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Partition Sizing and Examples
For normal use we recommend ext4, it is the default file system for aptosid.
With the Partition-Manager GParted hard drives are partitioned and/or formatted. The program has a graphical interface and is self-explanatory.
Gparted can also shrink or move partitions and also manipulate NTFS partitions [with a special caveat that once you alter an NTFS partition you must reboot immediately before doing any other operations ]. See full documentation for gparted. Changes to ntfs-partitions can also be made with proprietary tools such as Partition Magic™ and Acronis™.
ALWAYS BACK-UP YOUR DATA!
Should a partition show up as mounted, unmount the device, including swap with a right click on the partition icons in gparted or via a terminal, for example:
umount /dev/sda1
The swap partiton can be unmounted in a terminal with:
swapoff -a
In principle, 5 GB is more than sufficient for a hd-install, but you won't have much fun with this. A reasonable minimum install should have 12 GB. For those new to linux, we suggest only 2 partitions for a start (root/home and swap), because this simplifies your first install quite a bit, then establish extra partitions for a separate /home and additional data partitions.
You really should have a swap partition (equivalent to the windows swapfile, but is much more effective). For normal usage, the swap partition should be up to twice your ram.
For data-exchange with a Windows installation you should use vfat (fat32) or ext2 as an MS Windows™ driver is available for data-swapping. [XFS is not supported]. Ext2 Installable File System For MS Windows and also Writing on NTFS partitions with ntfs-3g.
It is wise to write down the names of the partitions for reference.
Here are some simple examples for different partition sizes:
1 TB for dual boot MS Windows and Linux
| Disk | Size | Filesystem | Mountpoint/System |
|---|---|---|---|
| sda1 | 50 GB | NTFS | MS Windows System |
| sdb1 | 100 GB | ext4 | / (includes home) |
| sda3 | 300 GB | FAT32/ext2 | Data for MS Windows System and Linux |
| sda2 | 550 GB | ext4 | Data for Linux |
| sda4 | 2 GB | Linux Swap | Linux Swap |
120 GB hard drive with MS Windows, dual boot with Linux:
| Disk | Size | Filesystem | Mountpoint/System |
|---|---|---|---|
| sda1 | 30 GB | NTFS | MS Windows System |
| sda2 | 20 GB | ext3 | / |
| sda3 | 20 GB | ext3 | /home |
| sdb1 | 48 GB | FAT32/ext2 | Data exchange MS Windows and Linux |
| sda4 | 2 GB | Linux Swap | Linux Swap |
60 GB for dual boot MS Windows and Linux:
| Disk | Size | Filesystem | Mountpoint/System |
|---|---|---|---|
| sda1 | 24 GB | NTFS | MS Windows System |
| sda2 | 10 GB | FAT32/ext2 | Data for MS Windows and Linux |
| sda3 | 10 GB | FAT32/ext2 | Data for MS Windows and Linux |
| sdb1 | 14 GB | ext4 | / (includes home) |
| sda4 | 2 GB | Linux Swap | Linux Swap |
200GB hard drive:
| Disk | Size | Filesystem | Mountpoint/System |
|---|---|---|---|
| sda1 | 20 GB | ext4 | / |
| sda2 | 20 GB | ext4 | /home |
| sda3 | 158 GB | ext2/3/4 | data |
| sda4 | 2 GB | Linux Swap | Linux Swap |
160GB hard drive:
| Disk | Size | Filesystem | Mountpoint/System |
|---|---|---|---|
| sda1 | 20GB | ext4 | / |
| sda2 | 20GB | ext4 | /home |
| sda3 | 59GB | ext4 | data |
| sdb1 | 59GB | ext4 | data |
| sda4 | 2 GB | Linux Swap | Linux Swap |
General
There are many ways to partition your hard drives. These examples should be enough for a start.
It makes good sense to purchase a USB hard drive to make a regular data back up should any of your hard drives fail. If dual booting with MS Windows™, always put MS on the first hard disk/partition.
For other partitioning options see Partitioning to use LVM - Logical Volume Manager and Installing to encrypted partitions - cryptroot.