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Hey I'm about to transition my main system (used for mainly browsing the web, mp3's, movies, possibly CS/Steam & other games), and I'm quite confused about how I should split up my partitions. After talking to some people in the ##slackware channel on freenode, I've determined that two partitions, / and /home should suffice for a personal desktop workstation--though the exact size I should make these partitions, I don't know. I've got a 120 gig hard drive, and haven't been able to get a consistent answer on how I should divide the drive if I plan to install a fair amount of software, while still storing a large amount of media. Any advice would be greatly appreciated, thanks.
I use that simple setup of 2 partitions for Slackware a lot. It isolates the programs from the data. I normally use 8-10GB for / and the rest of the drive for swap & /home.
With / (root) and /home consider / (root) = size of operating system and programs while /home = size of user files. I am sure you mean to include a swap also.
If you use only a / (root) and swap you have no issues with wasted space due to guessing at partition sizes.
...your drives depends on what you are planning on doing with your system. If you are going to use Slackware specifically, I suggest making one small partition at the beginning (500 megs or so) labeled /boot. Then partition the main partition as label it as /. Don't forget to leave a gig or so for swap.
My experience is lilo has a problem dealing with really big partitions. I had a Barracuda 20 gig SCSI (alas, the circuit board died), and lilo couldn't work with it all as one partition. Considering the size of your drive, you definitely need to make a small partition before you use the rest. I believe the initial partition must no larger than eight gigs.
Since this particular machine I am using is set to dual boot, I have it set up for the first partition to be 1.5 gigs FAT 16. The second partition is 80 gigs NTFS. The third is 20 gigs Reiserfs, and the fourth is swap at 817 megs.
Partition schemes are variable depending on your needs. Considering the size of your drive, I do recommend you break things down so your machine has a chance of booting without lilo throwing fits.
Thanks for the quick replies fellas. Yeah I forgot to include a 1 gig swap by accident, but that's not very taxing. Really what I'm wondering, though, is how much space is needed to ensure my root partition doesn't fill up if I take the /, /home, and swap approach? Btw, as stated earlier, I'm going to use this system for relatively simple desktop use, (web browsing, music, movies, games).
Last edited by corteplaneta; 08-06-2007 at 01:22 AM.
...your drives depends on what you are planning on doing with your system. If you are going to use Slackware specifically, I suggest making one small partition at the beginning (500 megs or so) labeled /boot. Then partition the main partition as label it as /. Don't forget to leave a gig or so for swap.
My experience is lilo has a problem dealing with really big partitions. I had a Barracuda 20 gig SCSI (alas, the circuit board died), and lilo couldn't work with it all as one partition. Considering the size of your drive, you definitely need to make a small partition before you use the rest. I believe the initial partition must no larger than eight gigs.
Since this particular machine I am using is set to dual boot, I have it set up for the first partition to be 1.5 gigs FAT 16. The second partition is 80 gigs NTFS. The third is 20 gigs Reiserfs, and the fourth is swap at 817 megs.
Partition schemes are variable depending on your needs. Considering the size of your drive, I do recommend you break things down so your machine has a chance of booting without lilo throwing fits.
Blessed be!
Pappy
Hi,
You are painting with an old brush. Your lilo experience doesn't mean that it is still that way. Your system BIOS would cause problems with older versions of lilo.
We did create a '/boot' at one time because of the 1024 cylinder limit but 500 MB is a tad big. Most kernel images are around 1.5 to 2 MB now. No longer fits on a floppy disk BTW. So unless you are compiling a lot and saving everything then the '/boot' would be around 50 MB with a lot of room to spare if you need to have a separate partition.
The initial boot partition limit will depend on the BIOS. Linux will see what the IPL provides. The 1024 cylinder limit is not a problem with modern lilo versions or linux.
The only fits that lilo will throw is if you don't configure properly.
Ok, I don't know jack about Slackware but why is everyone concerned with making these partitions? Every time I have installed any version of Linux, I just created some free space on the drive and told my Linux to use the existing free space....Linux added it's own partitions to this space... I never had to make my own swap partition or any other type of partition. Is this unique to Slackware? I am on this forum trying to deciede if I should try Slackware and this entire string about partitions has me scratching my head.
But what if you didn't make any partions at all? Just shrink your existing partition (normaly Windows) and leave that space as unallocated "free space". Ubuntu, Fedora, and others will see this free space and go to town with no assistance from the user... They will add ALL of the required partitions... the boot (/), swap, and any other needed system partition are added by Linux.
Can Slackware not do this??
Why would you waste time doing it yourself? Is there an advantage?
Ok, I don't know jack about Slackware but why is everyone concerned with making these partitions? Every time I have installed any version of Linux, I just created some free space on the drive and told my Linux to use the existing free space....Linux added it's own partitions to this space... I never had to make my own swap partition or any other type of partition. Is this unique to Slackware? I am on this forum trying to deciede if I should try Slackware and this entire string about partitions has me scratching my head.
