Hey All,

Here is the deal. I'm trying to setup my previous computer as a file/web server. Here are the PC's specs:

MSI K9N Mobo
8GB OCZ RAM
AMD Athlon 64 6000+ 3.1ghz Dual Core CPU
2 x 750gb Hard Drives (which need the /home partition mounted to "them" on a RAID 1 setup to use for my music, videos, etc. files)
And a 60gb Hard Drive (for storing the OS and any programs/packages to keep the "media" drives separated)

**The only partition I created on the 60GB was like a 6.5GB swap (I did 6.5 just to have the hard drive at an even 55GB). Everything else is located under the / partition.


Now, so far, I've only got the basic Debian OS installed. I've installed the mdadm software/package, but when it is done downloading/installing by command line I get a GUI that pops up asking a few questions, but mainly asking about arrays. I have been choosing "open all arrays" (don't know what it means, hope this is right...) during this step, then it will return me to command line.

Basically, from here is where I'm having trouble. I need to set up the array and move (mount?) my /home from the 60GB to the 750GB drives. Using "fdisk" it shows that the system is recognizing the two hard drives because the are listed as "sdb" and "sdc" after the 60GB, but I'm not sure where to go from here. I've yet to come across anything through Google about doing this RAID setup with 3 hard drives (only two (the 750GB drives) will be setup on the RAID array).

Any and all help will be greatly appreciated.

Hopefully this will help:

https://raid.wiki.kernel.org/index.php/RAID_setup

As a quickie, fdisk the 2 750GB drives. Create a single partition on both of equal size and make them type fd (Linux RAID autodetect).
Assuming these partitions are /dev/sdb1 and /dev/sdc1, run the command

mdadm --create --verbose /dev/md0 --level=mirror --raid-devices=2 /dev/sdb1 /dev/sdc1

Then, you can create the filesystem. Assuming you want ext4, run the command

mkfs.ext4 /dev/md0

You should then be able to mount /dev/md0 somewhere, copy your /home contents, and then remount /dev/md0 under /home

Good luck!

Thanks much. I will give this a shot tonight and see what happens. At the moment I actually have no files under /home (everything is backed up on an external drive). Is the a way to create a couple dummy text files just to see if I can get the mirroring working? I'd like to actually have some content in the text files and not just blank. I suppose I need to download a text editor?

Not really. When you have your raid setup, just copy some files onto the raid, e.g. some config files from /etc. Of course best to remove them after testing....

Ah, that works. Again, thanks! I will keep you posted on my progress once I get home from work and can try to work on it.