partition sizes in linux box
 

hi
can anyone please tell me what is the most appropriate partition size that i can have in my linux box? and also how many partitions should i keep? tell me if i should change these partitions?

im planning to make four partitions
/
/home
/usr/local
/var

My Hard Disk:

Model=ST340014A, FwRev=8.01, SerialNo=5JXL8HT8
Config={HardSect NotMFM HdSw>15uSec Fixed DTR>10Mbs RotSpdTol>.5%}
RawCHS=16383/16/63, TrkSize=0, SectSize=0, ECCbytes=4
BuffType=unknown, BuffSize=2048kB, MaxMultSect=16, MultSect=16
CurCHS=16383/16/63, CurSects=16514064, LBA=yes, LBAsects=78165360
IORDY=on/off, tPIO={min:240,w/IORDY:120}, tDMA={min:120,rec:120}
PIO modes: pio0 pio1 pio2 pio3 pio4
DMA modes: mdma0 mdma1 mdma2
UDMA modes: udma0 udma1 udma2 udma3 udma4 *udma5
AdvancedPM=no WriteCache=enabled
Drive conforms to: ATA/ATAPI-6 T13 1410D revision 2:

* signifies the current active mode

That's 40GB right?

I wouldn't do quite so many partitions... Everyone seems to have their own opinions and reasons to partition the way they do, but this would be my scheme on a 40GB drive:

Now, the only reason I would do it this way is because I think 40GB is pretty small. To avoid wasted (or hard to use) space, I would make two main partitions. Depending on what distro you use, you may not need 10GiB as root, or you may need more. Then, I would devote the rest to /home.

sorry for not giving the full information...in my office i have 1GB RAM and I'm using fedora3 with a 40GB Hard Disk....im on training so i have to keep on installing various software's..and my senior has told me to use /usr/local to install the software and also because by default software's normally install in /usr/local

but at home I have 512 RAM with 80GB Hard Disk....the common distros that i normally use are RH9,RHEL4....

im planning to also go in for gentoo, fedora4, mandiriva, slackware later on..that depends on when i can have my hands on the install cd's ..

I am a believer in more partitions. I like my system to look like and be managed like a production environment. For a 40 gig disk, I would do:

/ 1 Gb
swap .5 - 1 Gb
/tmp 1 Gb
/var 2.5 Gb
/usr 4.5 Gb
/home The rest (about 30 Gb)

but why should i give /tmp 1GB when i have /home as 30GB...and after
software's are inflated they normally get installed in the default location /usr/local (please point me if im wrong)...now woudnt /usr/local require more space.....