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Before Linux Installation - Linux Distribution
Before Linux Installation
Part 1 of the Linux Newbie Administrator Guide
1.9 How do I partition my hard drive?
(continued after the ads...)
Related Resources
• Linux
Newbie Administrator Guide
• 0. Linux Benefit
• 1. Before Installation
• 2. Linux Resources/Help
• 3. Basic Operations
FAQ
• 4.
Newbie Admin FAQ
• ~
4.1 Lilo
• ~
4.2 Drives
• ~
4.3 XWindows
• ~
4.4 Configurations
• ~
4.5 Networking
• 5.
Shortcuts / Commands
• 6. Linux Applications
• 7.
Learn Linux Commands
• A.
How to Upgrade Kernel?
Before Linux
installation, you might really want to know what a hard drive partition
is. The concern is that you delete your MS Windows partition when you really
don't want toyou want two separate partitions to dual boot. This means:
MS Windows is on one partition, Linux is on a separate partition. You do
not normally install Linux on free space on your MS Windowsallocated partition(s).
It is possible to install Linux on a MS Windows partition, but we do not
recommend it.
If you plan
a dual boot (Linux and MS Windows on the same computer), first use your
DOS/Win utility FDISK to make the MS Windows partition(s).
Leave part of the hard drive(s) unpartitioned for Linux. You will make
and format the Linux partitions during your RedHat (or Mandrake or whatever
else) installation. Linux will recognize the free space on the harddrive.
Make the
MS Windows partition "primary" and "bootable". Install, configure, and
test your MS Windows before Linux installation. If you plan to run
Linux only, you need just a clean hard drive (no partitions) to start
with.
It is possible
to have only one Linux partition (plus one for MS Windows if you dualboot).
But it is better to have more partitions so that you can keep users' data
separate from the rest of the operating system. This way, if something ever
goes wrong, or if you have to reformat or reinstall the operating system,
you don't lose the users' data. (You can perform a complete Linux reinstall
without losing the contents of the /home directory that contains
all user data if you skip the "reformat" option given to you during installation.
But for that, the /home directory must be on its own partition.)
During the Linux setup, you will be asked to partition the available space
on your hard drive(s). There are many possible ways to partition, depending
on your hard drive space, requirements, and taste. I like Linux hard
drive partitions like this (for a modest total of 2 GB of hardrive space
which I give to Linux in this example):
mount
point type size
/
ext2 300 MB
/usr ext2
1200 MB
/home ext2
380 MB
swap swap
120 MB
In the above
example, I dedicate 300 MB for the root partition that holds the base of
the Linux operating system. I allocate 1200 MB to the mount point
that will be visible on my filesystem as the /usr directory and
will contain the user's programs (the programs that don't come with the
base operating system and I install later, for example StarOffice).
I dedicate 380 MB for the partition that will be visible as the directory
/home and will contain the setting and data of all users on the
machine. And I allocate 120 MB to a "raw" partition for the operating
system to use as the virtual memory (extension of the physical, silicon
memory on the hard drive, socalled swap). If your kernel is lower
than 2.2 (this is the case with standard RH5.2 and earlier), your swap partition
cannot be larger than approximately 127 MB. The rule of thumb is that the
swap should be about twice the amount of the physical memory (RAM).
If you need more (e.g. if you have lots of physical memory, or you expect
to run custom programs with really large data structures) you might want
to create a larger swap partition during the installation (or several smaller
swap partitions) or add a swap file(s) later.
2 GB is a respectible amount of disk space and should be sufficient for
users who like having many applications. (This is because Linux applications
tend to be slimmer than their MS Windows equivalents). However, if you try
to install everything that's available on the modern distribution CDs, you
will surely run out of disk space. My experience is that however large the
hard drive space, it will get filled and I regret I don't have more :)
.
