Hi. Thanks for the replies! Concerning the points raised:
1) sudo df -h Filesystem Size Used Avail Use% Mounted on /dev/nvme0n1p2 23G 8.7G 13G 41% / /dev/nvme0n1p5 1.8G 140K 1.7G 1% /tmp /dev/nvme0n1p6 199G 53G 136G 28% /home /dev/nvme0n1p3 9.1G 2.9G 5.8G 34% /var /dev/nvme0n1p1 511M 61M 451M 12% /boot/efi (df does not show nvme0n1p4, which is the swap partition, 1Gb.) /var, now at at 34% used, was just trimmed down from about 67%, several days ago. 2) I could re-partition with Clonezilla and/or use rsync/Gparted from a Debian Live usb stick. But I might have to move and re-size several partitons, since if I just shrunk / to make more room for /var without moving anything, I worry that it might make / too small. 3) I have never used lvm, so there would have a learning curve. I never used it because I worried that it might be more "fragile" than fixed partitions. BTW, I have never used bind, and don't even know how it works. I would like to be able to do RAID setups, and have NAS. But for me, "everything is a function of time and money". 4) Many years ago, when I started using Debian, I just did everything in /, and later just / and /home. I got into doing multiple partitions later, when I used OpenBSD for a short time. They really advocated using multiple partitions. I think it was so that if one partition fills up, it is less likely that the whole filesystem will get screwed up. Fun fact: I use rsync to do backups to and external usb hard drive. If the external drive is not connected, rsync will, without any notice, proceed to create a backup directory under /media, with the name of the unconnected backup drive, and happily copy to it until / is completely filled up. Annoying, but easily fixed. But with no separate / partition, it seems to me that could be a real "train wreck". That seems like one good reason to have a separate / partition. 5) I have never used BTRFS or ZFS. Both would require a learning curve (especially ZFS). I really think I would need much higher capacity hardware to use ZFS. And I am used to using ext2/3/4. Be it ever so humble, it "Just Works". (The older I get, the more I appreciate that.) 6) My current computer, like almost all newer laptops, has no access panels, and requires special tools (and a LOT of skills) to open up and work on. That's deliberate, of course. Now, they try very hard to force you to buy a new machine, rather than repair and upgrade. For many years, I worked on and even built my own machines. But that's no longer feasible for me. My current laptop does have internal space for an additional SSD. But major surgery would be required. 7) For me, portability IS important. I have limited space, and the smaller footprint of a laptop does come in handy. More importantly, where I live, almost every year, I have to flee from at least one hurricane. Last year, it was twice within about 10 days! Not fun. Every time, I can only load as much as I can fit into the car, and prepare myself for the very real possibility that will be all I have in the world, once the hurricane is over. 8) My laptop definitely does NOT support virtualization. FWIW, it is a Dell Inspiron 3000, model 3511. The BIOS says it was manufactured in 2024-01. Unbelievable, since My previous laptop was an earlier iteration of this model, made in 2014-08, which DID support virtualization! As I said before, I really do believe that Dell is just being cheap, cheap, cheap, and trying to punish poor people for being poor. Isn't capitalism wonderful? 9) I imaged the original factory installed SSD Windows setup using Clonezilla, then erased the SSD and installed Debian, so Windows was never used, and no Micro$oft account created. As most maids would say, "I don't do Windows"!) 10) I always read the release note when upgrading. But I did not know that Testing has release notes. Thanks for the tip. 11) I could, and many times have, done a fresh installation of a new release rather than upgrading. A fresh install does allow a fresh start, and can "cover a multitude of sins". But I would have to spend weeks or more customizing my setup to "get it right". Decisions, decisions . . . Well, that's my story. Again, thanks for the input!
