Re: Newbie: Partitioning help--size, mount, and label

Lawrence Gould wrote:
> Dumb question, but I haven't found it addressed anywhere: May a
> swap partition be on a drive *other* than the one with /, /home, /usr,
> etc?

Yes.

> Wouldn't a swap file on separate HD speeds things up, hardly
> noticeable as it might be?

Yes,

> 2) I thought each partition needed a mount point? (See also next two
> questions.)

Yes (except swap)

> 3) Is there supposed to be some correspondence between mounts and
> labels?
> v10 installation is keeping the labels I had, but it's suggesting
> different mounts, eliminating two entirely (sdb2 was /usr and sdb6 was
> /home).

No.

> 4) I thought I needed at the very least mounts for root (/), /usr, and
> /home. Guess not, huh? Why not? v10 is suggesting just root and swap.
> What happens to /usr and /home?

As you do a new installation, it only sugests /. /usr and /home are
directories, not partitions by default. You can change this, if you
like. From 10.1 onward, there will be a seperate /home partition. All
other partitions you need to make yourself.

> 5) I assume I should take advantage of reformatting to reiserfs where
> possible, namely where Linux native (ext3) exists, except for /boot
> (sdb1; leave that as is; if it ain't broke...).
> The disadvantage to formatting to reiserfs: Can't use PM 8 on
> Linux drives. (But I can use Yast on the Linux side; PM on the W2K
> side.)

Unless you know what you are doing, go for default where possible.

> 6) I like different partitions for different categories of software: a
> partition each for OS and apps, for currently used data files, for
> long-term storage (rarely used data files and downloaded stuff), and
> for a separate working area (such as for editing audio or visual
> stuff). The swap, again, seems to me to be better on a third HD.
>
> In addition to the current boot partition, should I:
>
> a) Assuming I may keep swap on sdbc2...
>
> b) Resize partitions sdb2, sdb3, sdb5, and sdb6 for directories root,
> /opt, /usr, and /home -- say around 5, 2, 5, 5 GB, and then resize
> those partitions/directories later as I become familiar with space
> reqirements?

Why do you need seperate /opt and /usr? Only do a seperate /home till
you know what you need and/or what you are doing.

> c) During v10 installation, make the mount points for those four
> partitions: root, /opt, /usr, and /home? (This depends partially on
> question 2.)

You can put anything anywhere you like. Still the best is to go for
standard as much as possible.

> d) Reformat those four partitions to reiserfs.
>
> e) And what about the labels? Should I mimic the mount points?

Whatever you fancy. I don''t even look at labels. I don't care about
labels, I don't need labels and I have never worked with labels.

> f) Bonus questions: Does the order of the directories matter? Does it
> matter which directory is in or out of the extended partition?

Yes, the access speed can be important for access times. First should be
swap, nect, the next most used partition and so on.

> I thank you for your patience in explaining this to me, and for
> your suggestions. I hope to return the favor -- to Linux newbies
> (versus Windoze newbies)!

You make it yourself really hard for no apparant reason. IF you have a
technical reason, then you should be able to answer the questions
yourself, otherwise you do not really have a reason to do it as you do
now. ;-)

> Sincerely,
> Larry
>
>========================
> Partitions -- Existing
>
> Device Size Type Mount Label
> (GB)
>
> /dev/sda: 17.1 GB
<snip because no comment on what you do with winders. Put at least one
FAT32 partition on there to share data>

> /dev/sdb: 17.1 GB
>
> sdb1 101.9 MB Linux native /boot
> sdb2 6.8 Linux native /usr /
> sdb3 1.0 Linux swap swap
> sdb4 9.1 Extended
> sdb5 7.1 Linux native /
> sdb6 2.0 Linux native /home /home

This is hwo I would do it.

sdb1¹ 1GB swap
sdb2² 5GB /
sdb3 11GB /home

¹ If you have 1GB available on sda, use that one. You can even configure
it in such a way that Winders also uses that as swap.
² As you have a small drive, you nust make choices. A standard
installation should be having place enough with 5GB.

Fragmenting your drive more then this will cause you to get into
problems when you run out on space.
--
houghi Please do not toppost http://houghi.org
Please go to : http://tinyurl.com/aqe6y (Google site)
and vote for 'Default quoting of previous message in replies'
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