topic Re: mediainit in Operating System - HP-UX

mediainit

Anjaneyulu — Wed, 26 Nov 2008 10:07:30 GMT

Hi,

when we install new disk on server. why we use mediainit command before create the physical volume.

Re: mediainit

Johnson Punniyalingam — Wed, 26 Nov 2008 10:11:52 GMT

to ==> initialize disk

Further Detail Explaination given below
http://docs.hp.com/en/B9106-90007/mediainit.1.html

Thanks,
Johnson

Re: mediainit

Ganesan R — Wed, 26 Nov 2008 10:12:08 GMT

Hi Anjaneyulu,

You don't need to run mediainit command before create the physical volume.

mediainit command is for low level disk formatting to fix media errors if any. Very rare situations people use to run this command if they suspect some bad blocks or media issues.

Re: mediainit

Simeon Harwood — Thu, 27 Nov 2008 09:39:08 GMT

Mediainit is used for a low level block by block format. This is not needed when a new disk is added. If you are using LVM, using the "pvcreate" command will format the top of the disk with a "PVRA" and "VGRA" ready for the disk to be used by LVM, then the normal LVM commands from there on, will do everything you need.
The only time I've ever used mediainit was if there was a bad block on the disk, or if we had sensitive data on the disk before disposal.

Sime.

Re: mediainit

~sesh — Thu, 27 Nov 2008 23:04:48 GMT

The mediainit command is usually used if the disk has been used for a while, and is getting "old". If there is a doubt on the drive's integrity or reliability mediainit is used to reinitialize the drive.

Generally, for new hard drives, or relatively new hard drives, mediainit is not required. pvcreate, file system creation will wipe out the hard drives, and should be enough.

Re: mediainit

sachit patil — Sat, 29 Nov 2008 14:53:03 GMT

in Hp unix 10.x mediaint was used for small capcity disks.
Nowdays u hv to start with pvcreat -f

Rgds
sachit