The third partition will be used for the root file system directory. About 6 GB should be more than enough for this partition, but more will be even better. For this installation, I have allocated 15 GB to it. File system is ext4, and I am creating it as a primary partition. Add. Note: A new installation of Linux Mint Debian takes up less than 3 GB of disk space.

mintdebi7

Create partition for /

The fourth and last partition will be used for /home, and will also be created as a primary partition, with ext4 as the file system type. Note: You do not have to create this as a primary partition. The disk space you allocate to this partition will be determined by several factors:

  • If this installation will be the only OS on this disk, then you should allocate all available disk space to it – if you are creating it as the fourth primary partition. If it is an extended partition, you do not have to assign all available disk space to it.
  • If you intend to dual-boot Linux Mint Debian with another distribution on a computer with a single disk (as in this example), then you should assign just the disk space you would like to use and leave the rest unallocated. The unallocated space will be detected by the other distribution’s installer as free, usable space. You avoid a situation where the other distribution’s installer will have to shrink the Linux Mint Debian partition to create room for itself.
  • If you create this last partition as an extended partition, then you do not have to allocate all the available space, even if you do not want to dual-boot.
mintdebi8

Create partition for /home

With all the partitions created, click on the check mark icon to apply the changes.

mintdebi9

Apply changes

Then click on the GParted menu, and select Quit to exit GParted.

mintdebi10

Quit Gparted

Back to the Linux Mint Debian installer, you will not see the new partitions until you click on the Refresh button.

mintdebi11

Refresh to see partitions

Here they are! These are all the partitions created in GParted. The next and last task is to assign a mount point to each partition. To do that, double-click on each entry.

mintdebi12

Double-click to edit partitions

Double-clicking on the entry brings up this little window. Assign the appropriate mount point, and check Format. The Filesystem should be already set to what you assigned to it in GParted. OK.

mintdebi13

Assign mount points to partitions

When all the mount points have been assigned, click Forward to continue with the rest of the installation. Note: Do not mess with the swap partition. Do not format it. If you do, the installation will hang three steps ahead.

mintdebi17

Disk partitioning finalized

The next step after the disk partitioning step is where you create a user account and set the computer’s hostname. After that comes the boot loader settings step. The bootloader is GRUB and all you need to do at that step is accept the defaults. The last step is the summary page. The Linux Mint Debian installer will likely get an automatic disk partitioning feature down the road, but until then, this guide should help you with setting up a disk for installation.

Pages: 1 2