Partitioning

["Jerry Feldman-2" <user=4@nabble.blu.org>]

 The subject of partitioning comes up every once in a while. 
Generally on my systems at home, I create an extended partition in the 
first primary, and create root, home, and possibly /usr/local. At work, 
I've been using LVM.  For installfests, I generally shrink down the 
Windows partition and create an extended in one of the remaining 
primaries. (Windows usually takes up 2 partitions one for Windows, and 
another for restores). 

I generally don't bother with a dedicated /boot partition, but thee are 
some pros and cons. The /boot partition cannot be part of LVM so on LVM 
installations you need /boot as a separate partition.  In any cases 
there are a number of pros and cons regarding the use of a separate 
partition for /boot. One of the major reasons for /boot is that the 
GRUB stage 2 must be within the first 1024 cylinders because of the 
limitations of the MBR. 

Currently, as technology moves forward and disks become faster and more 
dense we are still locked to the old technology: 

4 Primary partitions - this is a physical limitation of the partition 
table. 

A maximum of 16 logical partitions. I'm not sure if this is a 
limitation imposed by libata or by Windows. I've never been constrained 
by this. 

At this time, I'm just starting another discussion of how people 
partition their home systems. There are a lot of other factors that 
affect how systems are going to be used at work and is beyond the scope 
here. 

So, here is my preferred partitioning scheme with no Windows(either 
sda or hda: 
/dev/sda1 Extended 
/dev/sda5      Logical / (root) 
/dev/sda6 Swap 
/dev/sda7 Logical /home 
On my 160G HD I also have an additional partition whee I keep 
downloads, and ISOs. Currently, I don't use a separate /usr/local since 
I would prefer to rebuild or reinstall the stuff I use in /usr/local. 

In a typical Windows XP or Vista installation at installfests. 
Additionally, I either use the Windows resize utility to resize the 
partition, QTPated or GNU Parted. I do not use the Distribution's 
partitioning. My procedure is to first reduce the size of the Windows 
C: partition, then immediately boot into Windows to make sure 
everything works.  This way I have a reasonably good chance that the 
Linux install does not damage Windows. I then edit /boot/menu.lst to 
delete the second Windows boot entry pointing to the D: partition. 

/dev/sda1 Primary NTFS Windows C: 
                                                        Defragged and 
                                                        reduced. 
/dev/sda2 Primary NTFS Windows D: 
                                                        Normally hidden 
/dev/sda3 Extended 
/dev/sda5 Logical / (root) 
/dev/sda6 Swap 
/dev/sda7 Logical /home 
These days I generally use ext3 since SuSE has pretty much forsaken 
ReiserFS.   


-- 
Jerry Feldman <[hidden email]> 
Boston Linux and Unix 
PGP key id: 537C5846 
PGP Key fingerprint: 3D1B 8377 A3C0 A5F2 ECBB  CA3B 4607 4319 537C 5846 
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