[PLUG] (Re)-Partitioning

[list-groups]

Evan Heidtmann wrote:

> Why would one partition a hard drive, and what is the best way to go 
> about it? 

Isolation is one good reason (not to say that it's the only good 
reason). In your current configuration it would be feasible to imagine a 
run-away ELF logging errors at a rate that would fill the root file 
system in a matter of hours. This would at least make your life 
interesting for a short period of time if not bring the box completely 
to it's knees. All of this could be avoided by creating a /var file 
system on a partition separate from /.

Another benefit of isolation is the flexibility to use different file 
systems depending on need. Something like ext2 for access performance on 
/ and /boot, ext3 or reiser for speed of recovery on /opt /home and 
/var, <swap> for the swap partition. This of course is not an option 
with one single partition.

If your going to live in the world of Linux forever then the practice of 
running on a single partition is possible (although not advisable in 
most instances). On the other hand if you get into an enterprise that 
uses hpux, aix, omvs or solaris (just to name a few) you are going to 
have to get used to mounting partitions other than /.

As far as the best way to go about change, that depends on your 
available resources and the expectation placed on this installation. If 
nobody is going to get cranky because the installation is delayed then 
you might want to nuke the install and start over. If you have a volume 
of unused space and no time to redo the install you can re-partition and 
remount file systems as you see fit.

Happy Holidays!