[mythtv-users] Large Drive setup for myth

Tue Sep 12 11:05:17 UTC 2006

Just wanted to do a little follow up.

1) I changed my basename entry in the database for a show and added
a directory to the path. That did not work. mythtv strips off everything up
to the filename and does not use any path info.

2) from this thread, I found the myth_archive_job.pl script reference.
Basically, this script moves the video files from something like
/mnt/store
to
/mnt/somewhereelse
and sets up a symbolic link from /mnt/somewhereelse to /mnt/store.

this is good enought for mythtv and it's good enough for me for now.

jack

On 9/11/06, Tony Lill <ajlill at ajlc.waterloo.on.ca> wrote:
> I tore down my LVM a while ago, when one of the disks went and took the
> whole thing with it. I now have 3 separate local filesystems, and 7
> other filesystems on 2 other machines that I use for storage.
>
> The whole thing is managed using symlinks, the automounter, nfs and
> some scripts.
>
> I have a script (based on myth_archive from the contrib) that copies
> stuff off off the local filesystems onto the nfs mounted partitions
> periodically and replaces it with a symlink. It prefentially moves
> recordings that don't autoexpire.
>
> /mnt/store is a symlink to one of the local disks. A script checks the
> filespace available, and switches the symlink to one of the other
> local filesystems when it gets too low. I've had no problem doing this
> on the fly. The script also transfers the symlinks to the new
> partition.
>
> 0.20 might have support for multiple recording directories,
> so this bit can be retired. I wouldn't use it for remote
> directories, though, since you're just increase the chance of getting
> nailed by hardware problems.
>
> The only "problem" I've had with this is that when you finish watching
> a recording, for some reason the backend has the need to check on a
> number of files, which causes a bunch of disks to spin-up and
> automount, and that can take a while, and also ruins the point of
> spinning down.
> --
> Tony Lill,                         Tony.Lill at AJLC.Waterloo.ON.CA
> President, A. J. Lill Consultants        fax/data (519) 650 3571
> 539 Grand Valley Dr., Cambridge, Ont. N3H 2S2     (519) 241 2461
> --------------- http://www.ajlc.waterloo.on.ca/ ----------------
> "Welcome to All Things UNIX, where if it's not UNIX, it's CRAP!"
>
>
> "jack snodgrass" <mrlinuxgroups at gmail.com> writes:
>
> > That's why I think I'm leaning towards
> > /opt/store1
> > /opt/store2
> > /opt/store3
> > and figureing out how I want to move data to the
> > different partitons so that mythtv still knows about them.
> >
> > especially with autofs unmounting the partiions as needed
> > and letting them spin down..... I think that the multiple,
> > smaller partitions will work better. If you loose one... you
> > loose just what was there... and not the whole TB
> > partition.
> >
> > I'm definitly going to move away from lvm.
> >
> > Does mythtv have the ability to use something like
> > /mtn/store1
> > /mnt/store2
> > /mnt/store3
> > or maybe
> > /mnt/store/subdir1
> > /mnt/store/subdir2
> > etc?
> >
> > jack
> >
> > On 9/11/06, Ryan Steffes <rbsteffes at gmail.com> wrote:
> >>
> >>
> >>
> >> On 9/11/06, jack snodgrass <mrlinuxgroups at gmail.com> wrote:
> >> > Maybe my concerns for LVM are unfounded. I am sure that LVM is
> >> > 'stable' but I'm more concerned with hardware failures.
> >> >
> >> > Say that you have a 1.5TB LVM partition made up of
> >> > 4-5 drives. What happens to the 1.5TB of data if you
> >> > loose one of the drives? Do you loose just the data
> >> > on the drive... or do you screw up the whole LVM
> >> > partition? How easy is it to get the 1.5TB - less the
> >> > failed drive - back up and available?  I'd hate to loose
> >> > it all if one of the drives cratered.
> >> >
> >> > I got burned a couple of times with software raid
> >> > and now I'm a bit concerned with 'virtual' drives.
> >> > My software raid mirrored ( perfectly ) my corrupted
> >> > file system. Instead of one bad / corrupted file system,
> >> > I had several raid drive copies of it. ;( They mirror
> >> > part did work....
> >> >
> >> > jack
> >> >
> >> > On 9/11/06, list at onnow.net <list at onnow.net> wrote:
> >> > > My only comment on this ( no expertise on how to make Myth play with
> >> > > the partitions ) is that LVM is very stable and reliable.  There
> >> > > should be no fear in using it.  I ahve run 1TB plus LVM with no issues.
> >> > >
> >> > > The points you address are quite interesting and becoming more and
> >> > > more common on this list.  You are at 1.5TB.  I just jumped to 1TB and
> >> > > many users are finding the need to add mass storage that is
> >> > > affordable.  Let us know how you do as I am sure this will become more
> >> > > and more crucial over the months.
> >> > >
> >> > > Mark
> >>
> >>
> >>
> >> The answer is a resounding, "it depends". If you manage to corrupt your
> >> filesystem to the point where it can't find the data on the good drive, you
> >> could lose everything.  This'd be especially true if you stripe the LVM
> >> partitions.  You'd get better performance at the increased risk of failure.
> >>
> >> Speaking from personal experience, I, just last week, had to spend my
> >> holiday weekend (and birthday) recovering from a failed drive.  More damage
> >> was done from a mistyped command line than was done by the bad blocks on the
> >> drive itself.  Recovery was very slow and painful, but had I caught the
> >> drive failing earlier, it wouldn't have been nearly so slow.   I just
> >> plunked a new drive in, moved the blocks off the old drive to the new one,
> >> and pulled the old drive out.  I lost a few DVDs with bad blocks in the
> >> middle of them that I will now have to rerip, and a whole bunch of my shows
> >> that I manage to kill myself somehow by mv'ing them into oblivion.
> >>
> >> Salvaging an LVM partition is a lot like salvaging a raid, but without the
> >> back ups.  If you detect the problem early enough, you just need a new drive
> >> with enough space to put your old drive on it, and move the partitions over,
> >> then repair any file system problem bad blocks created.
> >>
> >> Ryan
> >>
> >>
> >>
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> >>
> >>
> >>
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