How to Format ext3 on new SATA drive and mount

[digitaldude]

My system is configure with 2 IDE in a Master/Slave relationship.Both are ext3.

I have a brand new SATA drive that has never been formatted that is 500GB. I would like to configure the SATA drive so that so that 500GB is a ext3 partion so I can read and write linux files to it. I want to be able to copy all the content of my smaller IDE Slave onto the SATA drive once it is formated. All 3 drive are in swap bays.

In the past I was helped in the forum by algej. When he helped me in the past he had me perform certain commands to reveal the state of my system.
I ran the same command as before with all 3 swap bays in place and keyed on. To my surprise when I ran these commands I don't see anything in the output that would make me think there was a SATA drive in my system.

I don't know how to format ext3 using linux.

My goal is to format ext3 on the Sata I can't see yet and move my contents from slave ide on to it. I would really appreciate someone helping me through this process.

Thanks for all your help,
DigitalDude

Results of commands below:


==========================
[alpha@localhost ~]$ su - root
Password:
[root@localhost ~]# vgscan
Reading all physical volumes. This may take a while...
Found volume group "VolGroup01" using metadata type lvm2
Found volume group "VolGroup00" using metadata type lvm2
[root@localhost ~]# pvdisplay
--- Physical volume ---
PV Name /dev/sdb2
VG Name VolGroup01
PV Size 148.86 GB / not usable 13.24 MB
Allocatable yes
PE Size (KByte) 32768
Total PE 4763
Free PE 1
Allocated PE 4762
PV UUID HPmjbD-LkCf-pDaQ-THt7-hz94-0lvi-q1f7Z8

--- Physical volume ---
PV Name /dev/sda2
VG Name VolGroup00
PV Size 148.86 GB / not usable 13.24 MB
Allocatable yes
PE Size (KByte) 32768
Total PE 4763
Free PE 1
Allocated PE 4762
PV UUID ux3IdQ-M75u-Rh3w-nsf5-E9cC-e2aK-2NR0Lp

[root@localhost ~]# vgdisplay
--- Volume group ---
VG Name VolGroup01
System ID
Format lvm2
Metadata Areas 1
Metadata Sequence No 4
VG Access read/write
VG Status resizable
MAX LV 0
Cur LV 2
Open LV 0
Max PV 0
Cur PV 1
Act PV 1
VG Size 148.84 GB
PE Size 32.00 MB
Total PE 4763
Alloc PE / Size 4762 / 148.81 GB
Free PE / Size 1 / 32.00 MB
VG UUID Eu364u-rJhb-oSyT-owAp-v3bB-ZoKQ-uMCbMz

--- Volume group ---
VG Name VolGroup00
System ID
Format lvm2
Metadata Areas 1
Metadata Sequence No 3
VG Access read/write
VG Status resizable
MAX LV 0
Cur LV 2
Open LV 2
Max PV 0
Cur PV 1
Act PV 1
VG Size 148.84 GB
PE Size 32.00 MB
Total PE 4763
Alloc PE / Size 4762 / 148.81 GB
Free PE / Size 1 / 32.00 MB
VG UUID rsrIWj-0gVd-7Wm0-4KY2-t0mv-eE3X-Z94lE0

[root@localhost ~]# lvs -o +devices
LV VG Attr LSize Origin Snap% Move Log Copy% Devices
LogVol00 VolGroup00 -wi-ao 146.88G /dev/sda2(0)
LogVol01 VolGroup00 -wi-ao 1.94G /dev/sda2(4700)
LogVol00 VolGroup01 -wi-a- 146.88G /dev/sdb2(0)
LogVol01 VolGroup01 -wi-a- 1.94G /dev/sdb2(4700)
[root@localhost ~]# cat /etc/fstab
/dev/VolGroup00/LogVol00 / ext3 defaults 1 1
LABEL=/boot /boot ext3 defaults 1 2
tmpfs /dev/shm tmpfs defaults 0 0
devpts /dev/pts devpts gid=5,mode=620 0 0
sysfs /sys sysfs defaults 0 0
proc /proc proc defaults 0 0
/dev/VolGroup00/LogVol01 swap swap defaults 0 0
You have new mail in /var/spool/mail/root
[root@localhost ~]# fdisk -l

