From: adam@address.invalid   
      
   Bit Twister wrote:   
   > On Sat, 16 Jun 2012 02:28:36 -0400, Adam wrote:   
   >>   
   >> I'm still planning the partitioning [...] I'm thinking 80 GB for   
   >> each root partition, but would appreciate any advice from anyone.   
   >   
   > I think 80GB is a bit much. Looking like I'll need to start using 30   
   > on my next install.   
      
   Good point; 80 GB for / is probably too much.  I'm trying to think ahead   
   and guess what's appropriate for distros 4 or 5 years from now (how long   
   I'll probably be using the new box as my primary system), so I don't   
   have to repartition later.  I'm also switching from a 32-bit OS and apps   
   to 64-bit, which I gather take up slightly more disk space.  Also, I'm   
   expecting apps to grow a little larger with each version.  I think 50 GB   
   ought to be more than enough for Mandriva 2016 plus its apps, and I'd   
   rather allocate too much disk space than too little.  I have about 500   
   GB on the internal HD to use for Linux.  I also have a 1 TB external HD,   
   and after three years there's still about 250 GB unallocated on it.  I   
   may be the only user here who has more disk space than they need. :-)   
      
   > $ df -h /   
   > Filesystem      Size  Used Avail Use% Mounted on   
   > /dev/sdb7        25G   16G  7.5G  68% /   
      
   I only have 11 GB used on / on this (the old) system,but then I only   
   have about 2300 packages compared to your 2900.   
      
   > FYI: Swap will be used only when needed.   
      
   Would you recommend putting swap on the HD or on /dev/shm?  The new box   
   has 8 GB RAM.  This (old) one only has 1 GB, and within an hour after   
   booting it's usually using a little of swap.  That's usually only for   
   short durations, but the stuff stays in swap after that.  Right now:   
      
   [adam@eris ~]$ free -m   
              total     used     free   shared  buffers   cached   
   Mem:       1000      951       48        0        3      240   
   -/+ buffers/cache:   708      292   
   Swap:      2925      176     2749   
   [adam@eris ~]$   
      
   > I have a /hotbu partition for a hot backup of the "Production" install   
   > for just in case I screw up as root.   
      
   Sounds like a good idea, but how often do you do that, and when?  I can   
   see where doing it every minute, or every month, would effectively be   
   useless.   
      
   > I also created a partition just for creating backup dvd isos.   
      
   I have a partition for automated nightly tarball backups on my external   
   HD.  I'm going to change it to VFAT so it can be read by Windows or Mac.   
     This way, if my internal HD dies completely, I can bring the external   
   HD to any other computer and retrieve my backups.   
      
   > Then there is /cooker and /cauldron for testing the next release of   
   > Mandriva and Mageia and a few partitions with the previous release.   
      
   Those make sense, but so far I haven't been trying anything but official   
   releases.  OTOH it couldn't hurt to allocate space for those.  I could   
   just create several partitions the same size as / and decide what to use   
   them for later.   
      
   Does physical position on the HD affect performance much?  For example,   
   if / is toward the start (outside) of the disk, how much difference   
   would it make whether /accounts is adjacent to it, or all the way at the   
   end (inside) of the disk?  I come from an era when minimizing seek time   
   and saving bytes mattered. :-)   
      
   BTW thanks for the "get your non-UEFI hardware now" FYI and thread!   
   That's what spurred me to get a new system now, instead of later in the   
   year as I'd been thinking.  It made a difference to at least one user.   
      
   Adam   
   --   
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