[aclug-L] Upgrading disk on a busy machine

[Carl D Cravens <raven@xxxxxxxxxxx>]

I'm looking for some practical advice on upgrading a disk on a Linux box
that's a dedicated 24/7 web/mailing list server. 

I want to completely swap disks... in the long run, I'll be putting the
new one in and removing the old to use it in a different box.  (The
purpose here is to a new Ultra-DMA ATA-66 drive in the primary box to
replace a much slower drive.) The drives differ in size... the new one is
larger.

I'm looking for advice on how to do this with the least amount of downtime
*and* the least amount of work possible.  I've had some ideas about it and
wrote a great deal, but have decided to delete it so as not to confuse the
issue.  Basically, I want to duplicate the drive, create a new, additional
partition in the larger space on the new drive, and pull the old drive
out... getting all the /dev/hd* stuff correct on the new drive, installing
lilo correctly, etc.  And I've got to do it quickly with no errors.  

I've got ideas, but I don't have the spare hardware or the time to
experiment to figure out how best to do it.  (This is the part of being a
sysadmin that I hate... having to get it right the first time because
there isn't room to experiement or make mistakes.) 

Thanks!

--
Carl D Cravens (raven@xxxxxxxxxxx)
Squirt guns don't squirt people, kids do.