Chris Keenan wrote:
> I've just bought a new 3.2GB HD in addition to my 1.6GB. The latter
> currently has Win95 (spread over 1 primary partition and several
> virtual partitions) and a single Linux ext2 plus Linux swap. I would
> welcome recommendations for how to partition the Linux parts of my
> existing disk, and the new HD. I'd like to keep my existing dual-boot
> options on HD1 as they are, but just keep the bare minimum Linux
> 'system' files on there (to give back a bit more space to Win95 - it
> will be a while before I can dump it!), with the bulk (plus StarOffice
> and other apps) on HD2.
>
> Your thoughts would be appreciated (BTW, I've only got a 'small' 5.2
> installation at present, as I'm waiting for 6.0 to appear to get the
> full package).
>
1) instead of a single Linux swap partition, put a half-size awap file on each
disk.
2) for better performance, put the Linux swap partitions on as the first
partition on each disk (i.e. starting at cylinder 0)
3) partition sizes:
I'll asssume you'll be installing _verything_ and allow space for new
applications too:
/ (root partition) - no more than 96 MB (I've used up 64MB on mine so far -
this is predicated on relocating
/opt and /var to the /usr partition via symbolic links)
/usr - from 4GB to 8GB (with /opt and /var located here I've used up 4 GB
already and I've still to install oracle 8
which ideally means a repartition. Doing it this way means that all
applications and all spool files go onto this
partition so this is the most important one to get the size right.
/home - about 1 GB. I put my downloads on this partition and use my home
account as a general scratch disk and
build area. I've used up just less than 1 GB. IMHO its no good using
this as a permanent data storage area - it's
only a matter of time before your hard disk blows up all your data. Move
your archived files onto off-line storage
regularly.
If you have enough disk space to exceed the above requirements I'd recommend you
give the 96MB to the root partition,
allocate swap files in total at least as big as your RAM, then divide up the
remaining space between /usr and /home in a 3:1
ratio. Though remembet that you can always move /usr directories out onto /home
without repartitioning if you run out of
space.
To relocate trees like /opt and /var during installation so that YaST will be
aware of where space is being taken from:
Before telling YaST to calculate the space used and before telling it to install
the selected packages, go to a different
xterm or console, move the relevant directories over to /usr and create symbolic
links in /. Note that alternate shell prompt
consoles are available during installation even when installing onto a blank
system.
Hope this is useful. I've found that it's the only thing during initial
installation that you need to consider carefully, and
where experience comes in handy, everything else is a no-brainer.
Ralph
--
[EMAIL PROTECTED] Ralph Clark, Virgo Solutions Ltd (UK)
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