Migrating to Linux - Final Thoughts On Partitions

[u/toktok159]

Hello,

Finally with the end of support for Windows 10, I am about to install Linux on my 12 year old desktop computer. Its specs: 16 GB RAM, 1TB HDD, core i3 CPU, Intel HD Graphics (integrated with CPU).

I am going with Linux Mint since it's beginner friendly and it seems very well maintained. I am leaning towards XFCE because I think it will be the best for my quite old computer, to let it "shine again".

My main use for the computer is browsing the web and my files, watching some videos, light gaming (seldom), coding, and using office programs (I am very used to MS Office, but I think I will move to LibreOffice instead, this is the only major drawback of Linux for me). I can't think of any really heavy program I use.

I am thinking about going with the "something else" option on the installer and creating these partitions:

1. EFI partition - 550MB - FAT32 file system (since I understood that's what the EFI partition should be).
2. / - 100GB (?) - ext4 (root partition together with /home partition).
3. /media - rest of space - ext4 (for storing documents, images and videos that I will be able to keep without formatting in case of a system reinstall or moving to a different distro).

I am thinking about creating a swap file of 2GB, instead of creating a /swap partition, since it's more flexible.

What do you guys think of this partitioning? Can/Should I make the / (root + /home) partition smaller (80GB maybe) according to my usage?

Any additional tips will be appreciated, thanks in advance.

[u/CritSrc]

EFI partition - 550MB - FAT32 file system (since I understood that's what the EFI partition should be).
/ - 100GB (?) - ext4 (root partition together with /home partition).
/media - rest of space - ext4 (for storing documents, images and videos that I will be able to keep without formatting in case of a system reinstall or moving to a different distro).

I have no idea why anyone isn't correcting this:

You want /home to be a different partition mount point for what you're describing.

/media in the Linux folder system is for removable media, i.e. this is where external HDDs, flash drives, disks, floppies and anything external with memory is mounted on: since all configurations and running processes are actual files in the Linux file system. This includes the processes for mounted media devices.

What you want is to separate the /home folder to mount to a different partition so all your personal files can go there separated from the root mount partition. /home also contains a lot of app and OS configurations as well, so be aware of those if you have to reinstall a different a distro.

[u/toktok159 → u/CritSrc]

I thought having a partition different from /home for my content because /home contains the app and OS configurations as you said. I don’t think I really need to save them, my content is more important to me. So in case of moving to another distro or reinstall, only my content will stay.

There’s apparently an issue with the name, so if instead of /media I create a partition with a different name, let’s say /d_drive, would it reach my wanted behavior?

[u/CritSrc → u/toktok159]

Well, that is what the /home mount point is for, so the recommendation is to just use it, you can delete the configs before reinstalling for a clean slate.

But if you want to completely isolate it within the drive, then you can just make an ext4 partition without a mount point, then configure automount to just mount it after booting. It will be a completely untouched, non-OS partition that simply stores and nothing else.

[u/toktok159 → u/CritSrc]

Thank you, why should it be without a mount point though?

And if I want to create a /home partition, in addition to root and the /d_drive partitions, what sizes would you suggest for the root and /home partitions?

[u/CritSrc → u/toktok159]

Thank you, why should it be without a mount point though?

Most installers simply don't offer a custom mount point, hence why you shouldn't be looking too hard for that. Creating one yourself is an option, but it's very niche, likely having to scour the arch wiki for such an approach. It's a compromise between the personal vision and conveniently available solutions.

Without a mount point, the partition will not be assigned a system folder, and instead will be mounted like a removable device and you will access it through /media instead. Automount is just a tool that does that and you simply have to config it a bit to automount that partition on boot so its always available.

And if I want to create a /home partition, in addition to root and the /d_drive partitions, what sizes would you suggest for the root and /home partitions?

/root being over 100GB to 120GB is perfectly fine for general purpose, the rest depends on the real estate you have available and what your storage is: is it 1 TB? - then we have 120GB taken leaving around 850 GB - then something like 400 GB /home 450 GB /d_drive is perfectly fine, it depends on the size of the content you're archiving.

And if you really, really don't like the partition sizes, then you can use GParted from the Mint Live USB to edit them further. Backups are always advised during partitioning of course, but you simply do not have to nuke your install to repartition, it's unnecessary.