Hi,

Just a short question.
If one has only one HD then is there any point of making different partitions
for the differnt 'directories' ? Like hda2 for /home, hda3 for /tmp etc, or is
it better to use just one?

thx,

Dudee

A short answer is `yes'. A longer one is `probably, yes, but it
depends'. :-) I suggest that you use Google first to look for other
answers because this is a question that has been discussed in depth
numerous times.

Mikhail

Dudee Bastardo wrote:

> Hi,
>
> Just a short question.
> If one has only one HD then is there any point of making different
> partitions for the differnt 'directories' ? Like hda2 for /home, hda3 for
> /tmp etc, or is it better to use just one?
>
> thx,
>
> Dudee

I personally always have a separate partition for home, that way I can
upgrade/change distro with much less hassle (but I still back up my data
just in case)

Ian

Dudee Bastardo wrote:
> Hi,
>
> Just a short question.
> If one has only one HD then is there any point of making different partitions
> for the differnt 'directories' ? Like hda2 for /home, hda3 for /tmp etc, or is
> it better to use just one?
>
> thx,
>
> Dudee

I personnaly don't see avantage to have many partitions. I don't see the
point oif having a sparate partition for home for the esase of
upgrading: it just suffice to erase every files exept the /home
directory and to reinstall taking care to not format the partition. If
you have many partition you are always at the risk that one of your
partition run out of space and repartitioning might not be so easy.

The only advantage I see to have more than one partition is to be able
to install several linux distro on the same computer or to install a new
version without first having to erase the old one ensuring that your
computer remains all the time functional.

Olive

Dudee Bastardo wrote:
> Hi,
>
> Just a short question.
> If one has only one HD then is there any point of making different partitions
> for the differnt 'directories' ? Like hda2 for /home, hda3 for /tmp etc, or is
> it better to use just one?
>
> thx,
>
> Dudee

Just a short answer.

Nothing, repeat nothing, teaches you how to administer your partitions
then when one of them complains "no more room on partition".

When this happens to you all external advices are good.

Have fun.

Stanislaw
Slack user from Ulladulla.

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Dudee Bastardo wrote:
> Hi,
>
> Just a short question.
> If one has only one HD then is there any point of making different partitions
> for the differnt 'directories' ? Like hda2 for /home, hda3 for /tmp etc, or is
> it better to use just one?

It depends on your needs and how stable you want your system.

I like to use partitions for directories that should be protected during
regular system use (i.e. /boot) or that I want to save if I have to reinstall
the system (i.e. /usr/local and /home). But, this plan might not suit you.

Here's a list that I've compiled showing the reasons to partition. I'm sure
that a rebuttal will soon be posted in reply :-)

================================================== ==========================

Why partition? There are many reasons:

* Make intellegent use of disk space by reserving space for future expansion
of your filesystems

* To perform optimization of disk access resources by placing heavily used
disk resources closer to optimum seek point of the disk

* To impose restrictions on the size of certain directory subtrees (i.e. /tmp
or /var/spool/lpd) to ensure that they do not grow beyond certain preset sizes.

* To facilitate backup and recovery by enabling volume backups as well as
directory tree/subtree backups

* To reduce the time taken by the boot up filesystem check, by reducing the
amount of filesystem checked at any one time, and by permitting the filesystem
check to parallelize it's operations.

* To facilitate upgrades by ensuring that the upgrade process doesn't delete
or reformat certain directory subtrees (like /home or /var/spool/news) as part
of the installation/upgrade process

* To restrict online access to certain directory subtrees (i.e. the boot
partition ) by ensuring that they are mounted "read-only" or not mounted at
all when they are not needed.

* To provide alternate (or recovery) directory subtrees, by offering offline
space for image archives of critical directory subtrees, or by providing space
for alternate versions of the directory subtrees (i.e. a "recovery" root fs)

* To provide alternate filesystem formatting (journal fs vs unjournaled fs),
to meet the needs of the use of the filesystem (i.e. use journalling
filesystems where recovery is required (like / or /home), and non-journalling
filesystems where recovery is unnecessary (like /tmp or /var/tmp).

* To provide alternate filesystem blocksizes (1K, 4K, etc) to meet the needs
of the use of the filesystem (i.e. smaller blocksizes for filesystems that
store many small files vs larger blocksizes for filesystems that store large
files).

- --
Lew Pitcher

Master Codewright & JOAT-in-training | GPG public key available on request
Registered Linux User #112576 (http://counter.li.org/)
Slackware - Because I know what I'm doing.
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Hi Stanislaw,
On Sat, 07 May 2005 23:59:06 GMT, Stanislaw Flatto <compaid@shoalhaven.net.au> wrote:
>
>Just a short answer.
>
>Nothing, repeat nothing, teaches you how to administer your partitions
>then when one of them complains "no more room on partition".

Try not to let it go that far... Occasional 'df' helps.

Usage patterns take some time to work out, sometimes one can get out
of trouble by moving a functional block (example: web server files)
to somewhere else and symlink to it.

Other times, like a new machine, after a month's use, I have a much
better idea of requirements for doing a second clean install. But
I have 'elbow room' to be able to put that off fort a while.

'good enough' vs optimal -- changes over time

--Grant.

Dudee Bastardo wrote:
> Hi,
>
> Just a short question.
> If one has only one HD then is there any point of making different partitions
> for the differnt 'directories' ? Like hda2 for /home, hda3 for /tmp etc, or is
> it better to use just one?
>
> thx,
>
> Dudee

I am no expert but I only use root / and swap.
I have an 80 gig drive and I have 4 distros of 12 gigs each with one swap of the
same size as my ram 256 megs. I use the rest of the drive as a place to copy the
/home/leo subdirectory to as a backup. I have a place like this for each distro.
I reinstall each distro often as I am learning and really screw up a lot. Now
all I do is install the distro and copy the /home/leo from the backup partition
to the newly installed distro and all seems ok.
I tried installing with all those partitions but it only confused me. Could not
see much value in having separate partitions when the installation will make all
the same partitions but as subdirectories.

Olive <olive.lin@versateladsl.be> wrote:
> If you have many partition you are always at the
>risk that one of your partition run out of space and
>repartitioning might not be so easy.

At one time that was true... about 20 years ago. :-)

That's when and why the symbolic link was added, and partition
resizing just hasn't been significant since.

>The only advantage I see to have more than one partition is to

Well, about the time you have something, either hardware or
software, trash a partition... you'll see another advantage.
With one and only one partition all is lost. With multiple
partitions some fraction is lost. And "lose" can be taken
fairly loosely in that context too. Anything that fills up a
partition and causes any form of system malfunction would
qualify.

Depending on how any given box is used, the exposure and the
possible losses are of course very different. Hence an
unattened server that costs hundreds of dollars an hour for down
time is no doubt different than the consequences of wedging a
desktop machine used mostly for games and email to grandma...

--
Floyd L. Davidson <http://web.newsguy.com/floyd_davidson>
Ukpeagvik (Barrow, Alaska) floyd@barrow.com

Grant Coady wrote:
> Hi Stanislaw,
> On Sat, 07 May 2005 23:59:06 GMT, Stanislaw Flatto <compaid@shoalhaven.net.au> wrote:
>
>>Just a short answer.
>>
>>Nothing, repeat nothing, teaches you how to administer your partitions
>>then when one of them complains "no more room on partition".
>
>
> Try not to let it go that far...

But those are the "teething" pains of growing up with "unforgiving" OS.
This is not like in Mercedes add when you are born old and "know-all".

But it is rewarding.
"We always learn."

Have fun

Stanislaw
Slack user from Ulladulla.