thanks for the your input
1. My PC does not have a raid controller
I do not want to "convert" to Ext4 as it only uses Ext4 for new files, I want to start again so that all the files are Ext4.
Another thought i had was to wait for the next ubuntu which will use ext4 as default. i could then install on the unused hd, use the upgrade manager to upgrade the 9.04 system, then "copy" the relevant directories across.
Which directories would i need to copy across?
Just realised that the above scheme will not get me to Raid as well though.
You mention "imaging" the partition, what would i use for that?
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by: rindiPosted on 2009-09-30 at 01:49:40ID: 25456606
Does your PC have a hardware RAID controller that is supported by Ubuntu? If yes, build the array using the controller's firmware (don't partition the 2nd HD, the Controller's firmware should just set it up correctly, but read it's manual first). If you have another HD available for a backup, use an imaging tool like partimage or similar to first make a backup of your initial installation.
If your PC only has a fake-raid controller, or none at all, then it's better to use mdadm, but you shouldn't raid your /boot partition. Ubuntu usually doesn't separate /boot and the rest of the OS if you select the default scheme during installation. It also usually isn't the best idea to boot directly to Ext4.
You could try using gparted (from a livecd, not from within your installed OS, as it has to be dismounted), and resizing your main partition to allow about 100MB space for the /boot partition in front of it. Then create this new, small ext2 primary partition of 100MB, assign it the "boot" flag, and copy the /boot folder to it. Then rename the original /boot folder to something else, like /boot-orig. Now create a new /boot folder, then adapt your /etc/fstab file to mount your new partition to the /boot folder you just created. Make sure you use the correct labels or partition names in that file. Also check your grub/menu.lst file that the correct partitions are used.
When done try rebooting into your original HD using Ubuntu. If it doesn't work you may have to use the repair option to fix the boot-up. Once it works you could make another image of both your partitions, then convert your root partition to ext4. There is as far as I know an easy way to do this without data loss, but I' don't know the exact procedure, google is your friend here.
After the conversion is done reboot to check if your system still runs, if yes, use mdadm to create your array on the root partition, again read the mdadm man files for this.