of the files currently > on the disk. > > Can this be done without copying one of the existing ext4 filesystems > to a separate drive first, and then copying it back after extending > the remaining vg/filesystem? (One filesystem has 24GB free and the > other has 25GB free.) > > I'm expecting a "no" but I'd like to be wrong :) > >
For the most part, the answer is no. But to be totally accurate, it can be done - you just have to shuffle partitions and contents around on the disk a lot in this fashion: Move something a bit further towards the end, Extend the thing in front of it to use the now-free space. But be warned, it's a complete PITA and a lot like playing the "15 pieces" game with your disk volumes. You have about 10% free space on both vgs, so the odds you can move things around successfully are not good. Get yourself a 500G portable drive to help with the migration. -- Alan McKinnon alan.mckin...@gmail.com
