Looking for opinions on partition strategy

[mr_pibbs]

Hello
I am looking to repartition my system and want to get some advice before jumping in. As there are still windows programs I cannot use in Linux, I am sticking with a win/linux dual boot. Now that I have a little familiarity with Linux, I want to set up a HD partition scheme that give me some flexibility to experiment with new distros without breaking deleting what I have. I plan on using this system as a Desktop PC (ie no FTP servers or anything like that). I plan on dabbling in the SW/kernel compilation area, but this is not my main focus. I will most likely be installing many different applications to find what works best for me.

Below was my first cut at selecting the partitions that make some sense. What I am looking for is any glaring errors in my thinking. Things like "you cannot have the /boot partition set as primary" are the nuggets I am interested in. Also, any experiences people have had with a scheme like this, good or bad, would also be helpful. For the Win/Linux common partition, I plan on using one of the Extfs.sys driver in XP to read the partition.

Thanks

Total HD Size 160GB

ID Purpose Partition Filesystem Size
1 Windows XP Primary 1 NTFS 20GB
2 Swap Ext/Logical swap 2GB
3 / Ext/Logical ext3 5GB
4 /boot Primary2 ext3 250MB
5 /opt Ext/Logical ext3 750MB
6 /usr Ext/Logical ext3 20GB
7 /tmp Ext/Logical ext3 10GB
8 /var Ext/Logical ext3 5GB
9 Kubuntu (Feisty) Ext/Logical ext3 8GB
10 /home Ext/Logical ext3 30GB
11 Win/Linux Common Primary 3 ext2(not3) 10GB
12 Kubuntu (Gusty) Ext/Logical ext3 8GB
13 Other Linux Distro 1 Ext/Logical ext3 0GB

Remaining Space 41.00 GB

[dibl]

Re: Looking for opinions on partition strategy

If your goal is to install and test multiple Linux distributions, then I'd say you are wasting space on the separate /boot, /tmp, /opt, /var, /usr, etc. partitions. You can't share most of those, so I'd nuke 'em.

*buntu is the largest Linux filesystem that I've played with -- it needs a 6GB root partition to be safe. The others only need 5GB. So, you would be better off to make a series of 6GB or 7GB partitions, and just put the entire Linux filesystem in there for any distribution that you want to try.

The "swap" partition that you have can be the same one for all Linux installations. You only run one OS at a time, and each one can use that swap space.

So, starting after your "swap" partition, I'd nuke everything but a common data partition, and make a series of 6GB partitions for the various distributions that you want to test, and install each OS into its own partition. Then you can make a link from the /home directory of each Linux OS out to your common data partition, if you want to play music or something.

That's my two cents' worth on it. 8)

[Snowhog]

Re: Looking for opinions on partition strategy

Existing Windoze OS: Decide how much HD space you want it to have. If it is already set to use more than that, it can be reduced with GParted.

Decide 'how many' separate Linux OS's you want to install. Plan on a separate partion for each OS's root directory (I'm using 8G for each 'root' partition - I have three such partitions). I created three separate /home partitions - one for each root partition - of (in my case) 25G each. I have one single 1.5G /swap partition.

In your case, with an existing Windoze OS, you may want to consider creating a 'data' partition, formated as FAT32, which can then be 'shared' by both, Windoze and Linux.

[mr_pibbs]

Re: Looking for opinions on partition strategy

Thanks dibl and snowhog for the input,

What Im thinking now is to have my stable build (feisty) occupy the various individual partitions and then use the method you suggested for all my evaluation distro's. If that is the case, would a partition scheme like I proposed above be reasonable. After some of the reading I have done, it sounds like there are some security and maintainability advantages to separate partitions. That kinda sounds attractive to me.

About the seperate /home partitions, isnt it more handy to have one /home that you can link to the multiple distros instead of multiple ones. That way you can access the same files no matter which distro you are using.

Concerning the shared partition, by using the extfs.sys driver (www.fs-driver.org) I can access all my data from Windows as well as Linux. I have not tried it yet, just read about it.

[Qqmike]

Re: Looking for opinions on partition strategy

I prefer something like this:

Partition 1 Dedicated GRUB partition
Partition 2 Swap
Partition 3 /Home
Partition 4 Extended
Partition 5 the root (/) partition for my “main” Linux system
Partitions n Another Linux distro, 6-15 GB, with its own /home
n > 5
etc etc

Since you have Windows, this would be bumped up one notch, with Windows in Partition 1 (my Windows XP is on the first hard drive; what you see here is the second hard drive.)

The GRUB partition is just that – GRUB files only; no kernel & initrd files!
Keep it simple and manageable. (A true boot partition must be maintained and must be set up right; e.g., with proper groot= statements and all, and updates to boot entries upon kernel updates.)

How To GRUB Methods - Toolkit
http://kubuntuforums.net/forums/inde...opic=3081671.0
--- How to make a separate “GRUB boot partition.” (Dedicated to the GRUB files and make your PC boot from those GRUB files.) Reply #10

The menu.lst in the GRUB partition is simple; for each OS it looks like:

title Another Linux OS-m
configfile (hdx,y)/boot/grub/menu.lst

That way, if you change the kernel files on OS-m, you don't have to change the menu.lst; in fact, you can change out the entire OS on (hdx,y), and not have to change that configfile statement (as long as the new OS uses GRUB and has its own menu.lst with the root files on (hdx,y)).


“About the seperate /home partitions, isnt it more handy to have one /home that you can link to the multiple distros instead of multiple ones. That way you can access the same files no matter which distro you are using.”

Problem is, lots of personal, custom configuration settings are placed in your /home (like Firefox, Thunderbird, etc.). So that restricts you to coordinating and using the same config files (or knowing how to work around that—maybe rig up some custom programming?).

In my experimental OSs, unless I need to experiment with a separate /home, I just put the OS and its /home together on a 6-15 GB partition. If I need a separate home for an OS (to experiment with), I make one out there beyond partition 4 on another Logical partition.

[Snowhog]

Re: Looking for opinions on partition strategy

Thanks dibl and snowhog for the input,

You're welcome.

About the seperate /home partitions, isnt it more handy to have one /home that you can link to the multiple distros instead of multiple ones. That way you can access the same files no matter which distro you are using.

Probably not, but having separate /home partitions, especially if you have the HD space to support it, means you can, should you decide or need to, completely remove a distribution. If you were to utilize a single /home partition and have it mounted by each *ubuntu OS you install, you would have to ensure that the username you create for each installation is different. In *ubuntu, the user's personal home directory takes the format /home/username If you used the same username for each *ubuntu installation, that's going to result in problems. I personally just like having separate /home partitions - each OS remains independent of each other. Only the single swap partition is utilized by each OS.

[lingenfr]

Re: Looking for opinions on partition strategy

About the seperate /home partitions, isnt it more handy to have one /home that you can link to the multiple distros instead of multiple ones. That way you can access the same files no matter which distro you are using.

Single /home absolutely not. YOU WILL end up with some configuration that hoses one or more of your distros and the likelihood of sorting it out is low. Now, have a single /home/music, /home/documents/, /home/treasure_maps, etc. Good idea.

For what it's worth, in this day and age of live CDs/DVDs, I really think installing a bunch of distros is a waste of time, but then again, what do I know.