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Linux is a family of open source Unix-like operating systems based on the Linux kernel, an operating system kernel first released on September 17, 1991 by Linus Torvalds. Linux is typically packaged in a Linux distribution (or distro for short).

Distributions include the Linux kernel and supporting system software and libraries, many of which are provided by the GNU Project. Many Linux distributions use the word "Linux" in their name, but the Free Software Foundation uses the name GNU/Linux to emphasize the importance of GNU software, causing some controversy.

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One single partition for Linux versus using a partition table? (slrpnk.net)

submitted 11 months ago by [email protected] to c/[email protected]

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Heya folks, some people online told me I was doing partitions wrong, but I’ve been doing it this way for years. Since I’ve been doing it for years, I could be doing it in an outdated way, so I thought I should ask.

I have separate partitions for EFI, /, swap, and /home. Am I doing it wrong? Here’s how my partition table looks like:

FAT32: EFI
BTRFS: /
Swap: Swap
Ext4: /home

I set it up this way so that if I need to reinstall Linux, I can just overwrite / while preserving /home and just keep working after a new install with very few hiccups. Someone told me there’s no reason to use multiple partitions, but several times I have needed to reinstall the OS (Linux Mint) while preserving /home so this advice makes zero sense for me. But maybe it was just explained to me wrong and I really am doing it in an outdated way. I’d like to read what you say about this though.

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[–] [email protected] 2 points 11 months ago (2 children)

It's not wrong, as such, but simply not right. Since you're using btrfs, having a separate partition for home makes little sense. I, personally, also prefer using a swapfile to a swap partition, but that's potato/potato.

[–] [email protected] 1 points 11 months ago (3 children)

Alright, but actually I don’t think I’m maximizing my use of btrfs. I only use btrfs because of its compatibility with Linux Mint’s Timeshift tool. Would you be implying if I used btrfs for the whole partition, I can reinstall / without overwriting /home?

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[–] [email protected] 1 points 11 months ago (3 children)

Also, if I don’t indicate a swap partition during install, would the OS use swap files automatically?

[–] [email protected] 2 points 11 months ago* (last edited 11 months ago) (1 children)

I think the last time I installed Mint (21.2) it DID create a swapfile. Don't use it, so commented that out in /ETC/FSTAB.

[–] [email protected] 1 points 11 months ago

Thanks!

[–] [email protected] 1 points 11 months ago

I don't know, haven't used Mint in a decade. It's not difficult to set it up, though.

[–] [email protected] 1 points 11 months ago (1 children)

I'd use sister partitions for everything but swap, just use zram for swap, it's faster and doesn't need it's own separate partition

[–] [email protected] 1 points 11 months ago (1 children)

How do I set that up?

[–] [email protected] 2 points 11 months ago* (last edited 11 months ago) (1 children)

Boot from a live distro so you can modify your boot disk. Use the disk utility to create partitions. Copy the data to the relevant partitions ensuring to maintain file ownership and permissions. Modify /etc/fstab to mount the partitions at the designated locations in the filesystem.

I don't bother putting anything but /home on its own dedicated partition, but if you ask 10 people this question you'll get 12 opinions, so just do what feels right.

[–] [email protected] 2 points 11 months ago (1 children)

Thanks

[–] [email protected] 2 points 11 months ago* (last edited 11 months ago)

Note: Create your partitions from your empty space. You may need to resize your existing partition to do this. But don't practice on your main drive.

This is a simple job, in that the steps are few, but it's something that causes catastrophic data loss if you get it wrong.

I'd recommend buying a cheap second drive, doesn't have to be big or even good. Partition it, mount it, make sure you can make the partitions automatically mount, teach yourself to copy data around, umount it and remount, make sure you got it right.

Just.. these are all very simple things. I wouldn't hesitate to repartition my own drives. But if you fuck it up you fuck it up good. Make sure you know the operations you're taking first. Measure twice, cut once, all that jazz.

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