How to setup linux partition

[ryy705]

Hello,

I would like to learn how to setup linux partitions manually.

I have Vista and Kubuntu installed. I would to like reinstall Kubuntu and this time instead of letting Kubuntu pic the paritions I would like to delete the existing linux partitions and install kubuntu by selecting the partitions manually.

I understand how to delete the partitions. However, I don't understand how to set up the new partitions.
Could someone teach me? Lets assume I have a 200GB HD. 100 GB of this HD belongs to Vista and the other half belongs to the linux installation. What would be you suggestions on setting up this space after deleting it?

[kubicle]

Re: How to setup linux partition

You can create the partitions with the kubuntu installer, just make sure you choose the "manual" way of creating partitions when asked.

Creating partitions isn't that hard, the things you need to consider and select are:
(I'm assuming you want a typical separate /home partition set up, since you didn't specify your needs)

1. The sizes of the partitions. Some rule of thumbs for typical separate /home set up are:
- 10-20Gb for root (15Gb will do for most)
- if you wish to be able to hibernate (suspend to disk), swap size should be at least equal to ram you have installed (I'd recommend 1,5xram), otherwise around 2 Gb should be fine for most (though you can likely get away with less, if you need to)
- And the rest for /home
2. The filesystem used (if unsure, pick "ext4" for normal partitions and "swap" for swap partition)
3. The mountpoints for the partitions (/ [root], /home [home] and none [swap] for a typical separate home set up)
4. Formatting. Since you are creating new partitions, all of them should be formatted
5. Existing (windows) partitions. Do not change, format or select a mountpoint.
6. Primary/Logical partitions. If your set up will only have four partitions on the disk (win, root, home and swap), you can create them all as primary partitions if you wish (doesn't matter much, but this will give you a partition naming scheme of sda1 to sda4, logical partitions will start from sda5. But you can only have four primary partitions on a disk)

[ryy705]

Re: How to setup linux partition

Thank you for your reply,

I am a novice so please excuse me if I ask any foolish question below.

No, I don't require home to be in its own partition.
So, from what I understand from your post is that I should create a swap partition twice size of RAM and create a root partition of size 20GB (of type ext4)?

Anything else?

[wizard10000]

Re: How to setup linux partition

No, I don't require home to be in its own partition.

You might want to reconsider this.

But - if you really don't want a home partition you'll have to increase the size or your root partition to accomodate user data.

[ryy705]

Re: How to setup linux partition

OK, I'll take your suggestions.

However, I am too chicken to do this without more guidance.

I've deleted all the old linux partitions. Now I go to create a new partition and following are my options:

Type of Partition: Primary, Logical.

Partition size:

Location for the new Partition: Beginning, End

Use as: <various file systems to choose from: Ext4, swap, etc.>

Mount Point: /, /boot, /home, /tmp, /usr, /var, /srv, /opt, /usr/local


Please guide me through this. Which partition am I suppose to make first? Which options should I pick?

I thank you in advance for sharing your experience and expertise.

[sithlord48]

Re: How to setup linux partition

i usually make my disk like this (assuming no other partitions, desktop w/ extra root space)

1. make root options are
type: pri
file system: ext4
format [x]
mount point = /
size:20%

2. make my swap
type: pri
file system : linux swap
mount point none
format [x]
size: ram size * .5 , unless you want to hybernate then you should have a swap same size.


now before i get in to how i do my home i will tell you why ...in unix all user data is stored in there /home.. programs settings, documents, and just about everything else related to that user. so if the OS takes a noise dive you can reinstall (and i have done this) and do exactly this but don't format the /home partition cause we want its data. and just reinstall the os (providing u set up the same user name(s) ). and have just about all your settings (even for programs you don't have installed yet, are going to).

3. home
typeri
filesystem :ext4
format [X] (if your have to reinstall this system you don't format)
mount point /home
size: all remaining disk space..

4. other disks..
you may have some other disks you want to use (like a windows hd / or partition)
you can set them to mount automaticly on boot here as well

name:ntfs drive
filesystem: ntfs
format &#91;] (don't format)
mount point /media/<give it a name>

you can mount it any where you like this is the path you will use to browse it
i just use /media for all my Data drives.

oddly enuff i format an OS hard drive in the exact same way kubicel does

[ryy705]

Re: How to setup linux partition

(assuming no other partitions, desktop w/ extra root space)

This doesn't mean that following the method you mention won't mess up my Vista partition right?

[jglen490]

Re: How to setup linux partition

OK, I'll take your suggestions.

However, I am too chicken to do this without more guidance.

I've deleted all the old linux partitions. Now I go to create a new partition and following are my options:

Type of Partition: Primary, Logical.

Partition size:

Location for the new Partition: Beginning, End

Use as: <various file systems to choose from: Ext4, swap, etc.>

Mount Point: /, /boot, /home, /tmp, /usr, /var, /srv, /opt, /usr/local


Please guide me through this. Which partition am I suppose to make first? Which options should I pick?

I thank you in advance for sharing your experience and expertise.

You've actually taken the "hardest" step -- you've deleted your old partitions!! The rest is easy as long as you watch that you are affecting your non-Vista space. So with my 60 GB drive, I have this allocations scheme:

Partition Table: msdos

Number Start  End   Size  Type   File system   Flags
 1   32.3kB 12.6GB 12.6GB primary ext3      boot
 2   12.6GB 59.2GB 46.7GB primary ext3
 3   59.2GB 60.0GB 765MB  primary linux-swap(v1)

And here is my approximate current utilization:

john@john-laptop:~$ df -h
Filesystem      Size Used Avail Use% Mounted on
/dev/sda1       12G 3.8G 7.3G 35% /
udev         249M 244K 249M  1% /dev
none         249M  12K 249M  1% /dev/shm
none         249M  84K 249M  1% /var/run
none         249M   0 249M  0% /var/lock
none         249M   0 249M  0% /lib/init/rw
/dev/sda2       44G 4.0G  38G 10% /home

As you can see most of my space is in my /home partition (number 2). My swap is about 1.5*RAM, but there isn't really a hard and fast rule anymore -- do 2 GB if you want, or 10!! I left 12.6GB for my root partition -- 10, 15, 20GB (somewhere in that neighborhood is good for most user installations). So you could easily do 20GB for root, 2GB for swap, and the rest for /home.

Please DO make a separate /home. It's so much easier for future upgrades as well as OS screw-ups (and we ALL do that on occasion). Since your non-VISTA space is virgin territory, don't hold back make your filesystems work for you!! I use ext3, you can very easily use ext4 at this point (other than for swap, of course).

As I said, you've done the hardest part, namely wiping out your old install while leaving Vista alone. Just take your time and listen to the good advice given above.

[sithlord48]

Re: How to setup linux partition

does that disk have un partitioned space or has the vista partition been resized to take up the whole disk?
if you have unpartitioned spaced then your vista part should be file..

[ryy705]

Re: How to setup linux partition

Kubuntu did not let me create more than two partitions. As soon as I made two partitions(did not matter which two) the rest of the free disk space became "unusable" (the new label for it).

So, I had no option but to create a root and a swap partition. Kubuntu took care of the rest.
Did anyone else face the same problem?

[Snowhog]

Re: How to setup linux partition

You are restricted/limited to no more than four 'primary' partitions per HD. An extended partition counts as a primary partition. A good practice, when partitioning a HD, is to create one primary, and use the rest of the space as an extended partition. Within the extended partition, you can create as many 'logical' partitions as you need.