Partitioning for Linux

[HarryGoiter]

Is there a general rule as to how much space to allocate for each partition on a drive? I've had a 4G drive split up between my root and home partitions; about 2G each, and of course the boot, swap partitions. I've got a 7G(9G total but - 2G for windows) drive now, and wanna know how much room to give to each of those partitions(root, swap, etc).

Also, does it matter if Windows is on hda1 or not?

Thanks

[bdg1983]

It all depends on your needs. Read the NHF http://www.linuxnewbie.org/nhf/intel/installation/partition/multi_partition.html

I only use '/' and swap.

Windows does not have to be installed on hda1, though for some it's easier.

[bigrigdriver]

I installed OpenLinux on my box. I used PartitionMagic to partition my hard disk, and followed Caldera's recommendations with regard to the amount of room for filesystem and swap file sizes. The general rule on operating system partition is this: make it large enough to hold everything you want to compile or configure into the partition, plus room for growth. Be sure to configure the kernel for large partition (2G or more if you want that much room). The general rule for swap file size is: set it equal to the amount of ram you have on the motherboard.
The first hard disk is designated as hda1. That is the PRIMARY partition. If you have 2 hard disks, the second is hdb1. The operating system you install in the hda1 partition will be the one that boots when you turn on your computer. The primary partition can then be partitioned again, setting up an extended partition within the primary. The extended partition can be subdivided into as many operating system and swap partitions as you can fit into them. Windows can be installed into one of these subpartitions, so long as the partition you try to put it into is formated for vfat and not ext2. You then make that partition bootable by writing the MBR (Master Boot Record) into that partition. Once that is done, configure LILO to give you the choice of which operating system to boot.

[ 18 March 2001: Message edited by: bigrigdriver ]