newbie here. I've also searched the forums and read some related opinions etc but wanted to double check and make sure I was understanding stuff correctly and how it applies to my specific circumstance.
A physical volume is like the actual physical disk drive. A logical volume is when you combine or divide multiple physical disk drives under the presentation of a single virtual disk drive. Correct?
SHORT VERSION:
Without doing too much explaining here's my questions:
- Is it possible to install Ubuntu on to a Logical Volume which is made of 2 SSDs and 1 HDD?
- Is it possible to install Ubuntu on a Logical volume which is made of 2 SSDs and 2HDDs which are Raided together for backup protection
- Is it possible for a Windows installation to see the logical volumes?
Long Version for background
I am converting my home desktop into a cloud-backup/media server. I have these drives on my home desktop:
250GB SSD
111GB SSD
500GB HDD
2.75TB HDD
2.75TB HDD
Then I also have 500gb SSD for my Windows only Surface Book 2 laptop which I use mostly at work.
I want to divide my work files into 2 categories: "Current Working Projects" and "Archive".
My aim is to have all my current working projects files on my laptop and then backed-up automatically via NextCloud to my desktop, and then use the larger storage on my desktop to make all Archive files accessible from the web, as needed.
The reason I want to have as many of the drives grouped together is so that when I save stuff etc in the partition I'm not having to think about my file structure in relation to the physical division of the drives.
I'd like it so that when I go to my home folder I can stuff divide like this
* = only on desktop ** = on desktop and laptop
- Documents **
- DailyMedia
- Work **
- 2D Projects
- 3D Projects
- Web Dev
- Game Dev
- Video Projects
- Media *
- Movies
- TV Shows
- Music
- Games
- Work Archive *
- 2D Projects
- 3D Projects
- Web Dev
- Game Dev
- Video Project
I don't want to come to a point where downloading a certain large GB game means saving that particular game away from all the others, nor do I want it to mean I have to move the entire Games folder over to a random other drive in order to fit the game in there.
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Depending on what the answers to the above questions are I see several options:
Install
Ubuntu LV-{250gb ssd, 500gb, 2.75gb RAID}
Windows on {111GB} but it has access to the 2.75gb if it needs.
Install
- Ubuntu on a LV-{250gb ssd, 111gb, 2.75tb RAID}
- Windows {500GB}
Install
- Ubuntu LV-{250gb ssd, 500GB}
- Archive drive {2.75gb RAID with root symlinked into the Home Directory of Ubuntu and also Windows}
- Windows on {111gb}.
1. Is it possible to install Ubuntu on to a Logical Volume which is made of 2 SSDs and 1 HDD?
Yes. HOWEVER if any of those drives fails, Ubuntu will not boot and will not be recoverable. You are far better off with RAID-1 and moving archives off into other drives when you need space. Hardware is cheap, your time is precious. Back up often, even if you have a RAID-1 rig.
2. Is it possible to install Ubuntu on a Logical volume which is made of 2 SSDs and 2HDDs which are Raided together for backup protection.
Harnessing HDDs and SSDs together is like trying to plow a field with a Corvette and a mule; EXTREMELY risky because the HDDs will be out of sync with the SSDs very, very often. Make a volume with two SSDs, and another volume with two HDDs, and back up offsite anyway.
3. Is it possible for a Windows installation to see the logical volumes?
If formatted using FAT32 or NTFS, yes. There is an ext2 file system driver for Windows, but it never has been stable for me and has corrupted volumes multiple times in my experience. Microsoft even agrees with me.
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And, please, henceforth, pose one question at a time, following https://askubuntu.com/help/how-to-ask.