Hi; I'm rebuilding my system and thought I would look at my partition scheme. I have two hard drives. I run SuSE 7.2 dual booted with windows (using boot magic, which I may change to just using lilo) and room for debian (when I finally get round to installing it:-). What kind of partition scheme is the best (for linux)? Do I still need a boot partition (on a modern computer with a modern BIOS)? Can I use reiserfs for the boot partition? Is there a way to shove (I mean place:-) windows (982nd) on the second smaller hard drive (hdb) without it complaining (I only use it for games)? Thanks for any help:-) -- ------------ Darren Harmon http://users.breathemail.net/darren.harmon1/
On Tue, 18 Dec 2001 21:48:27 +0000, Darren Harmon wrote:
What kind of partition scheme is the best (for linux)?
Simple is good. S.u.S.E.'s automatic installer recommends 3: /boot, /, and swap A slightly more complex would include a small (<500MB) /var partition for log files. You might also want a separate /etc and /home partition, so that you can keep your configurations and your own files when you install a newer version of the operating system. But you can accomplish the same thing by periodically backing up /home and /etc Remember that you use up considerable disk space when you use many partitions.
Do I still need a boot partition (on a modern computer with a modern BIOS)? I don't know why it is generally recommended.
Can I use reiserfs for the boot partition? Why would you want to? It is a space-user and is not needed on a partition on which so little is done.
Is there a way to shove (I mean place:-) windows (982nd) on the second smaller hard drive (hdb) without it complaining (I only use it for games)?
Microsoft demands the C: partition. If you want to make the smaller hard drive the boot drive on which the C: partition sits, then you are safe. dj tuchler
One way is to make the small Windows drive the boot drive (drive c:) and then LILO will let you go direct to the second (Linux) drive when you boot up. Does it matter to you which drive the computer looks at first? I have no comment (or knowledge) for partition schemes or Debian. --doug At 21:48 12/18/2001 +0000, Darren Harmon wrote:
Hi; I'm rebuilding my system and thought I would look at my partition scheme. I have two hard drives. I run SuSE 7.2 dual booted with windows (using boot magic, which I may change to just using lilo) and room for debian (when I finally get round to installing it:-). What kind of partition scheme is the best (for linux)? Do I still need a boot partition (on a modern computer with a modern BIOS)? Can I use reiserfs for the boot partition? Is there a way to shove (I mean place:-) windows (982nd) on the second smaller hard drive (hdb) without it complaining (I only use it for games)?
Thanks for any help:-) --
------------ Darren Harmon http://users.breathemail.net/darren.harmon1/
On Tuesday 18 December 2001 06:22 pm, Doug McGarrett wrote:
One way is to make the small Windows drive the boot drive (drive c:) and then LILO will let you go direct to the second (Linux) drive when you boot up. Does it matter to you which drive the computer looks at first?
I've heard that grub, though it's not in release form yet, can deal with this problem better than lilo. It can even boot multiple primary partitions if you want to run more than one version of Windows (ewww.... :-) )
Il 22:48, martedì 18 dicembre 2001, Darren Harmon ha scritto:
Hi; I'm rebuilding my system and thought I would look at my partition scheme. I have two hard drives. I run SuSE 7.2 dual booted with windows (using boot magic, which I may change to just using lilo) and room for debian (when I finally get round to installing it:-). What kind of partition scheme is the best (for linux)? I advise you a / and a /home partition. And obviously a swap one.-)
Do I still need a boot partition (on a modern computer with a modern BIOS)?
No, LILO can walk around the 1024 cylinder limit.
Can I use reiserfs for the boot partition?
If you want, yes.
Is there a way to shove (I mean place:-) windows (982nd) on the second smaller hard drive (hdb) without it complaining (I only use it for games)?
If you have bootmagic, maybe you have partition magic too. I think you can move the partition around as you like, and move it back if windows shouts it wants to be in the first HD. Praise
Oops, last reply just went to tazio... On Wed, Dec 19, 2001 at 02:57:29PM +0100, praisetazio@tiscalinet.it wrote:
Il 22:48, martedì 18 dicembre 2001, Darren Harmon ha scritto:
Hi; I'm rebuilding my system and thought I would look at my partition scheme. I have two hard drives. I run SuSE 7.2 dual booted with windows (using boot magic, which I may change to just using lilo) and room for debian (when I finally get round to installing it:-). What kind of partition scheme is the best (for linux)? I advise you a / and a /home partition. And obviously a swap one.-)
You might want to make /var a separate partition as well, so that you don't overflow the root partition with spooled stuff. Partitioning is, however, a very personal thing, and everyone will have their own idea about what is 'best'.
Can I use reiserfs for the boot partition?
If you want, yes.
No point, though, since it hardly ever changes, and it's small enough that the fsck time is insignificant.
Is there a way to shove (I mean place:-) windows (982nd) on the second smaller hard drive (hdb) without it complaining (I only use it for games)?
If you have bootmagic, maybe you have partition magic too. I think you can move the partition around as you like, and move it back if windows shouts it wants to be in the first HD.
I never managed to get DOS/Windows to install to a slave drive (/dev/hdb), it always wanted to be on the first drive. However, I did manage to get it to work by switching the drive jumpers so that the intended Windows drive was the primary master (/dev/hda), installing Windows, and then switching the jumpers back. This does, however, prevent you from creating extra DOS/Windows partitions on the Linux drive, since they will be labelled C: onwards, and the main partition will be pushed to D: or further, making Windows lose track of where it is. Linux, of course, can install pretty much anywhere. HTH... -- David Smith Tel: +44 (0)1454 462380 (direct) STMicroelectronics Fax: +44 (0)1454 617910 1000 Aztec West TINA (ST only): (065) 2380 Almondsbury Home: 01454 616963 BRISTOL Mobile: 07932 642724 BS32 4SQ Work Email: Dave.Smith@st.com Home Email: David.Smith@ds-electronics.co.uk
participants (6)
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Darren Harmon -
Dave Smith -
Dennis J. Tuchler -
Doug McGarrett -
Joshua Lee -
Praise