Partition Info /, /usr, ext2

Eric Garib · 07-10-2003, 08:12 AM

I'm learning Linux and am trying to install Mandrake but I don't understand how to make partitions and what /usr, var, /boot and how to make partitions as far as choosing type, mount, and all others if there is a link for a website showing help of this nature please reply.

cav · 07-10-2003, 10:58 AM

If youre just starting out, probably the easiest way to partition is:

-twice your RAM size for swap partition
-give the rest to /

This isnt the most secure, but for someone just starting out it is fine, especially since youll end up trying different distros in the future. You can get more advanced with partitioning over time.

Just do a google search for something like 'linux partitioning' and youll come up with gobs of sites.

JaseP · 07-10-2003, 11:19 AM

NOOOOOOOOO

You are right in terms of making the swap 2x the size of the RAM,... up to about 512MB as a cap.

As for giving the rest all to "/"...

NOOOOOOOOO

At the very least the /home partition should be its own partition. This is where you will be putting your user data so err on the side of being generous here. Things like WineX like to install Windoze programs in the users subdirectory

If you ever have to re-install the OS, you will thank me for having you make /home a seperate partition, because you can (in expert mode) re-install without re-formatting this partition and keep ALL of your user data (documents, mp3s, pictures, desktop settings, game save files, etc.)

Also,...

/usr should be its own partition - you should also be generous here as well, as this is where you will be installing most of your apps...

/var, /dev and the rest can be left to go with the root partition ( / ) on a home computer or desktop machine.

You don't have to bee too generous to the root partition. The kernal, system settings and variables go there. They don't generally take up as much room as you would think.

I have an 80 GB HD.
It is partitioned as follows:
6 GB to root (ReiserFS)
1.1 GB Swap (I know I said 512 MB, but otherwise I couldn't see the "s" in swap)
25 GB for /usr (ReiserFS)
27 GB for /home (ReiserFS)
14 GB for a FAT32 partition I call /mnt/windoze

I use ReiserFS because it's a journalized file system and a little more robust than EXT3
Don't use EXT2 unless you really need access to the partitioning through a program like Partition Magic.
With Mandrake 9.1 and the diskdrake utility, you shouldn't need Partition Magic for anything

MasterC · 07-10-2003, 11:56 AM

Sorry JaseP but I've gotta disagree. Yes, you are correct, but we are talking about newbies. They don't know what they want to do with their system yet. In a month or 2, they might decide that they want to run a mail server. All of a sudden, / is at 100% yet /usr is still sitting in a nice cool 2%

Nah, I gotta agree with cav here. Choose your swap size, then give all the rest to /
Yes, if the need arises to reinstall, they'll lose anything they didn't backup on external media (such as CDRW) but they won't have to go through the task of resizing (which seems to lead a lot of newbies to the ultimate task of reinstalling).

It's really a good argument to say that having /home and /usr on seperate partitions will help em, but I must say if there is going to be ANY other partitions than swap and / it should only be a seperate one for "data" in general, and not a standard linux directory, something like /mnt/data

Just my 2 cents

Cool

fancypiper · 07-10-2003, 11:58 AM

# Linux filesystem structure
Directory Navigation Help File
Filesystems, Directories, and Devices Help File
Proper Filesystem Layout

# Mandrake links
Mandrake home page
Mandrake Users website
Easy urpmi config for Mandrake
urpmi mini-HOWTO
Easy software management: Red Carpet
Maximum RPM
rpmfind
You didn't install the developmental packages? As root, command:
urpmi gcc
An Introduction to the Midnight Commander. You can install it by commanding:
urpmi mc
Midnight Commander home page

My partitioning scheme:

Code:

root@uilleann # fdisk -l

Disk /dev/hdc: 255 heads, 63 sectors, 9729 cylinders
Units = cylinders of 16065 * 512 bytes

   Device Boot    Start       End    Blocks   Id  System
/dev/hdc1             1      9729  78148161   83  Linux

Disk /dev/hda: 255 heads, 63 sectors, 4865 cylinders
Units = cylinders of 16065 * 512 bytes

