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[Derek Broughton]

Edmund Laugasson wrote:

> mount point	filesystem	device
> ***********	**********	******
> 1) swap		swap		/dev/sda1 - primary
> 2) /boot	ext3		/dev/sda2 - primary
> 3) /tmp		ext3		/dev/sda3 - primary
> /dev/sda4 - extended partition
> 4) /var		ext3		/dev/sda5 - logical
> 5) /		ext3		/dev/sda6 - logical
> 6) /home	ext3		/dev/sda7 - logical
> 7) /data	ext3		/dev/sda8 - logical
> 
> Swap and /boot should be in the beginning of HDD to boot and swap fast.
> Also /tmp and /var have fastly changing data and are therefore before
> other partitions.

I'm not going to agree or disagree with your partitioning policy, as there are as many options as there are computers, but I have some difficulty with your reasoning for the actual positions.

1) There is no value to putting /boot where it will be accessed quickly (OK, 
a small issue with your policy - I've used /boot partitions, and I no longer 
recommend them.  I believe they cause more trouble than they solve).  Seek 
time is not a factor in "booting quickly", and since /boot is only used 
briefly at system startup, and never again, it actually makes more sense to 
put it on the _slowest_ part of the disk.  Oh, and there's no value (though 
little cost) in making /boot ext3 rather than ext2, as it's essentially 
static.

2) You're right that swap should be where it can be accessed fastest - but 
that's _not_ the beginning of the disk.  If you were to assume that data was 
randomly spread across the disk (not really true, but hard to model), then 
the right place for swap would be in the middle - where it takes the least 
time for the heads to move from either the first or last tracks.

3) Making swap larger and putting /tmp in tmpfs (instead of ext3) neatly 
sidesteps the issue of where to physically place it.

And I guess one more quibble with your partitioning - /data is not a 
standard part of the hierarchy, and if he goes making a partition for it, it 
will in all probability remain empty :-)

otoh, this is all moot for the OP, as I completely agree with everybody else 
that reinstalling is the wrong thing to do.  Oh, Brother!