The data doesn't need its own account, you can just make a directory called /home/all or /home/data to put your data, without creating a dedicated user for it.

So the way I understand it, is that you have to setup an admin (in order to access /) and the user is created so you can use the files and such that are stored on /home. If I don't create a user, will I be accessing everything as the admin? If so, this shouldn't be a problem since I will be the only using the server, but would it be better to go ahead and create the user?

Yes you should have a regular user. Doing all work on the system (including web browsing, etc) as root is not only dangerous in regards to accidentally running a command that will wipe out the entire system, it's also a security risk.

Are there any types of online chats I could use during my installation attempt(s)? lol. This way, if I run into a problem I could try to get advice relatively quickly rather than waiting forum replies?

Why don't you just run an installation using the default settings, and then you will have an opportunity to see what it does, and make a list of the things you want changed? Many things are fairly simple to fix after the installation is complete, such as hostname, domain name, etc. Don't sweat the small stuff until you get a feel for what is small stuff, and what isn't. It only takes a few minutes to repeat an installation, and you'll still learn things along the way.
--- rod.

I have thought about this... but I also wondered how well I'll see how the system runs with nothing on it, lol. There will be no data and if I do the basic install it seems like a waste of time trying to install any packages because I'm most likely going to have reinstall the OS. Can I do the install, and still move partitions around and change the amount of space (GB) assigned to them? If this is possible, then going through the install would be good. It gives me something to play with, lol...

At least this way, I can do the basic/default settings then tune them up the way I want them once the OS is operational..

Not easily

hahaha, so I assumed..

Another issue I have is I'm not sure what partitions are essential. Like I said, the installer will separate partitions, but it shows partitions that no one has mentioned in this thread, and people have mentioned partitions in this thread that the installer is not showing...

For the partitions mentioned in this thread and not shown by the installer, would I be safe to assume that those partitions are just going to be included in the "/" after the install is completed? I kind of feel like my "/home" partition doesn't need to be very large since I will be moving(mounting) it to my 750GB HDDs in the RAID setup.

Anything not explicitly partitioned out and mounted will be included in the / partition.

You do not want to separate your /home partition during installation, otherwise that will just be a wasted partition after you migrate onto the RAID. Leave /home on / during the install.

Will the install still assign an amount of space to the /home? Or, will /home and / just use the same space?

For example, let's say I have a hard drive with 50GB...

if I leave /home intact to the / partition my "path" will look like

//home (or # /home?)

correct?

If so, does / and /home (and other partitions included in /) use the whole 50GB together? Or, will the install still partition them out in the / partition? Like, / gets 10GB, /tmp gets 2GB, swap gets 3GB, and /home gets the rest (35GB)?

I would assume they all use the whole 50GB when / how they need to since partitioning /home during the install will be a waste of space?

Anything not explicitly partitioned and mounted separate from / will just live on / and share the same space.

The path to /home will always be "/home" regardless of whether it's physically located on the same drive as /, or on a partition by itself, or on a RAID.

Ok, I get ya...

Well, I'm off work in about 10 minutes and will be home in about an hour to "officially" start this project, haha. Hopefully I can figure something out...

I feel like I have a good idea on how the partitioning works, but I need to figure out the best partitioning strategy for running the packages I plan to install.. perhaps I'll start looking into the packages I want so I can create a plan of action instead of just installing the OS and running around like a virtual chicken with my head cut off..

http://www.tldp.org/LDP/lame/LAME/li...titioning.html

Is the information on this page good advice? Especially when it comes to dividing up the HDD space for the partitions? Just wondering what you thoughts you guys may have..

Not "system (configuration)" files, but files that setup the desktop (if there was one), login scripts and default user settings.
To delineate between "users" and "administrators" there will be a minimum of two accounts; root (home directory /root) and, in your case, all (home directory /home/all)