On Wed, 9 Jun 1999, Patrick Dahiroc wrote: > i have an 8.4GB hard drive and i would like some suggestion as to how to > divide it. how much space should i devote to each directory and which > ones should be real partitions and which should be logical?
I've just been asking this question in the past few days (except i'm using a 4G HD), check the archives for more information. Partitioning drives is almost an art form, it's hard to know exactly how much each section is going to need. First, we'll start with the most important directory you forgot: / / should contain /bin, /sbin, /lib, /boot, /dev, /etc, and possibly /root. All these directories are needed to actually start the computer, they can't easily be mounted from another partition. These are also pretty small. 100M should be more than enough, as long as you put the various programs where they're supposed to be. (Debian packages do this automatically) > /usr = This will probably be the biggest, unless you store a lot of pictures, mp3s, or other large datafiles in /home. you could even consider splitting /usr/local onto a second partition, depending on what exactly your plans are. > /home = 3 users... it depends on how much you plan to store for each user. Pictures and such add up quickly! > /tmp = Not really sure on this one. However, it's insecure to mount /tmp from another partition unless unauthorized people have no access to the console. > /var = If you get a lot of mail, or gather a lot of usenet news, then this needs to be big. Otherwise, 500M will be enough for most cases (i think). > am i missing other important directories? Remember that you can also create "other" directories. For example, if you wanted to store mp3 music, you might put that on a separate partition just to keep it out of the way. The whole 8.4G doesn't have to go towards system directories. You could even leave some of the drive unpartitioned, to be used later when you find a use for it. > i also have 64MB of RAM do i still need to make a swap partition? i'd recommend it. Finally, note that some of the numbers i've given could easily be wrong for your needs. Feel free to change them as you see fit.
