I have an Ubuntu 12.04 LTS server that has 6x600GB SAS drives in a RAID 5 configuration (Perc 6/i).
The partition scheme looks like this:
Partition File System Mount Point Size
/dev/sda1 ext2 /boot 243.00 MiB
/dev/sda2 extended 1.09 TiB
/dev/sda5 lvm2 1.09 TiB
unallocated unallocated 1.64 TiB
I want to extend the /dev/sda5
partition to include the unallocated space, and create one large partition. However, when I attempt to extend the partition, I get an error:
partition length of 5854484482 sectors exceeds the msdos-partition-table-imposed maximum of 4294967295
I believe that I need to create a new partition table. However, I have also read that doing so can cause problems.
My basic question is this: if I boot from the GParted Live CD, apply a new partition table, extend the /dev/sda2
partition, and increase the size of the LVM, is the system going to boot up afterwards, and will the LVM still be intact? I understand that there is always the possibility of data corruption, and I've backed everything up. The real question is whether this is the correct way to go about modifying the disk configuration.
Alternatively, is there a better way to incorporate the unallocated space into the LVM?