Jay
Hi,
Well, you happen to be using fedora or some other turkey, Oh I mean turnkey. You are hand held and at the mercy of the distro. We are talking about a Linux that will out perform any turn key OS.
I see. But you can also do that with other Linux distro's if you select those options during setup... I'm just not understanding why I would want to do that. If I give my Linux 25GB to live in and it already knows how large it likes the partitions to be then great. Your system does not get any faster if you enlarge the swap drive (if it does then you either made it way too small in the first place or your computer needs more RAM) nor does it become more secure if you alter your boot drive.... if for any reason you NEED to change the size of a partition later then you can do it at that time but I can't imagine what that reason may be. I like customizing things as much as the next guy (you should see my emacs) but not without a reason.
Please be patient with me...I am not a Linux expert. I just noticed that there are a lot of people always on the Slackware board and I was contemplating giving it a try. I just tried Ubuntu but didn't like it as much as Knoppix or Fedora.
Thanks for the links. Your link took me to a .pdf book (Slackware Basics) that stated you must make at least one Linux partition before installation (any size). It recommends a second swap partition of either 256 or 512MB (Pretty standard stuff). There is NO advantage behind doing this yourself vs having a distro that does it for you. That is the answer I was looking for..... Thanks,
nor does it become more secure if you alter your boot drive
If you are running a server (or even a desktop), creating /var and /tmp partitions can be a good idea to INCREASE SECURITY [or at least reliability], contrary to what you just said (I'm definitely not a Linux expert at all, so I may be wrong, but my opinion on the matter is as follows.)
If you somehow get hacked or get a virus (they do exist for Linux, although they may be rare), there is a possibility that partitions will start filling up. For example, if you're running an e-mail server, if you are getting a ton of spam that you haven't yet blocked, it all probably goes in your /var directory. If this directory was on the root partition, your system would crash when it fills up because no more space is available for system tasks. However, if /var is on a separate partition, the partition will get full, but the system will not crash because the root partition is not being filled. Therefore your web site (if you are running one) would still be accessible and only e-mail would be affected.
Again, I'm definitely not an expert [at all], so I may be totally wrong here. Therefore, take what I said with a grain of salt.
You are painting with an old brush. Your lilo experience doesn't mean that it is still that way. Your system BIOS would cause problems with older versions of lilo.
Excuse me? I had a 20 gig Barracuda drive...less than five years old at the time. I installed Slack-11 in one big partition, of course, leaving about a gig for swap. The version of lilo that comes with Slack-11 could not see the drive! It come up lil99 99 99 99 99 99...ad infinitum. When I partitioned as I said, guess what, the drive booted and worked flawlessly until it died a sudden death due to a bad circuit board.
This is not theory I am quoting, my friend, this is my experience; this is how I solved an actual problem with an actual machine. If it's not your updated and finely nuanced experience, that doesn't make it wrong.
What reason on earth would I lie or otherwise misrepresent my experience? And what makes you think I am the only one to have that experience? If you are going to say I am "painting with an old brush," offer me a new one! And, if the old brush works, why not use it? Until my seventeen year old car dies, you can pretty much guess I am going to keep driving it. Old isn't always bad!
Quote:
Originally Posted by onebuck
We did create a '/boot' at one time because of the 1024 cylinder limit but 500 MB is a tad big. Most kernel images are around 1.5 to 2 MB now. No longer fits on a floppy disk BTW. So unless you are compiling a lot and saving everything then the '/boot' would be around 50 MB with a lot of room to spare if you need to have a separate partition.
There is no need for the nasty, rude, and condescending tone you are taking here. I know all about the 500 meg limit, and the two gig, and the 8 gig, and all the various BIOS changes that have occurred since I owned my first 286. That knowledge, and five bucks gets a latte at Starbucks...or at least it used to.
Quote:
Originally Posted by onebuck
The initial boot partition limit will depend on the BIOS. Linux will see what the IPL provides. The 1024 cylinder limit is not a problem with modern lilo versions or linux.
The only fits that lilo will throw is if you don't configure properly.
Quit providing your experiences as fact.
First of all, who are you to come here and talk to me like I am either a liar or an idiot? Do you run this site?
Secondly, I was sharing my EXPERIENCE in solving a PROBLEM I personally had! The advise I wrote down came from curing a problem with a Slackware 11, not Slackware 0.9. I wrote it down because I always assume if I have a problem with certain things, so will other people. Perhaps that's an incorrect assumption. If so, you can take anything I say with a grain of salt. If not, then who are you to say I am wrong?
Blessed be!
Pappy
Last edited by pappy_mcfae; 08-17-2007 at 02:56 AM.
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How you partition....
