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optimal distribution/filesystems of partitions for linux

Tags:
  • Partition
  • Systems
  • Windows 8
  • Linux
  • Linux Mint
  • Distribution
Last response: in Linux/Free BSD
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March 12, 2014 3:49:06 PM

What's an optimal distribution of partitions for Linux(mint16)?
I know almost any Linux user will say that it's a matter of opninion but i'm new to linux and also fairly new to file systems. I'm just trying out Linux. My idea was to give 8GB to LinuxOS, 8GB to swap, 256MB to boot, and 20GB to /home. All ext4 FS, except /home. My PC is dual-booted with Win8, so i'd like to have a /home which is shared with Windows so I can access that drive(movies,documents etc.) from both OSes. The thing is that the you can't have a file system for /home that is supported by both OSes, am I right? I thought FAT32 was, but it seems it isn't unfortunately.
Any help would be greatly appreciated!

More about : optimal distribution filesystems partitions linux

a b 5 Linux
March 13, 2014 12:10:36 AM

Start with twice that much for / (root of LinuxOS), half that for swap (if PC has at least 4GB RAM) and as much as you can spare for /home (less if a shared Win/Linux partition formatted to FAT32 is wanted) and go from there. Configuration is your choice, but most probably will include an Extended partiion.

No /boot partitionis necessary or necessarily desirable. Put GRUB2 in the MBR or buy EasyBCD -- your choice.

FYI: NTFS-3G
( http://www.ehow.com/how_7561202_mount-ntfs-3g.html )

May be, in the Linux tradition, i have not told you everything, but given you a start in the right direction. Or maybeee not --lol!
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a b 5 Linux
March 13, 2014 9:04:04 AM

When dual-booting, this is my usual arrangement:
Primary 1: Windows reserved (100mb or so)
Primary 2: Windows system (40-60gb)
Primary 3: Windows data
Extended 1: Linux root (20gb are enough for me, being developer)
Extended 2: Linux swap (I rarely give it more than 2gb)
Extended 3: Linux home (so that I can swap Linux versions easyily)
On some systems I have another Linux "root" extended partition if I want to keep another distro installed

EasyBCD is doing pretty good job of being boot manager, and I install GRUB in the Linux root partition
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a b 5 Linux
March 13, 2014 10:00:24 AM

Also note:
FAT32 and NTFS is able to be read/write by windows and linux.
However neither should be used has /home as these filesystems do not understand linux file permissions.
You should keep /home as ext3/4 or any other linux filesystem and keep a separate ntfs partition for data/movies/documents.
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