Hi Jim D;
Quote:
And:
/swap partition to be shared between Mint+Mepis
/shared partition for shared data
= two partitions
Total = six partitions
Since four primary partitions are allowed, I should use three primary partitions and one extended partition containing three logical partitions.
Is that correct?
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Yes, that would work. Here is what I did that is similar.
My partitions: Drive size = 500 GB
Number Size Mount File Flags
Point System
1 41.9GB /windows 7 ntfs type=07
2 15.7GB /shared-win ntfs type=07 << shared between windows and linux
3 41.9GB /BSD ext3 type=83
4 400GB Extended extended type=05
5 370MB /boot ext3 type=83 << I use a common boot which requires editing
6 4294MB swap linux-swap type=82 << /boot/grub/menu.lst
7 21.5GB /downloads ext3 type=83
8 10.7GB /source ext3 type=83
9 52.6GB /temp ext3 type=83
10 33.6GB /SuSU 11.4 ext3 type=83
11 31.5GB /SuSE 11.3 ext3 type=83
12 8390MB /opt ext3 type=83
13 238GB /Common ext3 type=83
/home/user is kept in root (/) for each distro with symlinks to data and common
configuration files/folders in /Common (Documents, Pictures, Music, etc.). One
needs to ensure that each user has the same UID in each distro for this to be
efective. This allows for new installs and upgrades without loosing personal
data (but back it up anyway). This also saves space as the symlinked directories
are the ones which tend to grow huge.
You also have to be aware of version variations between distros. When this
occurs, the config files should remain in /home/user.
The above partitioning allows me to use a common /boot partition. I use legacy
Grub as the bootloader which I must occassionally edit when testing a new distro.
If you do this, be sure to back up the /boot partition (actually, I backup
everything before any install or upgrade to be safe).
Tom