Disk /dev/sda: 160.0 GB, 160041885696 bytes
255 heads, 63 sectors/track, 19457 cylinders
Units = cylinders of 16065 * 512 = 8225280 bytes
Disk identifier: 0x0000e85a

Device Boot Start End Blocks Id System
/dev/sda1 * 1 25 200781 83 Linux
/dev/sda2 26 19457 156087540 8e Linux LVM

Disk /dev/sdb: 160.0 GB, 160041885696 bytes
255 heads, 63 sectors/track, 19457 cylinders
Units = cylinders of 16065 * 512 = 8225280 bytes
Disk identifier: 0x00041e17

Device Boot Start End Blocks Id System
/dev/sdb1 * 1 25 200781 83 Linux
/dev/sdb2 26 19457 156087540 8e Linux LVM

Disk /dev/sdc: 500.1 GB, 500107862016 bytes
255 heads, 63 sectors/track, 60801 cylinders
Units = cylinders of 16065 * 512 = 8225280 bytes
Disk identifier: 0x00000000

Disk /dev/sdc doesn't contain a valid partition table

Disk /dev/dm-0: 157.7 GB, 157705830400 bytes
255 heads, 63 sectors/track, 19173 cylinders
Units = cylinders of 16065 * 512 = 8225280 bytes
Disk identifier: 0x00000000

Disk /dev/dm-0 doesn't contain a valid partition table

Disk /dev/dm-1: 2080 MB, 2080374784 bytes
255 heads, 63 sectors/track, 252 cylinders
Units = cylinders of 16065 * 512 = 8225280 bytes
Disk identifier: 0x30307800

Disk /dev/dm-1 doesn't contain a valid partition table

Disk /dev/dm-2: 157.7 GB, 157705830400 bytes
255 heads, 63 sectors/track, 19173 cylinders
Units = cylinders of 16065 * 512 = 8225280 bytes
Disk identifier: 0x00000000

Disk /dev/dm-2 doesn't contain a valid partition table

Disk /dev/dm-3: 2080 MB, 2080374784 bytes
255 heads, 63 sectors/track, 252 cylinders
Units = cylinders of 16065 * 512 = 8225280 bytes
Disk identifier: 0x30307800

Disk /dev/dm-3 doesn't contain a valid partition table
[root@localhost ~]#

[ivancat]

Use

su 
cfdisk /dev/sdc/

That will start up a disk manager and allow you to create a partition table on the new hard drive + create a filesystem

[fnmblot]

You could try using gparted If you don't have it, yum install -y gparted

[drunkahol]

Is it your intention to end up with all 3 drives running in the system?

The Master/Slave relationship you mention . . . is that as in 1 IDE master and 1 IDE slave drive? Or in some respect of drive mirroring. Because it looks like you've got some kind of mirroring set up with LVM.

The results of 'df -h' will help too. As will 'pvdisplay --maps'.

If you've got mirroring set up, then moving stuff around is going to be a bit tricky, but still possible.

What's the reason for wanting everything moved from your slave IDE drive?

LVM doesn't care about the type of disk. It will create a PV on just about anything. The PV can then be added to a VG and the data dished out wherever you want it.

If the mirror is set up as I suspect, are you just looking to replace the "slave" drive from the mirror. It may be easier to just add a new drive to the LVM setup and start putting data on it. You can migrate all data off the IDE drives if you wish.

