Linux Partition

[chaos angel 0]

Hey, my other thread asks the same questions, but it's become very long and I just need some quick answers that don't require reading the whole thread.

I am shooting for 20 GB for linux. However, I was only able to chop off 16 GB from the end of my Windows partition. I chopped 4 GB off from my recovery partition, which is located in front of my windows partition. So, I have 4 GB of unallocated space, followed by my windows partition, which is then followed by the 16 GB of space. How do I combine the spaces? Or, do I need to combine them? I want to make swap, root, and home partitions for linux. How should I do that with my given situation?

Also, with 20 GB of space, how much should I give each partition? I know swap should be twice your ram, but I have 2 GB, and am thinking 4 GB is a little much. I don't know how much I need to give root. So, any suggestions?

[mirrorshades 3]

Everything I've ever read about swap space indicates that it's a very inexact science. For 2G of RAM, I'd suggest just using your 4G partition as the swap; then you can carve up the remaining 16G partition however else you like and you don't have to worry about joining it together. (If you do want the free space consolidated anyway, Partition Magic can do that, but it might take a while.)

For the sizes of the rest of the partitions, it really depends on what you're planning to use the system for. I find that I tend to waaaaay overestimate the size that my /home partition needs to be, so I get a lot of wasted space that could have gone elsewhere. If you're going to be running services that do logging, you may want to split /var out, so that if someone does a DDoS on your web server (for example), the logs won't fill up your entire drive. Separating /opt or /usr/local can be handy so you can reinstall or upgrade the OS without having to reinstall all your apps.

It's just something you kind of get a feel for as you go along. Very few absolutes, no real "right way" to do it other than what works best for you.

[sshblack 1]

While we're on the partition subject. Should I want to rid of either windows or Ubuntu (currently have both loaded) can you join up the partition into one big lump again? I split mine 60/40 windows/ubuntu respectively.

[mirrorshades 3]

While we're on the partition subject. Should I want to rid of either windows or Ubuntu (currently have both loaded) can you join up the partition into one big lump again? I split mine 60/40 windows/ubuntu respectively.

I think so. Partition Magic is your friend.

(Back up your shizzle first, just in case.)

[sshblack 1]

sorry do you mean Norton Partition Magic? (http://www.symantecstore.com/dr/sat5/ec_Main.Entry17c?SID=27685&SP=10023&CID=189671&PID=627117&PN=1&V1=627117&CUR=826&DSP=&PGRP=0&ABCODE=&CACHE_ID=0

I'd rather get a trusted open source partition program if you know one?

[BSDfan 0]

Personally I use the "fdisk" application included on OpenBSD, but I'm sure you'll want a pretty GUI to handle your partitioning needs.

Consider http://partitionlogic.org.uk/ - I hear it's semi-decent.. except it doesn't support SATA, BSD disklabels or EFI/GPT tabes.

[mungewell 7]

Also, with 20 GB of space, how much should I give each partition? I know swap should be twice your ram, but I have 2 GB, and am thinking 4 GB is a little much. I don't know how much I need to give root. So, any suggestions?

Others have linked to suitable partition re-sizers.... you are probably right about the size of swap. Rule of thumb is 2x memory size, however with huge memory that is probably not required.

A useful tip is that if you find a situation (such as compiling libopal) where you need more swap than you have, you can 'mount' a temporary swap _file_. Create a blank file of the appropriate file with 'dd if=/dev/zero of=swap_file ...', 'mkswap' to prepare the file and then enable/disable with 'swapon'/'swapoff'.

Cheers,

Mungewell.

[mirrorshades 3]

sorry do you mean Norton Partition Magic?

I'd rather get a trusted open source partition program if you know one?

Well... okay. I never had any trouble with PM. But, YMMV.

QTParted works pretty well: http://qtparted.sourceforge.net/ -- open source, and "trusted" enough that I use it and will probably use it again.

Mandriva linux has a nice graphical partitioning tool (or at least it did, the last time I used it). You can grab the install CD, go through the partitioning process, then just reboot once that's done and before the installation continues.

Or, you can find Hiren's Boot CD and select from several different options. Not sure if any are open source, but there are a couple others I've used on there, too, without problems.

[sshblack 1]

Hi there

Thank you for all your help, have tried and failed with QTParted as once I have extracted the files to a safe place I can't seem to recognise or execute any setup files, or any image to burn.

Similarly I tried Partition Logic which told me after the boot from cd, "No hard disks found" which confused me so much I had to go lie down.

I am now trying that Hiren Boot CD which I have managed to get off Rapidshare.

Just wanted to say thanks again, I hope I solve this soon, I am running out of space fast!

[Alk3 0]

Others have linked to suitable partition re-sizers.... you are probably right about the size of swap. Rule of thumb is 2x memory size, however with huge memory that is probably not required.

Agreed. In Linux you may only need a 512 mb swap if you have 2gb of ram. theres no reason you should make such a large swap. Its a waste of space. I have 4gb of ram on one of my machines with NO swap and have never had any issues.