   Device Boot    Start       End    Blocks   Id  System
/dev/hda1   *         1      1217   9772056    c  Win95 FAT32 (LBA)
/dev/hda2          1217      1229     99855   83  Linux
/dev/hda3          1230      1676   3590527+  83  Linux
/dev/hda4          1677      4865  25615642+   5  Extended
/dev/hda5          1677      1742    530113+  82  Linux swap
/dev/hda6          1743      2189   3590496   83  Linux
/dev/hda7          2190      2636   3590496   83  Linux
/dev/hda8          2637      3751   8956206   83  Linux
/dev/hda9          3752      4865   8948173+  83  Linux

My /etc/fstab

Code:

/dev/hda6	/               reiserfs	defaults	1 1
dev/hda2        /boot           ext3		defaults	1 2
none            /dev/pts        devpts		gid=5,mode=620  0 0
/dev/hda8	/home           reiserfs	defaults	1 2
#/dev/hda3	/mnt/gentoo     reiserfs	defaults	1 2
#/dev/hda7	/mnt/mandrake   ext3		defaults	1 2
/dev/hda1	/mnt/winc	vfat		defaults	0 0
#/dev/hdb1	/mnt/wind	vfat		defaults	0 0
none            /proc           proc		defaults	0 0
none            /dev/shm        tmpfs		defaults	0 0
/dev/hdc1	/pub            ext3		defaults	1 2
/dev/hda9	/snd            reiserfs	defaults	1 2
/dev/hda5	swap            swap		defaults	0 0
/dev/fd0        /mnt/floppy     auto		noauto,owner    0 0
/dev/cdrom	/mnt/cdrom	iso9660		noauto,owner,ro 0 0

JaseP · 07-10-2003, 12:03 PM

Quote:

Originally posted by MasterC
Sorry JaseP but I've gotta disagree. Yes, you are correct, but we are talking about newbies. They don't know what they want to do with their system yet. In a month or 2, they might decide that they want to run a mail server. All of a sudden, / is at 100% yet /usr is still sitting in a nice cool 2%

....

It's really a good argument to say that having /home and /usr on seperate partitions will help em, but I must say if there is going to be ANY other partitions than swap and / it should only be a seperate one for "data" in general, and not a standard linux directory, something like /mnt/data

Just my 2 cents

Cool

I can see your point, and It's what I did when I first started using Linux. I was afraid of partitions. But Most new users aren't thinking of setting up mail servers. They are getting to know the system as a desktop system. If you want a mail-server, I would say re-install and re-tool specifically for that.

I'm just suggesting making /home seperate because the first bad thing that happened to me is that I screwed up my root partition some-how and ended up losing all my user data for both me and my wife. After than I became and advocate of partitioning.

So I can see where you are coming from, I just don't agree. I think a newbie is better served with at least a seperate /home partition.

MasterC · 07-10-2003, 12:14 PM

Fair enough, the problem lies in that you'll (as the newbie, not you as JaseP) will be faced with then creating the 2 new users again. At which time, if you don't create the same users, or have the same UID, then file ownership will become problematic (uid 501 used to be user1 now it's user2). That's why I usually recommend a /mnt/data if anything. Sharing a /home across 2 distros isn't a good idea for the same reason, linux uses a naming convention for ease of use, but if you look at the guts, all files are owned to a UID not a name

It's kind of like the DNS thing for the internet.

Cool

JaseP · 07-10-2003, 12:17 PM

Quote:

Originally posted by MasterC
...At which time, if you don't create the same users, or have the same UID, then file ownership will become problematic (uid 501 used to be user1 now it's user2). That's why I usually recommend a /mnt/data if anything. Sharing a /home across 2 distros isn't a good idea for the same reason, linux uses a naming convention for ease of use, but if you look at the guts, all files are owned to a UID not a name It's kind of like the DNS thing for the internet.

Cool

I see your point,... but you can always do a file dump to the new user and cahnge the permissions to fit the new user's ID...

Most people won't go to the trouble of doing back-ups (which I can attest to).