Standard Partitioning Plan for All My Ubuntu Installs

[brucewagner]

Firefox, about 500 or so bookmarks and associated things like passwords etc.

For that, I think the superior method is to simply use http://xmarks.com

It backs up all of those things automatically, and even synchs with all my computers, if I want it to.

[k3lt01]

For that, I think the superior method is to simply use http://xmarks.com

It backs up all of those things automatically, and even synchs with all my computers, if I want it to.

Does it also do Pidgin (.purple)?
How about .skype?
.songbird?
.moovida?
.gtkpod?
.gpsdrive?
.gconf?
.dosbox?
.dosemu?
.evolution?
.bibledit?
.adobe?

How about Fieldworks? Does it back that up and transfer it across to?
And Adapt It?

Firefox was 1 example, there are many more, the above is just a selection of what I use. Others will use more, or less, should we all just reformat our / (containing /home) and lose that info and then put it back manually? I don't think so Tim!

Btw not everyone trusts clouds to keep their info on. I certainly don't think it is a more viable alternative especially when you can keep it all on a ext hdd using zsync or something to keep everything safe.

[QIII]

I've been using Linux since shortly after Linus introduced it to the world. I used Unix extensively before that. I still use OpenSolaris. I've been doing this computer gig since the 70's, so you may take my advice for what you will. But my advice is what it is. I didn't compel you to consider it.

Thanks but did you guys read my post?
Did you read my comments on the negative effects of "remnants" left behind in the /home directory, on a reinstall...?

Yes. I read it. Consider what "remnants" are left there. Some of those "remnants", like user preferences, are relatively important. What other remnants, specifically, are problematic? The OS itself is installed in /, not /home.

And the occasional problems that can occur when an app expects the /home to be on the / partition...?

When does this occur? What specific applications should I add to my list of things to be careful about? I have used a separate /home partition for years and have never encountered that. If you use apt to install, virtually everything will be installed in /. If you install something manually, you can exercise some control over where things are installed.

Also, the part about: If you want a machine to be able to Hibernate, the swap partition needs to be LARGER than the amount of RAM you have...?

In reality, the RAM state is no larger than the RAM it is contained in. Theoretically, then, you need only the exact amount of swap as you have RAM. However, the physical characteristics of disk technology make that virtually impossible to accomplish. So you go a little larger. Is not 1.25 x RAM larger than RAM? You will often hear 2x. That is likely a waste. An exact match could be a close shave. 1.25x should give you what you need.

And the part about allowing lots of extra space in / to allow for the installation of virtual machines, lots of temporary download space, and all the additional apps anyone could want or need.

Most vm software, by default, creates the virtual disks in /home. You can choose to do it elsewhere, of course, but I would suggest some other location than /. Perhaps yet another partition like /vms. You probably do not want / to house temporary files. / is generally where your system files live. Temporary files and user-specific data is what your /home or /data or other partitions should be used for. My opinion is that it is unwise to use / for temporary files. It would be much like using the system directory in Windows. And I did say 10 - 30, but 30 is probably a bit to big. (But I must correct my units. That should be GB.)

This is why I chose to, on reinstall, to format / and swap but NOT to format /data

You can do precisely that for /home. If you want a /data partition (which I did not rule out, if you will reread my response) you can also do that.

It seems to me that... The idea of a separate partition for /home is bad for two reasons. The remnants of the previous version of the OS remain in /home if it's not formatted. And, some software seems to have issues when /home is NOT on the same partition as / ( as reported by a few users ).

Again, what "remnants"? Some "remnants" you may want to keep are user preferences, Email profiles and Firefox profiles. And again, which applications? Which few users? Again, the OS lives in /, not /home. The use of a separate /home partition is highly recommended virtually universally across the Linux community.

Not trying to be smart. And I did say you could use a /data partition if you chose to do so. But I am saying I have been doing this for more than 35 years. Take that for what it is worth.