Disk
Druid is an interactive program for
editing disk partitions. Users run it only within the Fedora
installation system. Disk Druid enables you to configure
Linux software RAID and
LVM to provide more extensible
and reliable data storage.
Modifying the Default LVM Layout
The default layout pools all of the available storage into a
single LVM physical volume, with one LVM logical volume for the
system. To make capacity available for additional partitions,
Edit the logical volume with the mount
point /, and reduce its size as necessary.
Disk Druid displays the following
actions in the installation program:
New
Select this option to add a partition
or LVM physical
volume to the disk. In the Add
partition dialog, choose a mount point and a
partition type. If you have more than one disk on the
system, choose which disks the partition may inhabit.
Indicate a size in megabytes for the partition. If you
wish to encrypt the partition, select that option.
Illegal Partitions
The /bin/,
/dev/, /etc/,
/lib/, /proc/,
/root/, and
/sbin/ directories may not be used
for separate partitions in Disk
Druid. These directories reside on the
/ (root) partition.
The /boot partition may not reside on
an LVM volume group. Create the /boot
partition before configuring any volume groups.
You may also choose from three options for sizing your
partition:
Fixed size
Use a fixed size as close to your entry as possible.
Fill all space up to
Grow the partition to a maximum size of your choice.
Fill to maximum allowable
size
Grow the partition until it fills the remainder of the
selected disks.
Partition Sizes
The actual partition on the disk may be slightly smaller
or larger than your choice. Disk geometry issues cause
this effect, not an error or bug.
Select the Encrypt partition option to
encrypt all information on the disk partition.
After you enter the details for your partition, select
OK to continue. If you chose to
encrypt the partition, the installer prompts you to assign a
passphrase by typing it twice. For hints on using good
passphrases, refer to Chapter 11, Set the Root Password.
Edit
Select this option to edit an existing partition,
LVM volume group, or an LVM physical volume
that is not yet part of a volume group. To change the size
of a LVM physical volume partition, first remove it from any
volume groups.
Removing LVM Physical Volumes
If you remove an LVM physical volume from a volume group,
you erase any logical volumes it contains.
Edit a partition to change its size, mount point, or file
system type. Use this function to:
correct a mistake in setting up your partitions
migrate Linux partitions if you are upgrading or
reinstalling Fedora
provide a mount point for non-Linux partitions such as
those used on some Windows operating systems
resize an existing NTFS, ext2, or ext3 partition
Windows Partitions
You may not label Windows partitions that use the
NTFS file system with a
mount point in the Fedora installer. You may label
vfat
(FAT16 or
FAT32)
partitions with a mount point.
If you need to make drastic changes to
your partition configuration, you may want to delete
partitions and start again. If your disk contains data that
you need to keep, back it up before you edit any partitions.
If you edit the size of a partition, you may lose all data
on it.
If your system contains many separate partitions for system
and user data, it is easier to upgrade your system. The
installation program allows you to erase or retain data on
specific partitions. If your user data is on a separate
/home partition, you can
retain that data while erasing system partitions such as
/boot.
To change the partition's mount point, enter the new mount
point in the space provided. To resize the partition,
select Resize and enter a new size, or
click and hold the arrow controls to dial the size up or
down as needed. To encrypt the partition, select
Encrypt and provide a passphrase by
typing it twice at the prompt. Refer to Chapter 11, Set the Root Password for information on using good
passphrases.
Delete
Select this option to erase an existing partition
or LVM physical volume. To delete an LVM
physical volume, first delete any volume groups of which
that physical volume is a member.
If you make a mistake, use the Reset
option to abandon all the changes you have made.
Reset
Select this option to force Disk
Druid to abandon all changes made to disk
partitions.
RAID
Select this option to set up software RAID
on your Fedora system.
Create a software RAID
partition
Choose this option to add a partition for software
RAID. This option is the only choice available if your
disk contains no software RAID partitions.
Create a RAID device
Choose this option to construct a RAID device from two
or more existing software RAID partitions. This option
is available if two or more software RAID partitions
have been configured.
Clone a drive to create a RAID
device
Choose this option to set up a RAID
mirror of an existing disk.
This option is available if two or more disks are
attached to the system.
LVM
Select this option to set up LVM
on your Fedora system. First create at least one
partition or software RAID device as an LVM physical volume,
using the New dialog. For more
information on LVM, refer to Section 12.3, “Understanding LVM”.
To assign one or more physical volumes to a volume group,
first name the volume group. Then select the physical
volumes to be used in the volume group. Finally, configure
logical volumes on any volume groups using the
Add, Edit and
Delete options.
You may not remove a physical volume from a volume group if
doing so would leave insufficient space for that group's
logical volumes. Take for example a volume group made up of
two 5 GB LVM physical volume partitions, which contains an 8
GB logical volume. The installer would not allow you to
remove either of the component physical volumes, since that
would leave only 5 GB in the group for an 8 GB logical
volume. If you reduce the total size of any logical volumes
appropriately, you may then remove a physical volume from
the volume group. In the example, reducing the size of the
logical volume to 4 GB would allow you to remove one of the
5 GB physical volumes.
LVM Unavailable in Text Installs
LVM initial set up is not available in a text-mode
installation. The installer allows you to edit
pre-configured LVM volumes. If you need to create an LVM
configuration from scratch, hit Alt+F2 to use the terminal, and run the
lvm command. To return to the
text-mode installation, hit Alt+F1.
After you finish setting up and reviewing your partition
configuration, select Next to continue the
installation process.
Published under the terms of the GNU General Public License