[linux-lvm] Is it better to use partitions or entire disk for LVM?

[Joep Blom]

Mario Becroft (mailing list) wrote:

>On Tue, 2006-06-06 at 00:31 +0200, Heinz Mauelshagen wrote:
>  
>
>>On Sun, Jun 04, 2006 at 10:46:45AM -0400, Mag Gam wrote:
>>    
>>
>>>Is it better to create 1 partition on a disk, and use that into the LVM, or
>>>have a blank disk, and use that in the LVM (if possible)?
>>>      
>>>
>>As long as we still need to live with partition tables, the advantage
>>of having 1 partition to create a PV on it is, that all related tools
>>(e.g. parted) *show* that there's an LVM partition.
>>    
>>
>
>Another reason for creating a partition (perhaps a silly one, but I have
>found it useful) is that discs from different vendors (or even the same
>vendor) that are supposedly the same size often vary slightly, so I find
>it useful to create a partition slightly smaller than the total size of
>the disc. This is a little wasteful of space, but means that if I need
>to drop in a replacement disc that is slightly smaller than the original
>one, I can just copy an image of the old disc and it will generally
>work--otherwise I would have to fiddle around with whatever was near the
>end of the old disc.
>
>
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>
>  
>
At least one partition of ~100 Mb is necessary as boot partition (grub 
cannot boot from an LVM and LILO is questionable). If you don't have to 
boot from the disk it's a question of taste. If I have a disk and fdisk 
tells me nothing is on it I try pvdisplay.
Joep