> You don't *need* any partitions other than /. > Creating separate partitions for /, /usr, /home, /tmp, > /var, /usr/local, /boot, /var/spool, /var/www, etc., > is a _convenience_ for better managing your system.
And a real time saver, too! Every other boot one of my partitions is fsck'ed for having been mounted 20+ times. But if the whole thing was fsck'ed at once, I might be fck'ed (if I was in a big hurry, for example) -----Original Message----- From: Karsten M. Self [mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED]] Sent: Tuesday, December 31, 2002 10:02 PM To: debian-user Subject: Re: hard drive partitioning questions on Tue, Dec 31, 2002 at 05:12:21PM -0500, Nori Heikkinen ([EMAIL PROTECTED]) wrote: > thanks to all who responded -- this has been immensely useful. right > now i'm thinking: > > / 100M > /usr 3G > /tmp 100M > /var 3G > swap 384M > /home rest That looks better. Probably a bit rich for /var. I'd also do 3-4 swap partitions, each 1-2 x the size of your current memory allocation. Here's why: - You want your swap roughly paired with your memory allocation. Swap = 1x or 2x memory is the standard guideline. Usually a new system has only a fraction of the total possible system memory. Count on maxing your RAM as the system grows, so you're going to want an allocation (available swap partitions) of ~2x your maximum possible RAM. Since having _too_ much swap can result in sluggish performance (your system swaps and lags while doing it), you'll want to cut this allocation up into reasonable chunks. - IMO 1GB is sufficient for /var on a baseline Debian system, where the primarly use is storing package archives. If you're running special-purpose servers (particularly logging, usenet, mail, database, or very large website), you may want to add to your /var allocation, though creating dedicated partitions may also be useful. Advantages of partitioning: management of space, ability to specify performance or security related options (nodev, nosuid, blocksize, async mounts, etc.). Disadvantages: more things to think about. > a couple questions more: > > - i need to make / bootable, right? Usually. > - i don't think i need a /usr/local, as i don't think i usually > download and compile a lot from non-debian sources ... but i might > be wrong on that one. what do most people have in theirs? You don't *need* any partitions other than /. Creating separate partitions for /, /usr, /home, /tmp, /var, /usr/local, /boot, /var/spool, /var/www, etc., is a _convenience_ for better managing your system. If you don't mount an additional filesystem at a particular point, then that directory tree simply resides on the parent filesystem. In your case, /usr/local will be on the /usr filesystem. > now, what i'm most confused on: > - if i can only have 3 primary partitions if i want more than 4 > partitions total, do i just designate the first three (/, /usr, and > /tmp) as the primary ones, and then just keep partitioning my merry > way along, designating all the rest to be logical? will that work, > or do i need to make four partitions, and somehow subdivide the last > one into the rest of the partitions i want? i think it's the former > and i'm just confusing myself ... please correct me if i'm wrong > here. If you have more than four partitions, you partition anywhere from 0-3 as primary partitions, have at least one extended partition, and the remainder are logical partitions within the extended partition(s). In practice, I generally use 3 primary, one extended, and the remainder logical, partitions. > - i *do* need to specifically partition /home as its own partition, > right? No, see above. Though it's generally useful practice. Peace. -- Karsten M. Self <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> http://kmself.home.netcom.com/ What Part of "Gestalt" don't you understand? Geek for hire: http://kmself.home.netcom.com/resume.html -- To UNSUBSCRIBE, email to [EMAIL PROTECTED] with a subject of "unsubscribe". Trouble? Contact [EMAIL PROTECTED] ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ This message is intended only for the personal and confidential use of the designated recipient(s) named above. If you are not the intended recipient of this message you are hereby notified that any review, dissemination, distribution or copying of this message is strictly prohibited. This communication is for information purposes only and should not be regarded as an offer to sell or as a solicitation of an offer to buy any financial product, an official confirmation of any transaction, or as an official statement of Lehman Brothers. Email transmission cannot be guaranteed to be secure or error-free. Therefore, we do not represent that this information is complete or accurate and it should not be relied upon as such. All information is subject to change without notice. -- To UNSUBSCRIBE, email to [EMAIL PROTECTED] with a subject of "unsubscribe". Trouble? Contact [EMAIL PROTECTED]
