So how do you partition yours???

Ok so I'm changing around a laptop I have and installing Windows XP Pro and Ubuntu on the same hard drive.

Windows XP is set up on a 40GB NTFS partition and I was going to use the other 40GB for the Ubuntu set up.

Now I've no problem creating the partitions, I was just wondering what way you'd set them up and why?

I've read many discussions as to the way people would do it, but just thought I'd throw out the topic here for discussion.

Would you use:

/usr
/usr/local/
/tmp
/home
/
/swap
/var/mail (In case you are running a mail server)

Just interested to see what the general feeling is.

Cheers,
Wolfe

The basic layout on freebsd is:

/
/var
/tmp
/usr

I usually add /usr/home to that. The reason is simple, now I can do a full reinstall without loosing my files :)

Mine makes sense to me and how I do things so it may not work for you at all:

/swap

/

Sometimes if I need to set up a server I'll do this:

/swap

/

/home

/var (If it's on it's own partition you can't fill root with log files).

And sizes or percentages?

The general rule for swap was always either 2X the RAM or 2.5, but this was also back when 32 MBs of RAM was a lot. And was before I ever owned a computer.

I still do a big swap just in case, but for the most part making swap around 512 MBs or even a Gig is not a bad idea unless you're low on disk space and not on RAM.

If you don't have the HD to spare, make it like 512.

I've used like 772MBs or so for Swap.

For / make it big enough. I generally make it at least 4 Gigs.

If you're adding /home and the others, make /home big because that's where your stuff is going to go.

/var I generally made around 3 or maybe 4 gigs at most because I don't need it bigger.

The best way to find out would be to use a test machine and try it out. If you don't have an extra box, go for something that makes sense to you.

You can always do fine with just /swap and / so don't feel you have to make it more complicated than need be.

With CD writers and DVD writers being so cheap these days backing up is easy enough where another partition really just adds to complexity.

Yeah I used to make the swap 2 times the RAM but at most 1GB.

Have used many variations with little or no diff in performance.

The only thing I tend to def stick with is a large /home and a 1GB fat32 partition for cross platform compatability.

Sounds like you have it pretty well figured out to me with the Fat32 thing.

Ah as always - you never know it all so it's nice to get other peoples opinions who know stuff too - might have came across something on their travels that I haven't.

True, I think you're doing pretty good all around with this including the outlook.

For a personal install on a laptop with limited space I tend to use the following

/
/boot

Keeping it simple you see.

Depending on how much RAM is available of course. With my usage I never seemed to use the swap, so I reclaimed some GB :) No problems to report in the last few years.

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The only thing I tend to def stick with is a large /home and a 1GB fat32 partition for cross platform compatability.

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Large home is important for multi-user systems in particular. Can be too for your own files so you don't lose them. But I rarely seem to reinstall, so I wouldn't benefit much from giving that it's own partition, aside from calculating it incorrectly and running out :( (keep it simple!)

It's good to put /var on it's own also. So log files gone crazy don't cause other problems in the system ... a full disk will stop programs from writing a pid file from example, so they won't start :( But that's more for servers. And there's a lot of configurations you can use depending on your situation.

And also, FAT32. Hmmm. I use it on 'pen' drives and the like only because I might be plugging it into someone elses computer with a Windows, but otherwise it's ext2. You can get an ext2 driver for windows right here. ext2 > FAT32. Larger single file size for one. But if FAT32 is okay for your circumstances, no point in changing. Keep it simple!

What is the importance of so many partitions? Would it not waste space if nothing is added to certain partitions?

I can see setting up a partition for backing up purposes.

What are the other advantages or limits to so many paritions?

I just removed debian and thought I would install slackware. Ive heard only good about it. I have 20 gb to spare.

What do you think about:
/boot 500 mb
/swap 1gb
/ the rest
Any suggestions?

Hi,

I would make the boot partition larger.

Also split "the rest" into "data" and "applications" as this will make backing up easier.

