[plug] Partition sizes on a new install

[Bret Busby]

Darrell Horrocks wrote:
> 
> Hi all
> 
> Quick question for you all.  I am setting up a Linux Dual boot machine
> for a friend.  I thought that I would get your ideas on approximate
> percentages/sizes for the various partitions.
> 
> Given that this is going to be a typical RH 6.1 desktop machine (with
> KDE) on it's own 10GB HDD, what sizes should the partitions be?  And
> yes, Lilo is necessary.
> 
> All information gratefully appreciated, along with any caveats.
> 
> Regards
> 
> Darrell

I am no expert, but I believe that it would depend on the other OS that
is wanted to run, the purpose of the machine, what applications are to
be installed, and hardware information, like how much RAM, etc.

Ane example, is, for a system with WinNT/RH6.1, with 64MB RAM, I would
be inclined to use a 4GB NTFS partition (including a 128MB fixed swap
file), a 4GB fs2 (I think that's the right term for the Linux extended
format file system) partition (including a 128MB swap partition), and a
1GB FAT16 partition for sharing data between the two OS's, totalling
9GB, allowing for a loss of 1GB (from memory, a loss of about 10% seems
to occur, from the unformatted capacity, to the useful capacity). That
allows for heaps of stuff to be installed and run, in each of the OS
partitions. That allows for significant additions to applications
installed, depending on what is intended to be installed (eg Visual
Studio 6.0 took about 2 or 3GB, from memory). The data requirements may
be such, that a greater data partition is required, eg, 2GB, or 4GB, in
which case, the OS partitions would need to be correspondingly reduced
to accommodate it.

If it is to be dual boot, with a MS OS as the second OS, I strongly
recommend using WinNT as the second OS. That is, unless 16-bit
applications are to be run on the second OS partition (but, they may be
better run using an emulator on top of Linux, anyway, from what I
understand). From what I understand, apart from the greater stability,
WinNT is not as destructive as some of the other MS OS's, if you have to
do a reinstall of that partition.

No doubt, someone on the list will disagree; for example, the swap size
for Linux may be regarded as somewhat excessive, but, once again, I
believe that it all depends on for what the machine is to be used, and
the amount of RAM, etc.

Remember; this is just my opinion, based on my understanding.

-- 

Bret Busby

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