[TriLUG] disk partitioning

[Joseph Tate]

If all the partitions are on the same disk, then it really doesn't 
matter as far as speed goes. You might actually get some performance 
from a single partition as reads and writes might not move the disk head 
as much. The reasons for multiple partitions are many, but include:
When upgrading or reinstalling, you don't need to wipe the /home drive 
if it is its own partition.
I like keeping /etc in its own partition as well for the same reason
Multiple partitions makes it easy to move to more than one drive
In databases, it's good to keep the data on a single partition as the 
only thing on it as otherwise data can become fragmented across the disk.
I personally like havening a small / partition and use the bulk in /usr 
and /var

If you feel adventurous, take a look at LVM 
(http://www.tldp.org/HOWTO/LVM-HOWTO/index.html). Resizing, moving and 
spanning partitions across multiple disks. It's cool. And supported in 
RH 8.0.

Morris Walton wrote:

> Hi,
>
> I just installed RH8, using a new 120G hd. I accepted the default 
> partitioning scheme, which basically just uses /boot, /, and swap. “/” 
> has the bulk of the space. I was wondering if there is a shift in 
> philosophy in using less partitions than before as I remember RH 
> recommending more partitions in older versions. Will the one big 
> partition be slower?
>
> Thanks,
>
> Morris
>