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need suggestions for partition


pcorajr
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can anybody please give me some suggestions on partition layout for a 40 gig drive please.

 

i read the Filesystem Layout Partitioning faq but still would like the input on what layout should i do on the HD. i am not going to run any servers, just mainly download mp3 and videos maybe run a ftp server once i start school but not any time soon. more like 3 month down the road.

 

thanks very much in advace

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This is my over-simplified plan... not knowing any other particulars with you or your setup:

5 GB /  (root)
5 GB /home
512 MB swap  (= amount of ram or 512 MB, whichever is LESS )
30 GB /storage  ( format fat32 if you want access from windows/mac )

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As always, the major point of advice I give is:

 

do yourself a favour, and create a SECOND partition to be used for root (/) partition for some subsequent installation. You don't know it, but we all know that at some point you will want to install a newer version of Mandrake without risking your old one, or try another flavour of linux.

 

Apart from that, what scoopy advices is ok. If you have no windows, I'd do:

5-7 GB / ext3

5-7 GB /mnt/altroot ext3 (this will serve as / in a subsequent installation)

512MB swap (making it bigger doesn't harm but doesn't help)

rest: /home ext3

 

Note: / /home and swap are the minimally sane choices; although / plus swap will also work, that is something you'd soon regret.

Next to / /home and swap, you can make partitions for /boot /var /tmp which is especially advisible for large multiuser environments and servers... Since I don't do that, I've been accused of having no clue whatsoever about linux, so be warned :P

 

On a side note, if you ever do use that second partition for another instalation, make sure you then select the bootloader to be put on a floppy - this will help you select between the first installation and the new one by just having the floppy in the drive (load the new system) or ejected (load the old one).

 

Oh yeah, my brother insisted on having /boot /usr /var /tmp next to / , swap and /home, in total just 3GB or so. Naturally, /usr was only 850MB - a bit small if you want to install lots of nice things... Also, he had no space left for a second root - but he'll likely be running mdk10OE for at least the next 2 years. (Shame though that his win D partition is 12GB...)

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what if we have windows and a 80 G external drive? What would it be your suggestion.

I got a 80 G and was wondering / planning a good partition setup, my main intention in to use the drive for digital movie capturing and editing.

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I'd agree with aRTee here.

 

Make a separate / partition at /mnt/altroot or whatever you want to call it. It will save you some hassle if you want to try a newer version of Mandrake, or install another distro to compare.

 

Now, that said...are you going to dual boot with Windows? That would be an important factor in determining the layout of your partitions. Here's what I would do.

 

/ = 5GB

/mnt/altroot = 5GB

/usr = 5-7 GB

/var = 2GB (this is for your server information)

/swap = 513MB or equal to your RAM, whichever is larger (especially important for laptops if you want to be able to use suspend)

/home = the rest

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I have a question here: why such large /usr partitions? I have about 2.5GB which is more than enough for my software. My basic setup is

/ about 1GB

/usr about 2.5

/home about 500MB

+other data partitions for music, photos, writing, etc. I share these partitions with other distros and other users. Tese are where all my disk space goes.

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It all depends on what you install. I think the /usr partition on my laptop is 3GB and that's plenty for it.

 

I always have a large /home partition. That's where I install my games to by default; so I need the large partition. Right now, on my desktop, my /home partition comprises all but 5GB of a 40GB drive. The other 5GB are for /var/www/html (This is so I don't have to format that drive when/if I reinstall)

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I've usually done..

 

/ root - 600 mg

/usr - 6 gig

/home - 2 gig

/swap - do autoconfig when installing and see what swap size is made.

/media - the rest..

 

With /usr being 6,you have room to download software and install it. /home won't grow much. But its nice to have separate for backup purposes. /root will probably top out at 600 or less. One thing to watch out for is downloading mandrake updates. They can fill up your root partition quickly. I usually just make an /media/rpms folder and do a symbolic link in the root partition (replacing the actual folder).

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If you dont expect to try and run an UPGRADE and not a new install then I found keeping /usr and /var seperate just wastes some space.

 

Its useful when you do upgrades etc. but now i just have a

/home

/media

/root

 

and /

on mandrake ....

(Debian I have the sperate /usr and /var and /usr/local) but these machines are used differently. )

 

The /home and /media I share across all distros ...

 

I have been free of windows for several years now. :D

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what if we have windows and a 80 G external drive? What would it be your suggestion.

I got a 80 G and was wondering / planning a good partition setup, my main intention in to use  the drive for digital movie capturing and editing.

Sorry for not being clear here.

 

Actually, I have 2 HD. In ther first (40 GB) I have:

 

/mnt/windows = 7 GB

/ = 12 GB

/home = 16 GB

 

I assume here that what I have for windows in the first disk is enough for my wife's usage, hence dual boot isnot needed in the second HD. When I bought the 80GB hd, windows and linux were already there in the first HD. As I told you, the main purpose of this drive is to use for digital video capturing/editing, and according to your suggestion, save some space in case of trying another distro is quite reasonable, if it's possible to access from windows the partition where the "movies" is going to be stored would be nice.

 

Thanks for all the inputs and sorry for the mess in pcorajr's thread.

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Not sure if I did the right thing, but my layout for the 80GB hd is:

 

/mnt/altroot = 8GB - ext3 - install another distro

/swap = 512 MG

/mnt/storage = 60GB - etx3 - digital video

/windoze = 10 GB - Fat32 - access the disk from windows

Edited by william
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There is a new Partitioning How-To at http://www.tldp.org . It settles a lot of discussion about swap file sizes and other minutae of partitioning. The installation manuals of Debian and Gentoo also have good recommendations depending on the use you intend for your machine. It makes you think more carefully about how you are going to use Linux.

 

Counterspy

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Looks good pcorajr :thumbs:

 

Thanks for all the inputs and sorry for the mess in pcorajr's thread.

Why that's grounds to lose one of your penguins. :jester:

Looks like everything worked out this time... just don't let it happen again. Your allowed to start your own thread. :cheesy:

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