Partition question

Michael Piziak · 02-03-2021, 07:48 PM

I'm using Disks app

Is it possible to make just 1 partition on my backup hard drive?

Right now there are 3 partitions.

See screenshot.

frankbell · 02-03-2021, 07:59 PM

Looking at the picture, it looks as if there is one partition already. The remainder is free, that is, unpartitioned space, a little bit on one end and about 8GB on the other.

This article should help: https://linoxide.com/how-tos/find-al...d-space-linux/

Emerson · 02-03-2021, 08:13 PM

Don't forget "partitioning" meaning is cutting into pieces. If you need just one piece then there is no need for partitioning and you can lay the filesystem directly to the device, as it was done in past with floppy disks. When you create filesystem without partitioning the whole drive will be used and there won't be any waste.

syg00 · 02-03-2021, 08:17 PM

Whilst I agree with Emerson, it leads to confusion for most users - (almost) all the articles found online reference partitions and how to list them (as per the reference from frankbell).
Best to use gparted to absorb the free space at the end of the disk - the 8.5G. The space at the start is negligible but is usually for alignment - if you attempt to absorb that, you will likely badly affect performance. Leave it alone.

Michael Piziak · 02-03-2021, 08:55 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by frankbell

Looking at the picture, it looks as if there is one partition already. The remainder is free, that is, unpartitioned space, a little bit on one end and about 8GB on the other.

This article should help: https://linoxide.com/how-tos/find-al...d-space-linux/

Well, I used the Disks app and formatted the drive, and it only has one partition now. I don't know if this is a good idea, as the drive may need some free space?

It's not the primary drive.

syg00 · 02-04-2021, 03:43 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Michael Piziak

Well, I used the Disks app and formatted the drive, and it only has one partition now.

So why did you bother asking us for input ?.

Michael Piziak · 02-04-2021, 07:48 AM

Well, I did a bit of reading, and it is recommended that you do have a "swap" partition, so I used a program called gparted partition editor to create one.

TorC · 02-04-2021, 10:22 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by syg00

So why did you bother asking us for input ?.

Reassurance? Many newbies are intimidated by it due to M$ condidtioning.

With 8GB RAM, I just create a 'token' swap partition of about 512-768MB to satisfy any distro that 'looks' for a swap prior to install. FYI -- partitioning in slackbook

masterclassic · 02-05-2021, 05:39 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Michael Piziak

Well, I used the Disks app and formatted the drive, and it only has one partition now. I don't know if this is a good idea, as the drive may need some free space?

It's not the primary drive.

No need of any unallocated space for this data disk. In case of GPT (GUID partition table) you need just 1 MiB for alignment + partition table at the beginning and 1 MiB at the end for the partition table backup copy. These are automatically left free by GParted.

If a swap partition is really needed, then I would prefer it on the SSD system drive, not in the slower data HDD. Anyway, swap partition was more important in the past, as RAM was expensive. Now it is much easier and cheaper to have lots of RAM even in a home pc.