DISCUSSION: A Short Guide to Partitioning a Hard Drive for a Linux System
 

This thread is to discuss the article titled: A Short Guide to Partitioning a Hard Drive for a Linux System

Why did you write this?
 

This is so typical of the Linux community. Why did you write this?
It contains no useful "How to" information at all, and yet you
call it a tutorial. Who do you think you are? Our Daddy? Why
don't you go back and simply put a "how to" under each heading,
and delete the rest of that arrogant poop. I just did a search on
"dual boot" of Linux and WinXP. Guess what? I got nothing
except this article with tells me nothing.

johns

Re: Why did you write this?
 

Then you should simply move on as this article might help others.

Review our rules, if you have nothing constructive to say, then don't say it and just move on to the next thread.

http://www.linuxquestions.org/rules.php

If you want to post negative comments, do it constructively and explain yourself in why you think it was not helpful. There is no need to post utter crap like this which is not the least bit helpful itself.

If you want to discuss this privately, feel free to email me or the admin of the site. If not, then lets move on with the topic, IN A CONSTRUCTIVE MANNER PLEASE!

Regards.

Hi Moses,

I can't thank you enough for this very instructive tutorial.
In my humble opinion, you are a talented, highly professional writer.
Keep writing!

Hartmann.

I have to agree, I thought it was great. I always say I'll make multiple partitions next time and now I think I really will.

A decent article. I learned a lot about partitions—why they're important, how to create them—and about the organization of the filesystem.

My only criticism is that your partitioning suggestions aren't very useful. You list a few system types (Server, Workstation, Game-playing computer, etc.) and then have short paragraphs for each with suggestions on how to partition the drive(s). Below are your suggestions for Desktop/Gaming machines:
So I should have lots of space for, uh, pretty much everything? I don't think this is particularly helpful. I can see that you want to avoid stating percentages explicitly (you mention that most people say "twice as much swap space as RAM" which isn't always best), but you need to say something.

Perhaps you could create a list of priorities and explain what users are most likely to want. For example:

A gaming system will require lots of space for game data, so a large /opt and /usr partition is most important. Second most important in a gaming system is large swap space so that load-times are reduced. Therefore you should make these partitions reasonably large compared to your /home and root partitions. For workstations, documents are the most important, so the /home directory should be pretty large. If you're working with multimedia (video, images, or sound) be sure to also have enough swap space so editing won't be slow (make your swap as large as the largest file you'll have to edit at a time, plus 100M). However, for other types of editing, the swap space isn't as important, so you can have a larger /opt, /usr partition…

(I don't know if the suggestions above are wrong or not, so please don't hold me to them)

People reading your article need to know why to make certain partitions certain sizes. Tell them what a larger /home partition means and why they do/don't need one. Don't worry about saying things like "your /tmp partition doesn't need to be more than 15% of your total disk space."

Other than that, it's a good article. Thanks for sharing it with us.

Thanks, guys!

Soupface,
You are correct, I didn't really want to state exact numbers because it depends on too many variables (disk size, number of applications, usage, etc.). However, you are also correct in stating that there should probably be more useful examples of how large specific partitions should be. . .
I'm unable to edit the original LA, so I'll have to post a errata here. That won't happen for some time, but I'll get to it, eventually. Thanks for your suggestions!

Thanks Moses

as a newbie...just 2 months into using Linux...i appreciate the time u spent writing this....

Thanks again
Tom

Hello,

moses, I totally agree with Hartmann - it's a very good article.

I have one comment for people reading it, though. I reacted on the gigantic /boot partition - 1 gig! :) Considering that it probably only will contain a few kernels, come kernel config files and possibly some initrd images, even 100 megs will definitely be enough.

Cheers!

Holy Cow! I didn't catch that in the editing. . . Yeah, that is huge! It should read something like 100 MB or maybe even 50 MB. . . I've got 9 different kernels in my /boot, some of which have boot splashes and other initrds associated with them and I only use 12 MB. . .

Thanks!

Good info! Thanks!

