Recommended Disk Partitions for Ubuntu 11.10
By default, the installation program for Ubuntu 11.10 creates two partitions; one for the root file system, and the other for Swap. And this is true whether you use the Ubuntu Desktop or Ubuntu Desktop Alternate Installer.
The latter has support for LVM, RAID and disk encryption. So, what, or how many partitions are recommended for Ubuntu 11.10?
This depends on factors that vary from person to person, but at a minimum, I would have four partitions. They are for the following file systems:
- /boot – where boot loader-related files and programs are located. Having a separate partition for /boot helps in certain situations where boot recovery operation is needed.
- / – the main partition where almost everything is located.
- Swap – disk space that the system may use as virtual memory.
- /home – where your home folder will be.
There are other partitions, but for a standard desktop, these should be all that is needed. If you need help creating these partitions for an installation of Ubuntu 11.10, see the following tutorials. They were written for Ubuntu 11.04, but the steps are the same for Ubuntu 11.10:
http://www.linuxbsdos.com/2011/05/04/manual-disk-partitioning-guide-for-ubuntu-11-04/
http://www.linuxbsdos.com/2011/05/10/how-to-install-ubuntu-11-04-on-an-encrypted-lvm-file-system/
