Originally Posted by
Mike Krall
Like this 'oldfred'? See partition structure charts 3/5's down page... #3... "BIOS/GPT example layout"...
https://wiki.archlinux.org/index.php/Partitioning
Blue... Would you point me somewhere for this, 'oldfred'? Is in signature link? And do I get it... makes work without switching HDD type?
Mike
You know, one of these days I ought to figure out how to get a screenshot into a post... =[
a) please DON'T use screen shots. Use text methods. If there's some data you'd like to show, we can provide commands to access it as text for posting. Don't use 10K when 200 bytes works better. Plus, we can copy/paste selected parts of text back in our answers.
Partitioning doesn't need to be complex. Ignoring the /boot/ and /boot/EFI stuff, most of my systems have 2 or 3 "partitions" - that really isn't true because I usually leverage LVM, which is an advanced file system management technique, but for discussions here, an "LV" can be considered the same as a "partition".
Code:
Filesystem Type Size Used Avail Use% Mounted on
/dev/mapper/ubuntu--vg-root ext4 25G 12G 12G 52% /
/dev/mapper/ubuntu--vg-home--lv ext4 74G 21G 51G 29% /home
/dev/mapper/ubuntu--vg-stuff ext4 99G 367M 93G 1% /stuff
/ is for the OS. Selected parts of this get backups.
/home is for real human logins. This get backups.
/stuff is where I put stuff that I never need to backup. See the delineation for that storage? It is about keeping different parts separate based on the backup needs primarily, next is a convenience aspect.
The swap partition (LV) is 4.1G in size, but doesn't show up in the df -Th output above. The swapon -s command will show it. That system isn't on the network right now, so I can't post it. A different system:
Code:
$ swapon -s
Filename Type Size Used Priority
/dev/dm-1 partition 4300796 36540 -2
For most people, there's no need to follow a complex partition layout like that arch link shows. In the early 1990s, is **was** necessary to split up different parts of the OS to prevent system crashes due to full file systems, but HDDs were 20MB back then. I remember when my UNIX workstation at the job came with a 2GB HDD - I didn't know what I'd do with all that storage. Turned out that loading emacs on the workstation used enough to make space tight.
- I'm in favor of separate swap partitions. I have reasons, but those may not apply to everyone. LVM lets me resize a swap LV in a fairly painless way, unlike using partitions.
- I'm in favor of using separate userids for different DEs.
- I'm in favor of using separate userids if you run different OSes from different families.
- I'm in favor of keeping partitioning simple - the minimal needed.
- I'm in favor of using GPT tables whenever possible, regardless of the disk size.
- I'm in favor of using symbolic links from a user's HOME to storage mounted elsewhere, especially when multiple userids need to access the same files.
A good, free, reference book: http://linuxcommand.org/tlcl.php There is a chapter about userids.
help.ubuntu.com has many guides and step-by-step instructions specifically written for non-technical people - well, for the desktop guides. Google "ubuntu desktop guide" ... but be aware this is for the default "gnome3" ubuntu desktop. Mate, XFCE, LXQt, KDE versions will all be a little different unless the exact same program is used. Never forget that the GUI is just another program. It isn't the "OS."
Everyone posting here has good ideas based on their experiences. Only you can decide which makes the most sense.
Bookmarks