Why and when should I use LVM?

tester1121@lemmy.world to Selfhosted@lemmy.world – 44 points –

I noticed that Linux server distros are using LVM as default. What is so good about LVM, and when should I use it? Is there a GUI for managing LVM volumes like GParted, or is it just through the terminal? How is it different from RAID in using multiple drives for one volume?

20

You are viewing a single comment

Something that LVM supports but ZFS and BTRFS don’t, is the ability to reduce your storage. (That is, to empty and remove a drive from the array, without having to completely destroy the storage array.) As a home user without sufficient storage to have complete duplicates of everything, I find this an important feature.

Just so you know: btrfs can do that too Takes a while to evacuate a device and the tools are not great at reporting progress, but it does work.

I did not know that, last I looked it was still in development, I believe.

Just so you know: btrfs can do that too Takes a while to evacuate a device and the tools are not great at reporting progress, but it does work.