I find it very difficult to give any credence to the first respondant/troll, who dissed you. He offered absolutely NO constructive guidance, so, is typical of the types of posting that I ignore. I noticed he didn't offer to write an article! If he thinks he is such an expert, he should offer to teach the rest of us!

I build up salvaged systems, and put Debian (from Knoppix) on them. My preference, and advice to newbies, is to KISS. For most installs, a 5 Gb home partition, plus the swap file, will do'er.

Do you have some advice about making and using, more partitions? I used to make a 60 to 100 Mb Boot partition, but, I quit that.

While I understand that some people would find the article possibly less than helpful, I ignore responses like the above. . . If people want to intelligently discuss what the problem with it is, I'm more than happy to do so--I KNOW I don't know everything about computers, so I'd learn in the process.

Typically, the KISS solution is perfect. The issue comes when it's not possible to be simple (need to have two different version of Linux installed, or whatever). I think a 5 GB home partition is fine and should be more than enough for most peoples' uses. My laptop doesn't have one at all anymore (I used to put a /home partition, but I'm the only one who uses it, and will be the only one to use it so I created a /work partition instead).

My advice concerning boot partitions is that if you don't want to have to worry about kernel corruption due to filesystem problems, you should have a separate partition for /boot. This is simply because if it's used less, it's less likely to break. If you want to have two different installations (different root, /usr, etc.), then you should have a /boot partition so that you can keep your kernels all nice and tidy in one place. . .

Really, like it says above, it depends on what the system is for. . . Any time you expect you'll be adding more data to a specific place, it should probably be on a separate partition. If your data is valuable/important, it should probably be on a separate partition. I almost always have a / and a /usr partition because I think the two should be kept apart from everything else (/usr is usually used as the catch-all for packagers to put their software).

Hey guys,

What's the KISS solution? Never heard of it.

Cheers

=-}

Keep It Simple, Stupid

Ah, yes of course... :rolleyes: I'd better keep it extremely simple then ;)

Ok so I'm a newbie at linux but I'm getting tired of windows so would like to make the switch but still run XP as a backup option
I use my computer for home use mostly media (music and movies) p2p networks and the odd art program
right now I'm stuck on partitioning
from what I understand I need /boot partition of 50 megs or less even. I need a swap partition possibly a gig or so is my estimation. I'm getting a little confused on the rest
Do I need a /home partition and a /usr partition? And why

AAAHHH, partitioning...
 

My studied opinion is biased by the use of the Live CD such as Knoppix V3.7, and now, today, V3.8. These are the current crop. I just finished an install of Knoppix V3.8 on a 'curbside donation box'
that is a Compaq 333mhz (Cyrix MII 266/66) after I installed two sticks of Compaq 64Mb RAM. It took about one hour, to wipe out the win98, install and completely update Debian Linux, and configure the system, with over 115,000 apps, files, on the original 4.3 Gb hard drive. When completed, and upgraded, the drive was 33% empty.

So, on partitioning:

I boot up from the Knoppix LiveCDrom. Then, I open a console. Type 'sudo knoppix-installer' and a small window opens stating that this computer doesn't yet meet the requirements for install of Knoppix. Do I want to configure the system? I press the 'yes' pad.

1. I only make a Linux swap partition equal to, or up to 2X the RAM. That is Partition #1. Known as /hda1, in QTparted, if this is a single OS computer. Multi-boot is below.

2. I make a 5 to 20 GB partition in Ext3, for the Linux distro. I commit the changes.

MULTI-BOOT
everything as above, BUT, before beginning any of this, before boooting up a LiveCD or starting a install CD, use the drive tools in your Microsoft to defrag, and clean up your file systems.

QTParted permits you to resize the partition that MS is on, and to dedicate the blank space towards your Linux partition.

Note that you will see warnings to back up all your data! No one, especially Not ME, will be responsible for anything that happens to your data... But, I have yet to lose any data, and I've been installing and repairing computers, building them new, and converting 'curbside boxes' to Linux since 1997!

I prefer Knoppix, but, there are over 230 fun and different Live Distros, here: http://livecdlist.com
Pick your favorite!

Advice for another setup for a newbie ?
 

Hi I read through the article, and I understand the basic concepts.

