What I do for a new machine?

[Liam Proven]

On 2 December 2011 13:13, LinuxIsOne <linuxisone at gmail.com> wrote:
> Hi,
>
> For a new machine, I am going to install Ubuntu but I am not able to
> understand, should I install it with the default options or should
> separate the partitions for:
>
> /
> /home
> /boot
> /swap
>
> Can one elaborate the pros and cons?

You don't need /boot any more. It was useful about a decade or more
ago when many BIOSes had limitations such as being unable to boot from
cylinders on the hard disk numbered above 1024, or were unable to boot
from sections above a certain size limit - at various times, there
were limitations above 32MB, 512MB, 8GB, 32GB and 120GB.

Now, don't worry about it.

You need / and swap. Having /home as well is useful.

For / - depending on the size of your disk - 16GB is generous and 32GB
is massive. For swap, use 2× the amount of physical RAM, as a
guideline. That is very generous. All the rest of the space you can
give to /home.

The simplest system is:

Primary partition (e.g. /dev/sda1) = /
Extended partition = all the rest of the space
1st logical partition (e.g. /dev/sda5) = /home
2nd (e.g. /dev/sda6) = swap

Some people claim there is a performance drop due to swap at the end
of the disk. This is not true. I have tested it, directly,
extensively, with thorough benchmarks. There was no measurable
difference to the 2nd decimal place in the mid-1990s and disks were a
LOT slower then. Now, it does not matter at all.


-- 
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