Cheers

Duncan

[PabloTwo]

Hello digital dude-

[root@localhost ~]# fdisk -l

Disk /dev/sda: 160.0 GB, 160041885696 bytes
255 heads, 63 sectors/track, 19457 cylinders
Units = cylinders of 16065 * 512 = 8225280 bytes
Disk identifier: 0x0000e85a

Device Boot Start End Blocks Id System
/dev/sda1 * 1 25 200781 83 Linux
/dev/sda2 26 19457 156087540 8e Linux LVM

Disk /dev/sdb: 160.0 GB, 160041885696 bytes
255 heads, 63 sectors/track, 19457 cylinders
Units = cylinders of 16065 * 512 = 8225280 bytes
Disk identifier: 0x00041e17

Device Boot Start End Blocks Id System
/dev/sdb1 * 1 25 200781 83 Linux
/dev/sdb2 26 19457 156087540 8e Linux LVM

Disk /dev/sdc: 500.1 GB, 500107862016 bytes
255 heads, 63 sectors/track, 60801 cylinders
Units = cylinders of 16065 * 512 = 8225280 bytes
Disk identifier: 0x00000000

Disk /dev/sdc doesn't contain a valid partition table

The results of the fdisk command are showing all 3 of your hdd's.
Your 2 ide drives are the 160GB /dev/sda and /dev/sdb devices.
Your 1 sata drive is the /dev/sdc device. fdisk reports no valid partition table for /dev/sdc because as yet no partition has been created on it. There are several tools you can use to first partition and then format the new 500GB sata drive.

Two command line programs you already have, fdisk and parted can do the partitioning chore, while mkfs.ext2 or mkfs.ext3 can then be used to format the newly created partition(s). If you are inexperienced or unsure about using those tools, the easiest solution would be to download the gparted iso file and burn it to a CD. You can then use that CD to boot from and have a nice Graphical Interface to use to both partition and format the new drive. Google 'gparted' to find the download site.

edit:

I want to be able to copy all the content of my smaller IDE Slave onto the SATA drive once it is formated. All 3 drive are in swap bays.

You don't say, but judging from the results of fdisk, you have two installs of Fedora, one on each of the 2 ide drives. If you mean by "copy all the content", just the data files, that will certainly work. But if you mean by that to duplicate the entire install from one drive to the other drive, in other words, move the whole OS, that can't work that way.

[surkum]

could you post the output of mount and df -h?

[algej]

Originally Posted by digitaldude

My goal is to format ext3 on the Sata I can't see yet and move my contents from slave ide on to it. I would really appreciate someone helping me through this process.

Hey digitaldude,

So what you now have is:

/dev/sda2 - LVM physical volume belonging to VolGroup00 containing your current root+swap
/dev/sdb2 - LVM physical volume belonging to VolGroup01 containing a previous root+swap, and some data in /home you wanted to keep.
/dev/sdc - unpartitioned/unformatted 500G SATA disk.

LVM cannot see your SATA disk because it has not been initialized with pvcreate, so LVM has no idea what to do with it and is therefore ignoring it. Your system is already set up with LVM, so you may as well just add the disk to LVM.

To start with, you will probably want to partition /dev/sdc using gparted, as previous posters have suggested. My recommendation is that you create 2 primary partitions on the disk. Make the first one (/dev/sdc1) about 200MB in size, and the second one (/dev/sdc2) the rest of the disk. That way, you can later make this disk bootable if your needs change without having to tear LVM apart.

Anyway, once you've partitioned your SATA disk (assuming you made 2 partitions as I recommended and /dev/sdc2 is the big partition), these steps will get you to a point where you can start copying stuff:

1. su -
2. pvcreate /dev/sdc2 # create a new LVM physical volume on /dev/sdc2
3. vgextend VolGroup00 /dev/sdc2 # add it to VolGoup00 (your active volume group)
4. lvcreate --name lvhome --size 200G VolGroup00 # create a logical volume (I called it lvhome), leave some free space for later needs
5. mkfs -t ext3 /dev/VolGroup00/lvhome # put an ext3 filesystem on your new logical volume.
6. mkdir /tmphome # create a temporary mount point for your new logical volume
7. mount /dev/VolGroup00/lvhome /tmphome # and mount it

Now you have a 200G ext3 filesystem on /tmphome. If you still have your stuff from /dev/VolGroup01/LogVol00 mounted to /mnt, then copy stuff from /mnt/home into /tmphome, and copy whatever you want to keep from /home into /tmphome you want as well. Then:

1. umount /tmphome
2. edit /etc/fstab and put the following line in:
/dev/VolGroup00/lvhome /home ext3 defaults 1 2
3. reboot, and make sure everything you wanted is in /home.