I recently switched over to Linux (Kubuntu 6.06) for my second PC.
Could you give me some advice for the partitioning config?

For the moment, I plan to keep my main computer on Windows while I start to figure out Linux on the other. I wan't use the Linux PC:

• To store and distribute multimedia on my home network (I have two wifi media streamers; one for music and one for video).

• To share files with bit torrent

• To rip and burn DVDs and CDs

• To share files with my windows PC

I have two internal drives (200 and 300 gigs) and I would like to connect my 500 gig external as well. During the installation I allocated 5 gigs to root and 5 gigs to swap. Perhaps I bit too much, but as you can see, I have more than enough storage capacity.

Any suggestions would be welcome.

Mark Chassy

PS: If anyone reading this who knows about how to connect wifi media streamers (Roku and Pinnacle) using Kubuntu, I'll be looking for that info next.

yes, that 5 GB swap partition is a huge waste, room enough to put on another whole distro of GNU/Linux! In fact, some computers i build only get a 4 GB hard drive! And, they run Kubuntu or Pclinuxos just fine!

I have three external drives and they all work well, though, one is partitioned for HFS+ which is MacIntosh for my MACs.. I do service on MACs also! Closely similar to GNU/Linux as OS X is DarwinBSD!

Just that if you run an external drive for Linux, it runs best (and longest life!), when formatted to a GNU/Linux filesystem, such as Ext3!

So what you're saying is ...
 

So let's see :study: :

Can I reformat those partitions now, or do I need to reinstall?
It doesn't really matter, cause I just installed yesterday.

I have 128O megs of RAM on the machine, so I could set the root to 5 gigs and the swap to 2?

As to the rest of that disk, and the two others, I'm more than happy to format them with any file system. But will I be able to access them from my windows PC, if I use ext3?

Mark

1. partitioning can be done 'on the fly' without affecting any OS on the drive, as long as you don't delete system files while moving the partition! I have done hundreds without having lost a system! Well, there WAS that first one!!!

2. Microsoft can't see beyond FAT and NTFS partitions. I have proven over the past ten years, that those filesystems cause the early demise of any IDE hard drive they are on. Perhaps it is a payback to the drive vendors, from Microsoft? Most of the Drive makers ARE MS's 'partners'!

3. If you really need to drop and access files from any Microsoft virus magnet, to/from an external USB or FireWire drive, then of course you would have to risk the early demise of that drive, and format it to FAt or NTFS filesystem!

I am typing this to you from my Duron 1300, running a LiveCDrom of Linux! There are NO hard drives in the machine! http://pclinuxos.com is the distro DL site!

When setting the size of partitions, is it best to use complete cylinders or the good old "multiples of two" system?

eg. in the first instance the partition size for /boot is 8.257536 MB or 2 cylinders, in the second instance the partition size for /boot is 8 MB.

Is there a best way of doing this, or is it just down to user preference?

Ok, that didn't really make much sense, but I'll just move onto another question I now have. When I've repartitioned the hard disk and allocated the partitions their filesystem IDs (linux, linux swap etc), how do I then put the filesystem (reiserfs, ext2 etc) onto the partitions and allocate the partitions their mount points (eg, /boot, /tp, / etc)?

Oh hold on, you allocate the partitions a mount point using /etc/fstab don't you?

But I still don't know how to format the partitions with a filesystem...

You are making it all too difficult. If you will insert Gnome Partition Editor disk, available at http://gparted.org you can do it all. Or, insert the PCLinuxOS.com Live CDrom, you can click on the 'easy' button on the screen! It is the "INSTALL" icon!

http://pclinuxos.com

Just do it and let it flow! Good surfing!

Thanks. My internet connection doesn't really lend itself to downloading ISOs or whatever, but thanks for replying.

I found the answer to the second question. The command fdisk or cfdisk creates the partitions, you can then format these using the commands mkreiserfs, mkswap, mke2fs, etc. If you're using bash, you can type mk and then tab twice to get a list of other filesystem creators that are available. Type man and then the name to get a description of how to use it.

I still haven't found a solution to the cylinders v. bytes question though...