It all depends on what you are going to use the box for? experimental/educational is different from gaming, which is different from SOHO.

:)

Im considering completely quitting windows. Like a bad habit.

First I need to get a good feel for Slackware before all together quitting.

First would be soho. I have my own business which includes writting many contracts, billing, and customer database. Secondly would be educational in the sense of learning Linux

boot would be 750 mb?

As far as data partition, are saying etc, var, tmp, usr, all on one partition and the rest on home?

Well, you don't actually need a load of partitions.

I guess I would make boot about 3Gb, swap shouldn't need to be larger than 1Gb. I would certainly have a FAT32 of 1 or 2Gb. You might also want /var for print and e-mail?

To be honest, I would buy a new drive............ they are not expensive and are tax deductible. ;)

okos , let me see if I can provide a little insight. This is not definitive, just from my recollection ( and at my age .... )

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What is the importance of so many partitions?

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Depends on the OS, the equipment, environment, needs, and desires.

Quote:

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Would it not waste space if nothing is added to certain partitions?

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of course.

There were ( and still are ) reasons for partitioning drives.

OS: This one speaks for itself; different operating systems place things in different places. It may not just be the difference between unix and linux ( although they are similar ) but between flavors, and even versions of each. ( I know, you will point me to FHS ( otherwise known as FSSTND). ) But play around with them and you will see the differences.

Equipment: this one is important. Is it older or newer equipment? Is it x86 or sparc? ( I am not even a novice on sparc equipment, but I understand there at least were some quirks concerning partitioning schemes and requirements not found to those used to x86. )

As for age? Older x86 equipment, because of BIOS restrictions, required that the boot loader be in the first 1023 cylinders of the hard drive. The /boot partition is normally under /, so if you used the entire drive for the /, the system would put /boot first and you would have no problem ..... until you started changing, modifying or adding kernels. Then portions could be overwritten, placed elsewhere, etc. Now the system BIOS may not find all the files needed to boot! Thus people started creating a separate /boot partition in the first 1023 cylinders so the BIOS always had access to it.

These restrictions do not exist today. Most modern BIOS do not suffer from those old restrictions, so the /boot directory can be almost anywhere on the disk. Many linux distros will run happily with a single / partition and no others ( yes, not even swap, depending on the memory available, kernel size, etc. )

Environment: Is this a critical server? Is it a workstation environment? Home?
Again, for a simple home setup, all you really need is one partition. For a critical server, you probably have to have separate /boot , /, tmp, /var and home, and yes swap partitions. A machine in between? Maybe, in-between?

A /var partition in a more critical machine is important because that is where log files, print spool files, etc. are stored, and should they get out of hand you don't want them writing over other data. Most of the others I believe have already been mentioned, but in the days of the 2.0 kernel, Red Hat even recommended separate partitions for /usr/local ( where they said software not installed using RPMs should be kept ) and [i]/usr/src ( where you build your kernels. )

As for how big the /boot partition should be? On a 2.0 linux kernel it was quite happy with a 5-10 MB partition ( this was considered generous. )
Today, a 1 GB is more then sufficient, but considered the norm. ( the Fedora boxes around me right now are using less then 18MB of their /boot partitions, and each have two versions of the 2.6 kernel in them. The SUSE box is using less then 7 MB ( only one kernel. ) With the size of today's drives a little space wasted here can save yourself some grief in the long run, especially if you update kernels regularly and keep all the old ones. If you are constrained to a smaller hard drive or portion thereof, cut that in half: you should still have plenty of room, just watch those kernels don't build up!

As for the size of the other partitions? I suggest an installation to test the waters, load it up with all the software you will be using, then check usage. ( use something like Baobab that is available with Gnome. ) Then you can re-install, correct mistakes, and have it custom tuned the way you want.
But I still like to have at least separate /boot, /, and swap partitions.

Or, just use the defaults that come with the OS. That will usually work!