How to properly partition the hard disk for Ubuntu

[Saman]

It someitmes takes a long time to read the manuals to get to know even simple things. Especially when it comes to Linux world, I guess still the support is not much satisfactory especially on taking these kind of decisions. Say you haev bought a PC and you are going to install Ubuntu, there is no way to understand how best you should partition your hard disk for better performance.

Since most of the laptops are coming with a Windows Starter like OS, it is good to run it from a side. When you have paid for something, it is worthless to remove it for nothing. If you have already heard the news of Ubuntu, then you would better buy a laptop without an OS.

Okay... so I assume that you already have Windows running. Usually you install with Ubuntu CD or USB stick (probably created from an Ubuntu machine with 'Startup disk creator').

At the disk partitioning step, the installer will present several options. Because the installer will not automatically partition and configure the free space, using the installer’s advanced partitioning tool is the only method of creating the necessary partitions. To launch the advanced tool, select the “Something else” option, the click Forward.

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When you reach the partition window, you will see that top most space is already allocated to Windows based installations. You need to find the remaining space to install Ubuntu.

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Here are the partitions you need to create for Ubuntu to perform well.

1. Boot partition
   Create a 258 MB space with ext2 file system and mount it to '/boot'

   

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2. Ubuntu OS parition
   Create a 10,000 MB (10 GB) partition with ext4 file system and mount on '/'

   

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3. Create a large partion by removing 2000 MB for swap area. For example, say you now have 40000 MB free. You need to create a 38000MB space with ext4 file system and mount it to '/home'. You need to be sur that this is where you are going to store all your personal data.

   

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4. Finally, create a 2000 MB parition and select 'swap' as file system

   

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That's all you need to do and I'm sure you'll find it easier to manage linux in this way.

Happy Linuxing!!!