Disk Partitioning

[HegonBadde]

So while I'm waiting on my new Laptop thought I'd think about disk partitions.

I'm thinking
/boot (so both can share same boot files) 10Gb (maybe turn this into an LFS console install or "usb" install later on)
<swap> 4Gb
/home 100gb
/backuphome 100Gb
/ (ubuntu 9.10 64) 20Gb
/ (ubuntu 10.4 64) 20Gb
<empty logical space> remainder

That way default boot will be active install.
Home and backup stay in sync.
When I go to install, 10.4, I'll tell it that /backup is /home,
If I like it I'll turn original home into backup and clean off the 9.10 for the experimental installs.
If I don't like it I'll try Kubuntu, Xbuntu over there.

I've got an external 7200RPM 320Gb usb drive.
Thinking I'll turn it into Milestone backups.
Maybe a dd copy from head to tail, including boot sector.

[satsujinka]

Your boot partition is a bit large. Unless you plan to have dozens of kernels you can probably get away with <1GB.
Also you have 6 partitions. There's a 4 partition max on most drives (you can change the type with Gparted, but I can't tell you if it will boot.)
A better set up might be:

/boot (1GB)
swap (4GB)
/ [9.10] (200GB)
/ [10.04] (50GB)

Since you'll have back ups of your home directory there's really no reason to have a separate /home at this stage.
While I don't have two O.S.s on my computer this is my setup:

/boot (256MB)
swap (1GB)
/ (15Gb)
/home

[HegonBadde]

I don't need the space of the boot partition. and by making it large enough I can put a boot directory inside of it and use it for repairs and unmounted backup jobs.

it would look something like this
/dev/sda1 10Gb Ext3
/dev/sda2 4Gb Swap
/dev/sda3 Extended partion <remainder>

/dev/sda5 100Gb Ext3 <home>
/dev/sda6 100Gb Ext3 <backup>
/dev/sda7 20Gb Ext4 <active />
/dev/sda8 E20Gb xt4 <next />
<empty space for future development>

[satsujinka]

Okay, then that makes sense. I never use extended partitions, due to a variety of reasons, so I frequently forget they exist. Even if you don't need the space, I would still go with a smaller or non-existent boot partition. Live CDs/USB drives do the recovery job just fine.

[HegonBadde]

I don't want to spend *time* with it, I just want the space.
First time I repair from CD I'll fix it up.

Most likey just add another Extened /, and mount a CD image there.

[HegonBadde]

Which brings up a good question!

Whats the best way to install/mount an Ubuntu Live install? with a saved data area?

/dev/sda1 10Gb Ext3
/dev/sda2 4Gb Swap
/dev/sda3 Extended partion <remainder>

/dev/sda5 100Gb Ext3 <home>
/dev/sda6 100Gb Ext3 <backup>
/dev/sda7 20Gb Ext4 <active />
/dev/sda8 E20Gb xt4 <next />

/dev/sda9 E2Gb iso />
/dev/sda10 E5Gb /home/live <next />
<empty space for future development>

[oldfred]

Generally you do not share /boot nor /home as settings can conflict. You share swap if you do not hibernate and can create data partitions that you can share across many installs.
Whatever you other plans are for /boot I would suggest using the data partition.

see my post #6
http://ubuntuforums.org/showthread.php?t=1451279

[HegonBadde]

Looks Good, I'll review it before installing, /home is a single partitoin but each user is specific to a "/home/hegon910" they just all happen to share the default userId of new installs.


Thanks guys!

[HegonBadde]

You share swap if you do not hibernate
http://ubuntuforums.org/showthread.php?t=1451279

Can I use 2 swaps? 1 for hibernate and another just in case?
(basically abuse priority routing so that different installs hibernated to different swaps)?


*More Details added*
makes me think too many mounts...
how about

Internal HD (9.10 64 Installed)
/dev/sda1 20Gb Ext3 /
/dev/sda2 4Gb Swap
/dev/sda3 200+Gb Ext3 /home
/dev/sda4 2Gb iso *9.10 Live install media*



/dev/sdb3 2Gb iso *10.4 live install Media*
/dev/sdb4 200+Gb Ext3 /home/backup



External HD (10.4 64 Installed)
/dev/sda1 20Gb Ext3 /
/dev/sda2 4Gb Swap
/dev/sda3 2Gb iso *10.4 Live install media*
/dev/sda4 Remainder Ext3 /home


/dev/sdb3 200+Gb Ext3 /home/backup
/dev/sdb4 2Gb iso *9.10 Live install media*

that way both sides have their own /boot directory, External always try to boot itself
Both hibernate to their own copy of /dev/sda2, and leave /dev/sdb2 alone.

[oldfred]

When you install you just specify not to use the existing swap and to create a new swap, then each swap is unique to each install.