Resizing and defragmenting Linux filesystems (NewsForge)

Resizing and defragmenting Linux filesystems (NewsForge)

Posted Oct 14, 2003 13:26 UTC (Tue) by bhw (guest, #15998)
In reply to: Resizing and defragmenting Linux filesystems (NewsForge) by beejaybee
Parent article: Resizing and defragmenting Linux filesystems (NewsForge)

You missed the point. They stated that this was for a personal use PC or laptop. I currently run 5 linux servers, 3 desktop PC's and 1 laptop that's been reloaded numerous times (RH 7.1 to RH9.0). I don't claim to be an expert, and yes it is nice to move data from one partition to another in the event of a crash. Allows you to reformat, etc.. and hopefully put everything back or blow it away and re-install the data later. On my servers, they use multiple partitions, multiple RAID drives and just in case, backups to other servers. On my desktop/laptops I run the 3 partitions previously mentioned, very flexable, very easy to add programs (/usr/local/...). My background comes from some very old versions of UNIX that would give most of you fits. Having the ability to boot in rescue mode on a Linux box to date has been a piece of cake. The point that has not been mentioned is proper backups. Store the data in a seperate drive, disk, tape, etc.. Then when it crashes, you have the choice of trying to fix the current filesystem(s) or blow it away and start over. I do though currently agree with you on production environments, partitions are the rule, but given time constrants, pull that blown drive, drop a new one in place and let your RAID card do it's job. The users are happy, and your not worrying about partitions and data recovery. Multiple partitons are more prone to problems if you use scripts to automatically backup data across partitions. Ever write to a directory where the partition failed to mount due to errors? You may have not known it until days later. I think we sometimes make things too hard just because we have always done it that way. Simplicity, reliability.

---

(Log in to post comments)