> I ask because a have recently transferred my linux install from a 2Gb disk
> to a 10Gb. I made the decision to partition large sections off separately
> so that /usr has its' own space for example.
>
> /etc/fstab
>
> /dev/hdc2 / ext2 defaults 1 1
> /dev/hdc1 /boot ext2 defaults 1 2
> /dev/hdc4 /mnt/junk vfat rw,nodev,noexec,nosuid 0 0
> /dev/hdc5 swap swap defaults 0 0
> /dev/hdc6 /home ext2 defaults 1 2
> /dev/hdc7 /usr ext2 defaults 1 2
> etc...
>
> Is this a good idea or not? It was certainly useful during the install as
> I could boot from a floppy and mount hard-drive partitions into the floppy
> / filesystem.
> What are the arguments for each side?
I think it's a very good idea. You've seperated out your data from the
system stuff which could be replaced (/home). / and /boot are fairly small
and should fsck quickly, /usr is relatively stable and shouldn't go corrupt
even if you're unlucky, with crashes or power failures.
Running networks, I've found it a good idea to minimise '/' and have /tmp
and /var seperate. When '/' goes corrupt on a power failure, it is a royal
pain, so by taking temporary, spool, log, and mqueue out of there you get
reliability benefits.
The other advantage is smaller partitions reduce seeking, so performance can
be improved, by restricting the disk head movement. Similarly /tmp and /var
if seperate can be kept mostly empty, which allows more effiecient block
allocation (throughput drops when disk is near full).
Partitioning positions you well to try out the latest and greatest
journalling style filesystems, or Reiser, where they'll be most benefit, so
far there's Reiser, ext3, XFS (SGI 64bit journalling), JFS (IBM
journalling), log structured. Each has pros and cons, so it'll be
interesting to see what 2 will win through.
The drawback is you have to know what sizes to make your partitions, and you
may run out of (or indeed waste) space faster, because you've divided up the
pots.
Rob
--------------------------------------------------------------------
http://www.lug.org.uk http://www.linuxportal.co.uk
http://www.linuxjob.co.uk http://www.linuxshop.co.uk
--------------------------------------------------------------------
This archive was generated by hypermail 2.1.3 : Thu 22 Nov 2001 - 13:10:36 GMT