Installation manual

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Installation of the Debian Base System
3. 1. Partitioning the Hard Disk
One of the biggest questions while installing Linux is: Howshould we partion our hard disk? One one hand, the
more separate (read-only) partitions we have,the better we can protect the system. On the other hand, more sepa-
rate partitions mean that we have toestimate our needs beforehand, i.e. now. Making use of Logical Volume
Management simplifies matters greatly,since LVM allows us to resize partitions later.
Based on years of experience, wild guesses, trial and error we decide on the following approximate sizes for the
primary partitions.
Planned partition layout:
Partition: Purpose: Intended: Actual: Type:
/dev/hda1 /boot 8MB 15.49MB 83 Linux
/dev/hda2 swap 512MB 541.91MB 82 Linux Swap
/dev/hda3 hibernation 590MB 619.32MB A0 IBM Thinkpad Hibernation
/dev/hda4 extended rest 05 Extended
/dev/hda5 / 64MB 69.68MB 83 Linux
/dev/hda6 LVM rest 58765.28MB 8e Linux LVM
Planned volume layout:
Volume: Purpose: Size:
/dev/disk/usr /usr 3072MB
/dev/disk/tmp /tmp 128MB
/dev/disk/var /var 1024MB
/dev/disk/cdr /cdr 1400MB
/dev/disk/home /home 10240MB
Note: The hibernation partition must be a primary partition. Furthermore, making the root partition part of LVM
can be dangerous. Also note: Although we ask fdisk for the intended sizes, the actual sizes are slightly larger
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