The partitioning of the drives depends on many factors:
For Linux beginners, we recommend that you create only two
partitions
/root
(incl. /home
) and swap
, as
this makes a first installation much easier. After the installation,
additional data partitions can be created, or a separate
/home
if desired.
However, we rather advise against creating a /home
partition. The /home
directory should be the place where
the individual configurations are stored, and only these. For all other
private data, a separate data partition should be created. The
advantages for data stability, data backup and also in case of data
recovery are almost immeasurable.
Purchasing an external USB hard drive for regular data backup is also
worth considering.
The minimum requirements for the reasonable use of a siduction installation are:
installed system | hard disk space |
---|---|
siduction NoX | 5GB |
siduction Xorg | 10GB |
siduction LXQt | 15GB |
siduction LXDE | 15GB |
siduction Xfce | 15GB |
siduction Cinnamon | 15GB |
siduction KDE Plasma | 15GB |
Otherwise, we recommend at least 50 GB of disk space when installing on a partition formatted with Btrfs.
If a dual boot with MS Windows™ is created, MS Windows must always be installed as the first system onto the hard disk.
“GPT” should be selected as partition table type. Thus, you can use the advantages over “MBR”. Only with old hardware, “MBR” is still useful. The explanations for this can be found on our manual page Partitioning with gdisk.
The examples refer to partition tables of the type “GPT”. It needs the first two, very small partitions in order to function.
Desktop, dual-boot (MS Windows and Linux)
1 TB hard disk:
Partition | Size | File system | Use |
---|---|---|---|
1 | 100 KB | FAT16 | EFI system |
2 | 1 MB | without | BIOS-boot |
3 | 50 GB | NTFS | MS Windows system |
4 | 500 GB | NTFS | data for MS Windows and Linux |
5 | 30 GB | ext4 | / (Linux root) |
6 | 416 GB | ext4 | data for Linux |
7 | 4 GB | Linux swap | Linux swap |
Desktop, dual-boot (MS Windows and Linux)
120 GB hard disk:
Partition | Size | File system | Use |
---|---|---|---|
1 | 100 KB | FAT16 | EFI system |
2 | 1 MB | without | BIOS-boot |
3 | 40 GB | NTFS | MS Windows System |
4 | 48 GB | NTFS | data for MS Windows and Linux |
5 | 30 GB | ext4 | / (Linux root) |
6 | 2 GB | Linux swap | Linux swap |
Desktop, Linux only
500 GB hard disk:
Partition | Size | File system | Use |
---|---|---|---|
1 | 100 KB | FAT16 | EFI system |
2 | 1 MB | without | BIOS-boot |
3 | 30 GB | ext4 | / |
4 | 466 GB | ext4 | data |
5 | 4 GB | Linux Swap | Linux swap |
Desktop, Linux only
500 GB hard disk with Btrfs snapshot:
Partition | Size | File system | Use |
---|---|---|---|
1 | 100 KB | FAT16 | EFI system |
2 | 1 MB | without | BIOS-boot |
3 | 496 GB | btrfs | / |
4 | 4 GB | Linux Swap | Linux swap |
Desktop, Linux only
160 GB hard disk
Partition | Size | File system | Use |
---|---|---|---|
1 | 100 KB | FAT16 | EFI system |
2 | 1 MB | without | BIOS-boot |
3 | 26 GB | ext4 | / |
4 | 130 GB | ext4 | data |
5 | 4 GB | Linux Swap | Linux swap |
Laptop with 32 GB RAM, dual boot (MS Windows and
Linux)
1 TB hard disk:
Partition | Size | File system | Use |
---|---|---|---|
1 | 100 KB | FAT16 | EFI system |
2 | 1 MB | without | BIOS-boot |
3 | 80 GB | NTFS | MS Windows system |
4 | 500 GB | NTFS | data for MS Windows and Linux |
5 | 30 GB | ext4 | / (Linux root) |
6 | 350 GB | ext4 | data for Linux |
7 | 40 GB | Linux swap | Linux swap |
Laptop with 8 GB RAM, Linux only
120 GB hard disk
Partition | Size | File system | Use |
---|---|---|---|
1 | 100 KB | FAT16 | EFI system |
2 | 1 MB | without | BIOS-boot |
3 | 25 GB | ext4 | / |
4 | 85 GB | ext4 | data |
5 | 10 GB | Linux Swap | Linux swap |
The type “GPT” should be selected as the partition table. In this way the advantages over “MBR” can be used. Only with old hardware “MBR” is still meaningful. The explanations for this can be found on our manual page Partitioning with gdisk.
Linux Swap
A swap
partition corresponds in functionality to the swap
file in Windows, but is far more effective than it. Its size depends on
the installed system and the user’s requirements. Some examples:
ext4
The ext4 file system is the default file system on siduction.
This applies to all partitions when only Linux operating systems are
used.
Btrfs
Btrfs can be used instead of ext4. Together with the
program Snapper it offers the possibility to create snapshots
of the file system which are selectable in the boot manager Grub
afterwards. You need a sufficiently large hard disk. See also System administration
Btrfs.
NTFS
For data exchange with a Windows installation the designated partition
should be formatted with NTFS. Siduction can access the data
read and write. For Windows it is the standard file system.
HFS+
For a dual-boot installation with Macintosh, a separate data partition
with the HFS or HFS+ file system is
useful. Linux and MAC can access it read and write.
Caution
When using any partitioning software,
there is a risk of data loss. Always back up important data to another
disk in advance.
GParted: an easy to use partition editor with a
graphical interface
Gparted is available on all siduction installations and
installation media equipped with a graphical user interface. It supports
a number of different partition table types. The manual page Partitioning the
hard disk with GParted provides more information about the
program.
KDE Partition Manager: a Qt based, easy to use
partition editor with a graphical user interface
The KDE Partition Manager is the standard partition editor for
the KDE Destktop and as comprehensive as Gparted.
gdisk / cgdisk: a console program for partition
tables of the type GPT - UEFI
gdisk is the classic text mode program, while cgdisk
has a more user friendly ncurses interface. The manual page Partitioning with
gdisk provides more information about the program.
fdisk / cfdisk: a console program for partition
tables of the type msdos - MBR
Note: fdisk should only be used for old hardware that does not
support GPT - UEFI.
fdisk is the classic text mode program, while cfdisk
has a more user-friendly ncurses interface. The manual page Partitioning with
cfdisk provides more information about the program.
Mounted partitions (also swap) must be detached
before editing.
You can do this by entering to following command as
root:
# umount /dev/sda1
To mount a swap partition, use this command:
# swapoff -a
Here the comprehensive english documentation of GParted
For more partitioning options see:
Logical Volume Manager LVM partitioning
partitioning with GPT to support UEFI Partitioning with gdisk