[RAID] Updated the RAID5 yet again

My RAID5 on frisket was running dangerously low on space. When I noticed that it only had 100GB's left, I knew it was time to either upgrade or delete massive amounts of data. To those that are saying 100GB is plenty of space, the drive was 98% full, and I still had about 500GB of data on various external drives that needed copying to the main server.

I decided that even deleting all my rips, I would still fill up again within a year. I needed another 2TB HD, if the server could handle it. I also needed a backup. RAID is not a backup. It will guard against single drive failure yes, but not against misguided fingers. Checked the server setup, and I still have 2 SATA ports free ( on the expansion card). I also had one more open 3.5" bay.

I bought a 2TB internal drive, a Seagate Barracuda instead of my regular Hitachi's. I also bought a 2TB external drive, for backups and safeguarding critical data for the RAID grow. Growing a raid is non-destructive.. if all goes well. But getting any command wrong, formatting the wrong drive, or a power failure at a critical moment can all lead to a broken RAID, and lost data. 

I copied all my TV Shows and Movies to the 2TB drive. That almost completely filled the drive. I also copied over any data that couldn't be replaced, and weren't stored anywhere else. This filled up any left over nooks and crannies in all my external drives. Unfortunately my 500GB and 750GB external drives are now at my parent's place and remotely transferring 500GB+ worth of data back and forth on my 100KB/s upload is just not plausible. 

On Sunday I started the procedure. I used the same procedure I outlined here RAID5-fun. Currently the RAID has about 23 hours left on the re-sync. After that I have to resize the file-system in order to utilize the free space.

Update: Took roughly 26 hours total to do the grow of the raid partition. Currently I'm running e2fsck to check the filesystem over, then the filesystem has to be grown. 

[WOW IC] Bob and Hotplate back in action

Bob wiped his lip and gingerly put some weight on his knee. It didn't give out instantly, which was a good sign. Whatever liquid his hand wiped from his chin, whether it was blood or sweat, Bob didn't get a chance to look. Kragnar let out a taunt at the pair of Yongol he was fighting. These Youngol, were different than the Youngol he had encountered in the village. They were imbued with the power of the Sha. Instead of simple brute force ( of which they had plenty of), they were attacking with the force of hatred itself.

Bob hurled yellow and green deadly fire at the pair. The yellow fire streaked through the ground, curling left and right, like a snake, ready to devour its target. The green fireball of chaos streaked through the air on a more direct route. Regardless, they both hit at almost the same moment. Where there were once two hate filled Youngol, only two craters now remained.

Kragnar turned to acknowledge his master, then silently floated off in the direction of his next target.

A few yards away, Hotplate was keeping herself busy as well. Her dual blades whistled in the night air. Normally, Pandaren nights were moderate, requiring nothing more than a linen blanket to sleep under the stars. But the air around hotplate was as frigid as a blizzard in Northrend. The death knight was born of this bitter cold, and it would never leave her. Now the cold was her weapon, along with blood and rune. Her blades gave off an eerie white glow, like the color of snow in the moonlight. But instead of inspiring an image of a peaceful Winter Solstice, they were cleaving through a particularly large Youngol warrior.

The warrior did not last long.

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"Did I ever thank you for dragging me to this demon infested continent?" quiped Hot.

"You could have stayed at the manor, helped Hunt at the market" replied Bob.

"What? And let an old man like you go back to war on his own?" joked Hot.

While Bob wasn't as young as he used to be, he looked younger than he'd looked in years. The last few months in Pandaria had hardened Bob. After years of being cooped up in the manor with his books, his body had softened and aged. This new campaign sharpened his mind and reinvigorated his body. He was almost in as good a shape as he was when he fought the Burning Legion, a lifetime ago.

The trip had done well for Hotplate as well. Retirement had not suited her. While the others could change clothes, and pretend to live the simple lives of civilians, the Northrend campaign had obviously changed Hotplate. She no longer spoke about her time before becoming a Death Knight. Before Arthas had made her into what she was now. But the action had given her a purpose, and that was something she was sorely missing.