Re: /home out of space

On Mon, 30 Jan 2006 09:57:46 -0800, PHead wrote:

> Dunno why... but /home is out of space. My setup is like this:
>
> /dev/hda1 has 3GB free (out of 5) and contains root
> /dev/hda6 is 3GB and is where home is, and its full
>
> Id like to merge both of these into hda1. I know why mandrake wanted
> /home on its own, but clearly this isnt the best choice. Can I merge
> these two (its one physical hard drive)?

Short answer is no. Peter may have been a bit cross with you, but in some
ways he's right. I suspect you did mean that / was on /dev/hda1 (BTW,
where is your swap space?), and maybe /usr or something is somewhere else,
since really 2G is small these days -- though it is not impossible.

Unless it is your /root (that is, root's home), I see no reason to assume
you've been hacked. It could be you have used the root account too much
(which is not good, since that opens you up for disaster in a number of
different ways, mostly because anything you do wrong as root can be very
destructive), or maybe you have a bunch of downloads there.

But there is a reason to keep partitions separate. One is that it makes
upgrades easier to have your /home stuff, your personal files, separate
from system files. Another is that some places get a lot of read/write
activity: /tmp, /var (for logs), and your home space, while others don't.
Sometimes, things can go wrong with a read/write -- not as much as in the
past, but it can happen. Keeping all that reading and writing separate
from the system files might keep your computer from becoming a paperweight.

>
> Also, im a kde nut, so if this can be done via a
> point-and-click-i-dont-wanna-type application, that would be nice.

Bad idea. Some things need to be taken very seriously. Messing with
partitions is one of them.

--

David L. Johnson

__o | A mathematician is a machine for turning coffee into theorems.
_`\(,_ | -- Paul Erdos
(_)/ (_) |


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Relevant Pages

  • Re: /home out of space
    ... It could be you have used the root account too much ... > But there is a reason to keep partitions separate. ... > from the system files might keep your computer from becoming a paperweight. ...
    (comp.os.linux.misc)
  • Re: What does /usr mean anyway?
    ... Would it be fair to say that the standard three tiers *now* present separate ... levels of 1) System files, 2) Distro files, 3) Custom rolled stuff? ...
    (comp.os.linux.misc)