Partitions/Mount Points

[filter718]

My aim was to setup 1 partiton as the linux OS and programs and another for files (much like i had for windows). So here's what I did:

/dev/sda1 = 100GB partition; mount point = "/"
/dev/sda2 = 4GB partition as swap; mount point = "swap"
/dev/sda3 = remaining space; "/usr"

I asumed that /usr meant user files - but apparantly i was wrong because when i finished the installation - the user files where under the home directoy on sda1 rather than sda3. There were a whole bunch of system files on sda3 but they looked like system files.

So what mount points are actualy required for a linux install and what do these mount points mean? (it seems that all you need is "/" and swap?)

"/"
"/usr"
"/var"
"/opt"
"/boot"
"/home"
"/srv"
"/tmp"
"/local"




Thanks.

[devils casper]

Partition structure depends on your requirement only.

Recommended partition structure is:

* / -- for root, 10-20 GB unless you are running server.
* SWAP -- 1 GB. If you have 1GB or more RAM, you dont need SWAP partition unless you are running some memory intensive programs.
* /home -- for user data, assign as much space as you can.

Check this link for more detailed info on Linux FileSystem.

[filter718]

That link cleared some things up for me. Thanks!

[sackbj]

Partition structure depends on your requirement only.

Recommended partition structure is:
Check this link for more detailed info on Linux FileSystem.

Thank you, that was very helpful information.

I am new to linux and have a 35GB partition set aside to help me learn. In addition to this I have a 1GB partition for SWAP. I have 2GB of RAM in my system and I have never head that having sufficient RAM eliminates the need for a SWAP.

Could you elaborate on this (SWAP)?

[devils casper]

SWAP partition is used as virtual memory and OS uses it only if one dont have sufficient RAM.
SWAP size = 2x RAM was thumb rule a few years ago but RAM is a bit cheaper these days and that rule is not valid anymore.
I have 512MB RAM and 512MB SWAP partition. Whatever I run, SWAP usage never went higher that 10 - 30%.
Check this thread too.