[plug] Debian - how many partitions?

[James Elliott]

As you would know or guess, I am a Linux newbie.  I am installing the latest
version of Debian on a couple, or maybe three, computers in my small office.
I have had past experience with differing distributions of Red Hat, where
its installer will let you do anything from a partition-less installation
(ie using a DOS partition) to multiple partitions for the "experienced
user".

It has dawned on me as I read your replies that you can have a "main"
partition (for want of a better adjective) and a swap partition, ie 2
partitions in total, or you can have just about one separate partition for
each of the root directories: usr,  var,  etc,  swap,  ...etc ... I think
this is because under Linux you can mount any device or partition anywhere
in the directory tree .... is that correct?

So, my main question is .... if you have a pretty big disk, what is better:

1.  one or two big partitions with lots of directories & subdirectories?
or
2.  one partition for each major part of the Linux tree?

Kind regards,

James Elliott