If my space on the hard drive is really restricted, I may consider a twopartition
setup like this (for a lean 650 MB total dedicated to Linux):
mount
point type size
/
ext2 600 MB
swap swap
50 MB
In this example,
I dedicate 600 MB to the base of the operating system, applications, and
user documents/data, and allow 50 MB for the swap partition (for the operating
system to use as the virtual memory). The 50MB swap should be quite sufficient
for medium duty operations. The limitation of 600 MB for the operating system,
applications and user data means that you will have to be very selective
as to which applications you install or else you risk running out of hard
drive space. Try pressing when installing the optional software
that comes on the Red Hat CDit will give you a short description of what
the software does so you could perhaps decide if you really need it. (Don't
worry too much if you miss something you need, you can install the missing
parts later). You can easily finish the RedHat installation with 200 MB
free on your Linux partition (out of 600 MB used in this example) if you
make reasonable choices. Please note that "bundling together" the root partition
"/" and the /home directory will likely save you
some disk space, but it is not the safest solution.
It is possible to install Linux on even less disk space than in the example
above, but you will have to be really picky as to what you install.
For a larger available hard drive space, I may consider the following setup
(for a comfortable total of 15 GB dedicated to Linux):
mount
point type size
/
ext2 800 MB
/usr ext2
5000 MB
/usr/local ext2 3000
MB
/home ext2
5200 MB
swap swap
1000 MB
Please note
that the the mount points can reside on different physical hard drives.
Linux agglomarates all the hard drive space into a single directory tree.
Another consideration when setting up the partitions on older computers
(486?). Many older BIOSes have the restriction that the boot partition cannot
extend beyond the 1024th cylinder on your first physical hard drive.
To overcome this limitation, simply make the first (bootable) partition
so that it ends before the cylinder number 1023 (this makes this partition
max approximately 512 MB in size, which is plenty for the "/" root partition).
Once Linux boots, the BIOS restriction does not matter any more because
Linux takes over the hardware management and it can access the partition(s)
beyond the cylinder number 1023.
When installing and using Linux, your drives appear as devices with the
following names: hdafirst IDE drive (stands for "hard drive a",
i.e. the master drive on the first IDE interface), hdbsecond IDE drive
(i.e., the slave drive on the first IDE interface), hdcthird IDE drive
(i.e. the master drive on the second IDE interface), hddfourth IDE drive
(i.e. the slave drive on the second IDE interface). The numbers mean
the partitions on the physical drives: "hda1" means the first IDE hard drive
(hd a), first partition (1); "hda2" is the first IDE hard drive, second
partition; "hda3"the first IDE hard drive, third partition; (and so on
if you have more than 3 partitions on the first IDE hard drive); "hdb1"second
IDE hard drive, first partition (or just "hdb" if it is the CDROM
installed as a slave on your first IDE interface). "hdc1"third IDE hard
drive, first partition, etc. SCSI drives have analogous names but
start with the letters "sd" (="SCSI drive"), followed by the letter indicating
the SCSI interface and by the number indicating the SCSI device id.
For example, "sda4" means "first SCSI interface, id number 4". If you have
an external zip drive attached to your parallel port, it will appear as
SCSI device "sda4" (zip drives work in a SCSIemulation mode).
The listing
of partitions that your Linux setup program presents to you during installation
will include any MS Windows partitions which you have. For example,
I have the following MS Windows partition:
mount
point type size
comment
[no
mount] vfat 1200 MB
["Win C drive, hda1]
/mnt/dos_hdd2 vfat 1600 MB
["Win D drive, hdd2]
Don't erase
these MS Windows partitions during your Linux installation if you want
a dual boot. If you erase the MS Windows partition, MS Windows is gone
from your system! If not sure, backup your data from your MS Windows partitions
before Linux installation. "msdos", "fat" and "vfat" and "ntfs"
are typical filesystems used by DOS and MS Windows 3.x/95/98/NT.
As a quick reference,
here is a brief summary of the standard linux partition types ("filesystems")
with a short description. I copied the info from the linux manual pages:
man fs and man mount (with some additions after I had
a look at the source code files at /usr/src/linux/fs). The underlined
filesystems are the ones that you are more likely to use. Other filesystems
(not listed below) are available as addons (for example journaling filesystems,
compressed, encrypted, ...).
minix
is the filesystem used in the Minix operating
system, the first to run under Linux. It has a number of shortcomings:
a 64MB partition size limit, short filenames, a single time stamp, etc.
