Best Partition Configuration
 

Hey everyone,

I've been web developing on dedicated servers and whatnot for a long time, but never really got down to the nitty gritty on Linux. I've got a Vista laptop, ~145GB, what's the best partitioning for this? I've currently got:

3GB RAM
Vista (Only OS)
116GB FREE out of 145GB
Want to use Debian as my Linux distrib

Should I use any preferred software to partition it up? Maybe 40-50GB for Linux and the rest for windows? I just want to use Linux as a bare bones.. design and whatnot on it (PHP, HTML, etc.) and use it as a local server rather than having to upload the files to test to an external server.

Thanks,

Zach

Since it's Vista, I would use the built in Vista partitioner to shrink the existing Windows partition. Then use GParted Live or the partition tool on the distro installer to partition up the rest.

If you plan on sharing any files between Vista and linux, you may also want a shared fat32 partition.

Hi, Welcome to LQ!

LQ has a fantastic search function that may save you time waiting for an answer to a popular question.

With over 3 million posts to search it's possible the answer has been given. :)

I, personally, create separate partitions for /(root)(5gig), /boot(50Mb), /usr (4gig) and /home (the rest). I have quite a few other partitions too, but this is my minimum.

Why, because if I need to re-install for any reason, I don't have to format /home.

Generally the installer will want to format /(root) and /usr, at least.

Keep in mind that /var/www, /var/ftp, /usr/local and /opt may also be on separate partitions.

/usr/local for kde3 apps (on a kde4 sys) and some source installs are saved here.
/opt, virtualbox is installed here.
/var/www, apache web files here,
/var/ftp, source files from install may be found here, "copy to disk"

Hope this helps, Regards and welcome to LQ! Glenn

A standard reference...

http://apcmag.com/how_to_dualboot_vi...lled_first.htm

A common partitioning scheme for linux is swap, / (root) and /home. As stated, with a separate /home partition, the linux installation on / (root) may be changed without loosing your content files.

Unless you need the particular partitions, having all of the installation on / (root) allows the installation to allocate its files within / (root) according to its needs, but there are other opinions.

Since your HDD will accept a maximum of four primary partitions, with Vista using one, a possible hidden recovery partition using another, you might first format the space that you have cleared for linux as an extended partition, then format that with logical partitions, avoiding the four partition limit.