Partition Sizing and Examples

For normal use we recommend ext4, it is the default file system for sidux.

With the Partition-Manager GParted hard drives are partitioned and/or formatted. The program has a graphical interface and is self-explanatory.

Gparted can also shrink or move partitions and also manipulate NTFS partitions [with a special caveat that once you alter an NTFS partition you must reboot immediately before doing any other operations ]. See full documentation for gparted. Changes to ntfs-partitions can also be made with proprietary tools such as Partition Magic (TM) and Acronis (TM).

ALWAYS BACK-UP YOUR DATA!

Should a partition show up as mounted, unmount the device, including swap with a right click on the partition icons in gparted or via a terminal, for example:

umount /dev/sda1

The swap partiton can be unmounted in a terminal with:

swapoff -a

In principle, 5 GB is more than sufficient for a hd-install, but you won't have much fun with this. A reasonable minimum install should have 12 GB. For those new to linux, we suggest only 2 partitions for a start (root/home and swap), because this simplifies your first install quite a bit, then establish extra partitions for a separate /home and additional data partitions.

You really should have a swap partition (equivalent to the windows swapfile, but is much more effective). For normal usage, the swap partition should be up to twice your ram.

For data-exchange with a Windows installation you should use vfat (fat32) or ext2 as an MS Windows™ driver is available for data-swapping. [XFS is not supported]. Ext2 Installable File System For MS Windows.

Whomever creates more than 1 partition should write their names down for reference!

Here are some simple examples for different hd-sizes and different types of use, everything rounded off.

60GBfor a pc, where windows takes quite a bit of space

Disk	Size	Filesystem	Mountpoint/System
sda1	14GB	NTFS	MS Windows System
sda2	15 gig	FAT32/ext2	Data for Win and Linux
sda3	15 gig	FAT32/ext2	Data for MS Windows System and Linux
sdb1	14GB	ext4	/ (includes home)
sda4	2 GB	Linux Swap	Linux Swap

TV and Video-PC - 200GB no Windows for big Files (e.g. Video)

Disk	Size	Filesystem	Mountpoint/System
sda1	20 GB	ext4	/
sda2	20 GB	ext4	/home
sda3	158 GB	ext2/3/4	data
sda4	2 GB	Linux Swap	Linux Swap

Standard-PC with Windows 120GB to use the best from both worlds.

Disk	Size	Filesystem	Mountpoint/System
sda1	18 GB	NTFS	MS Windows System
sda2	20 GB	ext3	/
sda3	20 GB	ext3	/home
sdb1	60 GB	FAT32/ext2	Data exchange MS Windows System and Linux
sda4	2 GB	Linux Swap	Linux Swap

Linux Gaming- and MediaPC 160GB

Disk	Size	Filesystem	Mountpoint/System
sda1	20GB	ext3	/
sda2	20GB	ext3	/home
sda3	59GB	ext3	data
sdb1	59GB	ext3	data
sda4	2 GB	Linux Swap	Linux Swap

Linux and Windows on 20 GB

Disk	Size	Filesystem	Mountpoint/System
sda1	6 GB	NTFS	MS Windows System
sda2	6 GB	FAT32/ext2	Data for MS Windows System and Linux
sda3	7 GB	ext3	/ (includes home)
sda4	1 GB	Linux Swap	Linux Swap