It remains useful for floppies and RAM disks.
ext
is an elaborate extension of the minix filesystem. It has
been completely superseded by the second
version of the extended filesystem (ext2) and will eventually be removed
from the kernel.
ext2
is the high performance disk filesystem used by Linux for fixed disks
as well as removable media. The second extended filesystem
was designed as an extension of the extended file system (ext). ext2
offers the best performance (in terms of speed and CPU usage) of the
filesystems supported under Linux. In short, ext2 is the
main (default, typical) Linux filesystem.
ext3
is an extension of the ext2 filesystem with journaling. It is backwards
and forward compatibile with ext2. It means that ext2 can be converted
into ext3 without reformatting or data loss (just remounting the partion
is required). ext3 can be changed back to ext2, also without data loss.
I use ext3 extensively since Oct.2001it is simple and troublefree.
It is included as an installation "option" since RedHat 7.2 and Mandrake
8.0. It is highly recommended that you use this filesystem.
xiafs
was designed and implemented to be a stable, safe
filesystem by extending the Minix filesystem code. It provides
the basic most requested features without undue complexity. The xia
filesystem is no longer actively developed or maintained. It is
used infrequently.
msdos
is the filesystem used by DOS, Windows, and some OS/2 computers.
msdos filenames can be no longer than 8 characters
followed by an optional period and 3 character extension.
umsdos
is an extended DOS filesystem used by Linux.
It adds capability for long filenames, UID/GID, POSIX permissions, and
special files (devices, named pipes, etc.) under
the DOS filesystem, without sacrificing compatibility with
DOS.
vfat
is an extended DOS filesystem used by Microsoft Windows95 and Windows
NT. VFAT adds capability for long filenames under the MSDOS filesystem.
proc
is a pseudofilesystem which is used as an interface to
kernel data structures rather than reading
and interpreting /dev/kmem. In particular,
its files do not take up disk space. See man 5 proc.
iso9660
is a CDROM filesystem type conforming to the ISO 9660 standard. Two
extensions (listed below) are automatically supported.
High
Sierra Linux supports High Sierra, the precursor to the ISO 9660 standard
for CDROM filesystems. It is automatically recognized within the iso9660
filesystem support under Linux.
Rock
Ridge Linux also supports the System Use
Sharing Protocol records specified by the Rock Ridge Interchange Protocol.
They are used to further describe the
files in the iso9660 filesystem to a UNIX host, and
provide information such as long filenames, UID/GID, POSIX permissions,
and devices. It is automatically recognized within the
iso9660 filesystem support under Linux.
hpfs is the High Performance Filesystem, used
in OS/2. This filesystem is readonly under Linux due to the lack
of available documentation.
sysv
is an implementation of the SystemV/Coherent filesystem for Linux.
It implements all of Xenix FS, SystemV/386 FS, and
Coherent FS.
nfs is the network filesystem used to access
disks located on remote computers.
smb is a network filesystem that supports
the SMB protocol, used by MS Windows for Workgroups, Windows NT, and
Lan Manager. To use smb fs, you need a special mount program, which
can be found in the ksmbfs package, found at ftp://sunsite.unc.edu/pub/Linux/system/Filesystems/smbfs.
[Standard linux command "smbmount" will also do.]
ncpfs
is a network filesystem that supports the NCP protocol, used by Novell
NetWare.
devptsis
a pseudo file system, traditionally mounted on /dev/pts.
In order to acquire a pseudo terminal, a process opens /dev/ptmx;
the number of the pseudo terminal is then made
available to the process and the pseudo terminal
slave can be accessed
as /dev/pts/.
fat
is not a separate filesystem, but a common part of the msdos, umsdos
and vfat filesystems.
UFS
is a file system widely used in different operating systems.
swapis a special partition type used for swapping data from
memory to hard drive.
raiserfsis a brand new journaling filesystem available as
standard with Linux kernel version 2.4.1 up (January 2001).
hfs
(=hierarchical files system)MacIntosh filesystem. It is a late beta
version., i.e., not recommended for use with critical data, unless readonly.
ntfsMS Windows NT filesytem. It is still "experimental" under
Linux, i.e. not recommeded for production machines, unless readonly
(Aug.2001).
Next > 1.10
The MS Windows partition occupies my whole harddrive. Can I shrink/split it
without a reinstall?
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