Ps. The reason I'm doing it this way is that I want to learn more about using the Linux CLI, and also the computer doesn't have the capacity to run a graphical interface.

Dear Sir
 

After studying carefully these instructions i would appreciate some further information about the creation of the partitions which as you mention are very important. Is the creation of the partition important to get done? I mean that can our LINUX operating software run in our Computer without so complicated actions? Moreover will our system work if we follow carefully those instructions?

Your advice was very interesting. Please you can mail me at your earliest convenience at [email]msemidalas@yahoo.com[email]. Thank you for your co-operation.

Regards...

how i extend ubuntu partition
 

sir already i installed vista after few months i installed Ubuntu but i allocate less than 3gb but i like to extend it how it is possible all my partitions are ntfs this only Ext4 please help me to extend my Ubuntu partition

Clarification Requested
 

Hi Moses,

Thank you for you post. It's the closest answer to what I'd like answered being new to Linux. But please help to clarify if this thread is indeed revisited.

You had started out with planning for the partitions:

Name Size mount point

root 2 GB /
usr 3 GB /usr
opt 2 GB /opt
boot 1 GB /boot
Cassini 35 GB /export/Cassini
Galileo 35 GB /export/Galileo
swap 2 GB swap

Total: 80GB

However, upon creating your partitions, etc, how does the actual mount point associate with the partitions?
Do you create symbolic/hard links from the physical paths to the mount points?

Thank you.

Hi,

Welcome to LQ dziepLe!

You probably will not get a response from 'Moses'. Moses has not participated since '2004'. That is another reason for one to not resurrect old threads.

You might get lucky but I would not wait too long. :)

A descriptive account on partitioning
 

For newbies, there is a lot to learn here. Contains much more than help menus or user manuals available with partitioning programs. Too technical for me yet grasped the basics relevant to partitioning. Good work, keep it up!

Useful information for newcomers to Linux
 

Thanks for the article, being new to Linux this has helped me to understand the partitioning needs of a Linux install, very helpful.

Thanks Moses. It was informative. Michael

Thank you
 

I found you article very informative. I am a newbee. There is a tremendous amount of information out there regarding partitioning. Unfortunately, the authors seem to think they are writing for experienced programmers, not the beginning hobbiest. You, on the other hand, made it clear enough that even a beginner could understand. To date, I have just let the installation routine take care of the partitioning because I did not understand why it did what it did. Your article gives me the background to experiment. I have an Aspire h340 headless server that I am attempting to turn into a file server. In the process, I am confused regarding the partitioning of additional disks. I have a 500GB disk on which everything currently resides and 3 1TB drives that I want to add. I am running Ubuntu server. Ultimately, I would like to set it up as raid 5 and use it to back up my windows machines. I have been or foraging on the Internet for answers but most cover theory and cause more confusion than provide answers. Should I just have 1 large ext4 primary partition on each drive or should it be subdivided? If I wanted to expand to incorporate a web server later, what would I do at this stage to prepare and simplify my life later?

If anyone can point me to a good, concise, resource, I would appreciate it very much.

Dangerous but Learning
 

As the cliche goes, I know just enough about Linux to be dangerous. There are basics to every OS, and there is so much available about them that you can find your own level and go from there. I Googled this topic and found page after page dedicated to the subject. The criticism was childish and uncalled for.

That said, Linux can be frustrating, and to become truly proficient requires hours and hours of study. I used to get angry because I couldn't find and easy way to go where I wanted, and it was difficult to get the answers I needed. However, I read several books and finally began to understand the things I needed. I also joined a Linus users group, and that helps too. Most larger cities have them.

Much of what I do is performing simple tasks (aside from using Linux as a platform to what we do with computers - games, office stuff, maps, etc.). When I need to do something out of the ordinary (for me), I depend on folks like you who have taken the time to help. I thank all of you for that.

As for newbies, there are books galore, and many sources for detailed information on the internet. Take advantage. You can get answers that way. But don't criticize. Keep looking and you will find it. And feel free to ask questions. For me, the learning experience is fun. But don't be a jerk - you are the one that is hurt by that attitude.