linux partition scheme?
Hya, I am planning a linux insall (gentoo), but need some advise on setting up my partitions?
I have a full 200GB hard disk available, but I don't want to partition it all up during the install.
I think a 50GB /home directory should be enough to start with, but I don't know how to break down the other options, I am after stability and durability mostly, what else should I break out into differnt partitions and what sizes should these be?
Also what partitions need to be primary, and which extended / logical? I tried using fdisk but the primary / extended thing confused the heck out of me, so aborted prematurely
many thanks.
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50GB /home is good for a few users, for a lot of users it may need to be bigger. I always make the /, swap and /boot partitions primary. /boot needs to be about 100MB There is no need to create any others, but make sure either your / or your /usr (if you decide to make one) is big enough for any intended software installs. You can make three primary partitions, then must create a secondary to contain all the others. If there are other options for your distribution, do not use Fdsik.
The other answer is good. I am aware that it can be a bit confusing.
Most Linux installations have a default system and you only partition if you consider yourself an expert.
If there is that option and you have the whole disk to play with then go with it because it makes life easier.
If they are asking you to partition. There is the root partition which is simply a forward slash / and that you set first. The other respondent has mentioned it, but I just wanted to clarify it.
Extensions are to a primary partition and are not necessary. With Linux it is possible to change the partition as 'root' after the installation. With a Linux system you are not allowed to run it as an administrator willy-nilly like you can with micro$oft windows
Better not say too much I'm on Windows now
What Colinc says makes sense to me. I splurged on this gentoo laptop and gave my / directory 67G and boot 180M giving me about 48G for /home. No complaints but I feel somewhat stupid about the / directory. With all the programs I've been shovelling on it I'm still about 9% full. At some point in your install by the way use a gentoo install disk. And of course emerge genkernel. Then type the following:
zcat /proc/config.gz > /usr/share/genkernel/x86/kernel-config-2.6
You will only find /proc/config.gz if you are running the install disk. Once you do that you type "genkernel all" and you will get a working kernel and initrd.img you can customize at your leisure. Since genkernel is the ONLY way to get an initrd.img you will find compiling a kernel without it akin to root canal work with no anesthetic.
I've linked to a good installation blog -- not complete but well worth reading -- in sources.