Multiple linux partitions

[Arjay]

Hi all, wasn't sure where to put this post.

I just built a new pc and i'm intending to just have linux on it. I've read in the past about multiple partitions and i'm looking to do something like on my new system. The posts i have read on this subject, everyone seems to have different ideas about how to do it and now i'm confused. I'm not sure how to split my HD up and what sizes to make the partitions (well i know how to split it up if you know what i mean).

My intention is to have Slackware as my main OS and have a partition for LFS which i kinda fancy having a bash at when i have some time. Here's my plan anyway...i have a 40Gig HD + 512M Ram.

/boot = 100mb
/home = ?
/swap = 512mb
/ = ?
/var = 400mb
/LFS = 4-5 Gig (?)

Maybe could take the var out, i read that it's handy if you have alot of logs and stuff, if so then it i will be confined to a limited space. I am all for /home as there us a good chance i will have to reinstall at some point, keeping the same home is a good idea. Just not sure what size to make the other partitions and should i use all the HD. Also is this a good layout or would something else be better.

Also once i have done all this and start the installation how does linux know which partitions to use, ie putting var where you want var to be?

Thanks for any help anyone can offer.

Cheers ppl

[mage492]

I would say /boot should be much smaller, perhaps 10 MB. Personally, on a system with that much RAM, I wouldn't even bother with swap. (I've got Slackware going swap-free on a laptop with 12 MB of RAM.) Your milage may vary, though.

For LFS, were you planning on eventually using it as your main system, or just to play around with? If you're just messing with it, I'd say you'd be fine with 2-3 GB, but if you want it to be useful, then you might want even a bit more than that.

[Molecule Man]

Unless you really need it, I wouldn't bother with /boot. No more than 10 -20mb in any case.

Beyond the / partion, most everything else is optional. Some directories like /etc / /bin/ /lib/ should not be made a seperate partion. Everything else can be. /home/ is a very good one to keep seperate. Everything else depends on your purpose for the computer and your philosophies. For a general purpose desktop/workstation here is what I would suggest:

/usr 12gb

/home 2gb (move up if you know you need more as in you have a very large multimedia collection)

/media 6gb (ditto) optional but not a bad idea, a diferent name works just as well and can be a subdirectory

/usr/local 10gb (more useful for RPM based distros, bbut still usefull if you install a lot of commercial software, I would sym link /opt/ here)

/tmp 900mb (more for security concerns, but I use it for cd genneration as well)

/var 900mb (might add a /var/html if you are running a webserver, I had a problem once with a dsl line that had a problem connecting. I didn't discover it right away and ended up filling my /var partition with garbage. If it was on the root partition, I would not have been able to boot.)

/ 2gb (only need about 400mb but it is good to leave a bit of breathing room, sometimes if you get real short on space somewhere else, you can always move a directory and then symlink it.)

That leaves you with a bit over 6gb of space to tweak about or use for LFS.

[Satanic Atheist]

OK - here's my layout so far:

jhowells@james:~$ df
Filesystem 1K-blocks Used Available Use% Mounted on
/dev/hda1 798508 609288 148656 81% /
/dev/hda5 4822816 4649800 100% /usr
/dev/hda6 1027768 55036 920524 6% /var
/dev/hda7 1035660 99728 883324 11% /home
/dev/hda8 497829 59084 413043 13% /tmp
/dev/hda9 21023712 17782132 2156392 90% /mnt/Data1
/dev/hdb 29552108 16056112 11994832 58% /mnt/Data2
none 710816 710816 0 100% /mnt/cdrom2
none 700288 700288 0 100% /mnt/cdrom3
jhowells@james:~$

Damn - /usr is a 100% again!

This always works fine for me, but I'm seriously thinking about building a "miniroot" system on /dev/hda9 that would give a minimal shell to repair damage after a screw-up.

If you want to learn Linux, scrap Windows and run the installer. If you have the perseverence then you'll learn to do things yourself and solve problems yourself. After a few weeks of courese. We can help, but we cannot solve everything.

James

[SuperNu]

On my 40 gb hard drive, I have my system partitioned like this, 15 gb for /, 22 gb for home, 114 mb for /boot and 384 mb for swap. I used to have my system partitioned into /, /boot, /var, /usr, /tmp, /home and swap, but I found that was more trouble than it was worth. If you have a need to use multiple partitions, then go for it. If you don't, then I would recommend using swap, / and /home. That is how I am going to partition my system the next time I reinstall.

--SN

[Satanic Atheist]

I agree that multiple partitions can be a hassle, but if I'm shifting stuff about (like I will tonight to increase /usr to 10Gb) then it's nice to keep everything separate so if one partition fails, I can copy it back to it.

Hmmm, think I might just flatten my drive and give it a good once over... I can back everything up to /dev/hdb...

Can anyone recommend a good size for /usr? I guess /var is a little too big. Might shrink that. And /home. Don't use it often, anyway.

James

[JamminJoeyB]

Some where around here mdwatts posted his partician info once. I think he had around 12 or so. I thought I was doing good at dual booting 2 distros on boot, two / and one swap. His post made everyones day.