I have a server with 2 80GB drives that is running great and also has lots of customization to the linux partitions. I am running out of space and need to either migrate to a new server or change out the drives in this one. The server is running 4 2.8 xeon processors and runs great so I would like to just keep things the way they are especially since I have other software installed and compiled on the server. It would take a job to migrate to a new server.

I am looking into options to gain more space. The possibility of swapping the 80GB drives to 250GB would be my first choice. I've use dd before to clone drives thus allowing me to boot off of a secondary drive but the drives were always the same size. I am not sure it will work if the drives are of different size.

Is there a way to have the seconary drive swapped out to a 250GB drive then clone the primary drive to that drive? of course I need to make / /var /usr /home and /tmp larger at the same time.

Any ideas how to best accomplish this?

Hello Albert,

Are the two current 80GB hard drives RAID'ed or are they two independent drives? If independent, you would have a much better chance of cloning the primary 80GB to a swapped in secondary 250GB, provided you have no data or hvae a copy of the data on the seondary some place else.

If they are in a RAID together, then I'd recommend backing up both 80GB drives to our NAS, DiskSync or purchase our Dedicated Backup Server and block level backup to that server, replace both 80GB drives with 250GB drives, do an OS Reload and restore the data back to the new 250GB drives or block level restore from the Dedicated Backup Server.

Not sure if this will work for you or not, but just based on what I see here, these could be some viable options.

Kind regards,
PD2

they are independant drives.
can I clone from 80GB to 250GB?

If I use the backup method, you say OS reload then restore. Would that overwrite the drive placing my current structire on the server?

Can I layout the partitions with larger partitions?

If you go the backup/reload/restore route, then as long as you restore everything where it was before the reload the directory structure will be exactly the same.

Another method you might consider if you can suffer any downtime is to have both drives installed and have your server booted to a livecd and copy the data directly from one drive to the other. Being that you're running it from a livecd, you wouldn't have to be concerned about copying directories that aren't actually on the filesystem (like /proc, /dev, etc) or any data being changed while copying. The usual 'cp' command (with permissions, metadata, etc preserved; eg: cp -rpv) would be better to use than the dd command in this scenario, because the dd command will also copy the partition tables. The end result is that you would have to resize your partitions and filesystems afterwards (both are resized individually and can't be done on a live ext3 filesystem).

With the 'cp' command you can create the partitions how you want in order to accommodate for the larger drive and then move your data directly without copying it somewhere over the network. The only catch with this method is that you will need to remember to use grub to make the 250GB drive bootable. It may not be the 'easiest' method, but from my experience it is the most efficient.

The reload/restore method would by far be the easiest method, especially since you wouldn't have actually lost any data. However you decide to do it, you may want to keep the 80GB drive along with its data in tact and accessible for a time to make sure everything is copied/moved correctly.

Mike I have a ticket in to Professional Services for this work but have not gotten a response. I would like to proceed with this but would need someone there that is aware of what we are trying to accomplish since it is a bit complicated. Is there a way I could manage getting help to accomplish this. I understand there may be charges but would like to proceed somehow.

alsmith, pm me the ticket number and I'll be happy to see what I can do to help you.

hi!
it's nearly the same matter on my server...

first 80GB HDD is used for system and websites. second 80GB is used for backup.

how and where can i order new harddisks? i didn't see anything related in my orbit customer panel...
what does these 2 HDD cost (which manaufactor)? what are the costs for full migration of first HDD?

thanks

You'll want to use the "Sales RFQ" link to contact Sales (or contact them via our online chat service). They can help you order the additional (or upgraded) harddrives.