Knoppix/Debian Newbie - Partitioning Advice

A warm greetings to everyone,

This is my first post so let me introduce myself first... the name's really Bryan but I've been bxb32001 online (and in all forums I participate in) for quite a while so that is the name I chose here. Though I started my Linux experience with Red Hat 7.2 two years ago, after a year of using it I switched back to Win2K for work reasons... I recently downloaded and burned a Knoppix CD, used it and loved it so now I'm hooked again... now I want to install it onto my hard drive!

I usually just choose the defaults provided in the RH installation and this worked fine for me... this time around I am mulling a partitioning scheme more appropriate for my use... I am basically asking that someone look over my partitioning plans and tell me what they think.

I have 2 disks, the first one a 80 GB 7,200 rpm Seagate, the second a 60 gb 5,400(?) rpm Seagate. Here's how I planned my partitioning scheme.

80 GB disk
- 18 GB, primary, NTFS - for the Win2K system
- 18 GB, primary , NTFS - for related Win2K junk and swap
- rest of space, /home, ext3 (about 42 GB)
- 1024 mb swap for linux.. (I have 512MB RAM)

60 GB
- 24 GB, for the / (or /root?) partition
- 18 GB, primary, FAT32 - so I can trasfer files between systems
- 18 GB, primary, NTFS - for my Virtal CD files (I'm a gamer of sorts!)

How does this look? right now I have one 18 GB NTFS parition on my 80 GB drive (newly installed Win2K)... I plan to add all the other partitions (NTFS and FAT32, later).

Any advice / input is greatly appreciated...

- Bryan

That sounds very good, althought the 18GB for FAT32 to transfer files between systems seems too much. To me I don't think there would be any file that's ~18GB and is use-able on linux system.

if you don't to transfer files why not mount your windows drive and then get the files from there? but maybe you have your reasons.

But anyhow, if I was you
I'd do

Seagate (80GB)
20GB for Win2k,
20GB for /
The rest of it for /home or anything similar

Seagate (80GB)
/home

and format all of the linux partition as reiserfs

Thanks for your thoughts buneyha...

That 18 Gig FAT32 does sound too big... I plan to be working primarily from Linux but on occassion I would have to use my computer's alter-ego... like for games and such. So I plan to do the downloading (of game patches and the like) on the Knoppix / Debian platform and that FAT32 partition will serve mostly as a download basket for the Win2K partition.

Whoa, it just hit me... do I set the partitions before I install Knoppix or would I be able to do that with knoppix-install?

Looks fine to me, but I'd cut the swap in half. There's no way you'll need that much with a 2.4 kernel.

Can't tell you about partitioning as I always use the older script (in which case you partition with cfdisk and then copy over your /home and mount it).

The only thing I would thank about changing is putting your / root partition on your first drive, not that it isn't possible to boot to a second drive, but it is usually easier to deal with. With old computers I often put root on a small primary hd and /home and a few other things linked therer to a second drive.

Also you do not need a 1GB swap for any "normal" usage.

~rock

Seeing as nobody has mentioned it yet there is no way that you need more than 5gb for / it will just be wasted space unless you plan on storing you user files on it by not having a seperate /home.

Thanks for the replies fellas... right now I'm typing this on an HD install! Sweet!!! It was sooooo easy!

I am booting off a floppy, but that's okay... I sort of planned it that way -- I'm still learning and there are others (family members) that use my computer as well.

@Stephen... thanks for the tip... right now I have a 20 GB '/' partition... waaaaaay to much....

@RockMumbles... I think I'll do that... it's really easy to reinstall right now (I actually did it just coz I think I felt I missed something the first time (twas' too easy, I thought...)

My screen's kinda cluttered coz all my partitions are mounted and have a shortcut on the desktop.... anyway, I don't mind right now...

I guess I now know it can be as easy as this and all my fears regarding this have been resolved....

Perhaps a 6 or 8 GB '/' will do on my reinstall? Sorry, 5 doesn't feel right for some reason (perhaps I am subconciously superstitious?)

Anyways, thanks for the input fellas... I guess the next time around my /home will be on the second 60 Gig drive and my '/', swap, and /home on my first 80 gig one... :D

I am mulling this again.... what exactly is the recommended size for the '/' partition?

RockMumbles indicates 5 should be enough... any other thoughts on this? Sounds okay to me though...

What are the recommended partition sizes for /tmp and /var (I read somewhere that this is a good idea)....

[sorry for posting similar questions on two threads... different focus on each thread though]