Linux partitions can be confusing for people new to Linux.
| Mount point | Name | recomended Format |
recommended Size |
Description | priority |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| / | root | ext4 | 8 GB minimum,
20 GB recomended |
main partition, for the OS, like C:\ drive for windows | 1 |
| /boot | boot | kernel and bootloader | 3 | ||
| /var | Var | 3 | |||
| Swap | Swap | size of RAM | extension of RAM into physical disk space, like virtual memory in Windows | 2 | |
| Boot loader | Hard drive required for boot loader installation, cannot be installed onto a virtual partition. | 1 | |||
| /home | ext4 | Home | rest of the free unpartitioned diskspace | 2 | |
| /usr | User | 3 | |||
| /data or /media | shared partition | NTFS :Windows compatible, HFS+ :Mac compatible, ext4 :Linux compatible, Fat32 :max compatiblity but 4 GB max filesize | 4 |
Single root partition
This scheme is the simplest and should be enough for most use cases. A swapfile can be created and easily resized as needed. It usually makes sense to start by considering a single / partition and then separate out others based on specific use cases like RAID, encryption, a shared media partition, etc. Note that installing GRUB on a BIOS system partitioned with GPT requires an additional BIOS boot partition. Discrete partitions
Separating out a path as a partition allows for the choice of a different filesystem and mount options. In some cases like a media partition, they can also be shared between operating systems.
Root partition
The root directory is the top of the hierarchy, the point where the primary filesystem is mounted and from which all other filesystems stem. All files and directories appear under the root directory /, even if they are stored on different physical devices. The contents of the root filesystem must be adequate to boot, restore, recover, and/or repair the system. Therefore, certain directories under / are not candidates for separate partitions.
/boot
The /boot directory contains the kernel and ramdisk images as well as the bootloader configuration file and bootloader stages. It also stores data that is used before the kernel begins executing user-space programs. /boot is not required for normal system operation, but only during boot and kernel upgrades (when regenerating the initial ramdisk).
A separate /boot partition is needed if installing a software RAID0 (stripe) system.
/home
The /home directory contains user-specific configuration files, caches, application data and media files.
You should not share home directories between users on different distributions, because they use incompatible software versions and patches. Instead, consider sharing a media partition or at least using different home directories on the same /home partition.
/var
The /var directory stores variable data such as spool directories and files, administrative and logging data, etc. It is used, for example, for caching and logging, and hence frequently read or written. Keeping it in a separate partition avoids running out of disk space due to flunky logs, etc.
It exists to make it possible to mount /usr as read-only. Everything that historically went into /usr that is written to during system operation (as opposed to installation and software maintenance) must reside under /var.
Referenced Links
- Linux diskspace -Ubuntu help
- Partitioning -Arch Linux wiki