s4m0ur41 - Sun, 2020/05/24 - 18:39

Hi There,

First of all thank you very much to share such awesome pre-built linux distros ! I installed correctly the Torrent Server on an old PC. Everything went smoothly. The server is correctly functionnal. I can download stuff and access it through the network share.

Now I would like to add another HDD for more space. I saw in the Webmin that it can see the new added drive. I read as well on Internet how to add a disk through command line.

So I seek help before proceeding in order to properly do it  and not f... up what is already installed since I am a beginner with Linux. All assistance will be really appreciated.

Thank you in advance for your consideration.

Forum: 
Support
Tags: 
adding hard drives
torrentserver
fileserver
Jeremy Davis's picture

Jeremy Davis - Mon, 2020/05/25 - 04:42

Firstly, whilst I can imagine that the Linux commandlime may feel a little intimidating for a Linux beginer, but I would encourage you to give it a go. It will generally provide more useful error messages and if you google, you'll find tons of info available. Please note that when searching online, TurnKey is based on Debian (and is binary compatible) so almost everything that works for Debian should also work fro TurnKey. Ubuntu is also based on Debian (but isn't binary compatible) so Ubuntu instructions will also often be relevant too, although please DO NOT install software via Ubuntu PPAs!

If you've installed your Torrent server from ISO and selected to use LVM, or you're using a VM (which will be using LVM by default), then you can add your additional disk as a new PV (physical volume). That will allow you to add the new disk to a "pool" of storage, known as a logical volume (LV). So almost like a single virtual disk that spans both physical disks. That is covered by a quite dated, but still relevant blog post. That is explicitly discussing adding a new PV to a VM, but the same applies to a physical machine with LVM.

Alternatively, if you aren't using LVM, or don't want to use it for some reason, then you could mount the disk/partition to the default filestore location if you wished?! That will mean that the main OS resides on the original disk and your new/downloaded files will reside on the new disk. I won't give you the details right now, but essentially you add the new disk to your existing install. Initially stop the relevant services and mount the new disk somewhere and move the contents of /srv/storage (that's where all the downloaded files go by default) to the new disk. Then remount it directly to /srv/storage. Be sure to add it to your /etc/fstab so it automounts on reboot.

I can elaborate further if needed and/or if you have questions or hit issues, please ask and I'll try to help you out.

PS I added a few tags. Whilst I know that it's the torrentserver, not the fileserver, I added that tag because for the context of your question, it's the same.

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