Finally, to clean up, reboot into single user mode, umount /home (revealing the old /home under /dev/sda2), and remove everything in there, freeing up some space for your root filesystem. Be sure to leave the /home mount point. Make ABSOLUTELY SURE you understand the difference between the /home you see with /dev/VolGroup00/lvhome mounted and the /home you see with /dev/VolGroup00/lvhome unmounted! Otherwise you will delete the wrong stuff, and that would be A Bad Thing. If this is confusing, then skip this step for now.

Then decide what you want to do with the slave IDE.

[surkum]

Originally Posted by algej

Hey DigitalDude,

To start with, you will probably want to partition /dev/sdc using gparted, as previous posters have suggested. My recommendation is that you create 2 primary partitions on the disk. Make the first one (/dev/sdc1) about 200MB in size, and the second one (/dev/sdc2) the rest of the disk. That way, you can later make this disk bootable if your needs change without having to tear LVM apart.

If you want the same layout as in sdb, when partitioning sdc, make sdc1 size 25 cylinders as sdb1 is, so you could dd sdb1 to sdc1 without problems, and assign the rest of the disk to a partition of type lvm.

Then add the partition you has just create to VolGroup01, move the logical volume LogVol00 and LogVol01 from physical volume sdb1 to physical volume sdc1 ( no need to unmount, kernel makes this transparent ) then remove the sdb1 volume, from VolGroup01.

To finish dd sdb1 to sdc1, make sure sdb1 and sdc1 are unmounted to do this.

You could safely remove sdb and place sdc in its place ( turn the machine down if your disk aren't hot plug).

And remember, when working with disk think twice before pressing enter. system-config-lvm is your friend, ask him for help.

[digitaldude]

It is really great to have the kind of forum where people really offer help. I really appreciate the time and knowledge provided my the members. It is one of the true asset of the internet as a whole. Thanks everyone! I am in the process of implementing the advice given by algej and surkum. Insted of the livecd option, I simply used the Appllicatoin>>Add/Remove Software option in Fedora and then installed gparted. This enables me to refer to some instruction in html format to help me as I start the process of executing my task.

Now the reason I am posting back to the forum is because when I fired up gparted and it automatically begins to scan all my drives I got back some surprising results (at least surprising to me) that don't seem to line up with the screen shots I looked at of the result in the examples provided in the instructions and documentation. So I am posting the screen shots that are the result of my scan for review.

My question is this: /dev/sda2 and /dev/sdb2 have a yellow caution like sign in the "Partition" field and even more importantly and surprisingly both /dev/sda2 and /dev/sdb2 "Filesystem" field says "unknown" rather than what I would expect, i.e., "ext3"

So what I am asking is that given these result should I just go ahead and proceed as instructed by algej and surkum or does this new information require any change or modification in how I should procede.

Thank Again,
DigitalDude

[surkum]

gparted mark those partitions in alarm as it couldn't know what is inside them. The layout is as I understand from your previous post.

good luck.

[algej]

Originally Posted by digitaldude

My question is this: /dev/sda2 and /dev/sdb2 have a yellow caution like sign in the "Partition" field and even more importantly and surprisingly both /dev/sda2 and /dev/sdb2 "Filesystem" field says "unknown" rather than what I would expect, i.e., "ext3"

So what I am asking is that given these result should I just go ahead and proceed as instructed by algej and surkum or does this new information require any change or modification in how I should procede.

Thank Again,
DigitalDude

Hi DigitalDude,

You're seeing exactly what you should see. The reason "Filesystem" shows as "unknown" for /dev/sda2 and /dev/sdb2 is because they are not ext3 filesystems, they are LVM physical volumes. If you look all the way to the right on your screenshots, you'll see "LVM" in the "flags" column.

When you partition /dev/sdc, make /dev/sdc1 look just like /dev/sda1, and /dev/sdc2 should span the rest of the disk, but otherwise look similar to /dev/sda2, with the "LVM" flag set. When you're done, /dev/sdc2 will have the yellow exclamation sign and say the filesystem is unknown, just like /dev/sda2 and /dev/sdb2.

Once you've done that, then choose either my procedure (picking up at step 1. su - )or surkum's. surkum's procedure will migrate the logical volumes /dev/sdb2 over to /dev/sdc2, and leave you with two volume groups, VolGroup00 and VolGroup01, where mine will put the new disk in VolGroup00, and allow you to get rid of VolGroup01. Multiple volume groups cost you flexibility, and in my opinion, you shouldn't use multiple volume groups unless your environment demands it.(*) You'd lose the ability to simply pvmove your root filesystem onto the 500G drive, which you may want to do later, particularly if you buy a new system in a couple years and it expects to boot a SATA drive.

(*) such as having a separate SAN-shared enclosure attached to a cluster and you need to confine LVs to the enclosure so that they failover to another node cleanly.

[digitaldude]

I am having to proceed extra cautiously for two reason : this is my first time doing this and the data I am transferring and saving on this new SATA drive is very important and I can not afford to bungle it. Or I could corrupt or lose the data. So please pardon my continued request for confirmation of certain details because I simply don't have the knowledge in this case about what to overlook and what should cause concern.

When you're done, /dev/sdc2 will have the yellow exclamation sign and say the filesystem is unknown, just like /dev/sda2 and /dev/sdb2.

I did everything with in the gparted gui

I created /dev/sdc1 and formated using the ext3 option and then used the manage flags to indicate boot. Even though I will not actually be booting from this for now. I was just keeping my options open in the future as algej suggested.

I then created /dev/sdc2 with everything left and used the ext3 option to format this and then managed the flag by selecting lvm as can be seen in the attached images.

Based on algej statement quoted above I was expecting this partition to change its appearance and look similar to the dev/sda2 and dev/sdb2 with an unknow satus taking the place of the ext3 once I added the lvm flag but it did not.

My question is : Did I do something wrong? Like I shouldn't have selected the primary partition to be ext3 or whatever. I just don't know if it is safe to proceed with the rest of the steps that algej provided or if I have already made an important mistake and I need to go back and correct that before proceeding.

Thanks A Million for all the help,

DigitalDude

[surkum]

you missed the algej steps to add the partition to the lvg. better wait for him to help you. sorry no time now.

[digitaldude]

No worries. I will wait. Thanks for the quick verification that this is not right. I'll wait. I clearly failed to understand something (important).

DigitalDude

[digitaldude]

I clearly failed to appreciate something important. Not to belabor that point any further I add this post in the hope that I can make clearer where I think I got it wrong so it will take less time on the part of my advisor to nudge me back on track.

I thought that the step I performed with gparted up to this point where in effect trying to comply with this segment of the instructions

LVM cannot see your SATA disk because it has not been initialized with pvcreate, so LVM has no idea what to do with it and is therefore ignoring it. Your system is already set up with LVM, so you may as well just add the disk to LVM.

To start with, you will probably want to partition /dev/sdc using gparted, as previous posters have suggested. My recommendation is that you create 2 primary partitions on the disk. Make the first one (/dev/sdc1) about 200MB in size, and the second one (/dev/sdc2) the rest of the disk. That way, you can later make this disk bootable if your needs change without having to tear LVM apart.

Anyway, once you've partitioned your SATA disk (assuming you made 2 partitions as I recommended and /dev/sdc2 is the big partition), these steps will get you to a point where you can start copying stuff:

I expect to see thing in the correct state and then proceed with the next segment of the instructions :

1. su -
2. pvcreate /dev/sdc2 # create a new LVM physical volume on /dev/sdc2
3. vgextend VolGroup00 /dev/sdc2 # add it to VolGoup00 (your active volume group)
4. lvcreate --name lvhome --size 200G VolGroup00 # create a logical volume (I called it lvhome), leave some free space for later needs
5. mkfs -t ext3 /dev/VolGroup00/lvhome # put an ext3 filesystem on your new logical volume.
6. mkdir /tmphome # create a temporary mount point for your new logical volume
7. mount /dev/VolGroup00/lvhome /tmphome # and mount it

And so on... until I completed all the steps that algej prescribe.

This is where I thought I was and what I was trying to do.

Thanks,
DigitalDude