Linux installation - Partitioning

Hi all

This is really aimed at AT.
However, someone else might benefit from the info.....

You mentioned that there are several file systems for linux such as Raiser FS and EXT3 etc.

I am about to install Ubuntu again, this time on my 120GB SATA drive.
I have two partitions offered - the main partition and the swap.
I can manipulate the type of FS they can be formatted in/to.

My question(s) is(are)-
In your experience, what is the best file system to go for?
Is it possible to have them as different FS or do I have to make sure that both, main partition and swap, are the same FS?

I remember you mentioned that different FS can be a bit slower. That does not bother me at all. I am looking for stability and reliability rather than speed. I will let the hardware deal with that issue...

Ta very much!

 

Ubuntu uses EXT3 by default, which is slowish but definately stable. [strike]To answer your question though, I think Reiser is probably the best general-purpose filesystem as of this writing. You won't regret going with that (I've got some production servers running on Reiser, if it makes you feel better)[/strike]. As far as swap goes, it is actually not only a partition you need to have, but a filesystem in itself. In other words, your swap partition cannot be Reiser, EXT3, NTFS, etc... it must be a swap partition, because it is for swap. Make sense? Therefore it must be a different partition than your root filesystem, as you cannot run your whole system on a swap filesystem (even if you could, that'd just be weird!) [strike]My advice you do is to take the vast majority of your HDD and partition it as a Reiser mounted at / (root), leaving about 128-256mb for a swap[/strike].

EDIT: Times have changed, and so have filesystems.In a stable environment or one where you'll be working with a lot of large files, XFS is an excellent choice. For general use, Ext3 is fine. Ext3 is old, but well trusted and supported. Reiser is more or less defunct since the imprisonment of its primary author, Hans Reiser for murder. So, I'd recommend avoiding Reiser if possible. --AT

 

Thanks AT!

As usual, another valuable lesson.

Ok then, so main partiton will be Raiser and swap will be.......swap.

Will post from my Ubuntu next.......fingers crossed (famous last words ).

One last question - is 128 - 256MB a standard size for Linux?
Will it be sufficiant for Ubuntu? What if the swap gets bigger or smaller?

Thnaks again for all your advice!

 

You can choose how big you want your swap partition to be so depends on how often you'll need it, although I don't have a swap at all.

 

Linux uses RAM as memory instead of swapping all the time, one of the many reasons I feel it's better than Windows. Normally you don't need to use your swap file, unless you outright run out of RAM. But it can cause problems if you don't have a swap at all, so it's typically considered mandatory. The only time a swap is not appropriate is on an embedded system with no hard drive.

 

Thanks again.

Right, now I am facing a new problem......

I have the quantum disk set as my first drive and it has windows on it.
So far so good.... I have set my SATA drive as my first drive and continued to install Ubuntu.
When I installed Ubuntu the first time on my SATA drive, I got to the part where
I chose where to write the GRUB to. the option I had was to my first drive which came up as hdax (x as in 0 or 1, cannot remember now). Thinking that was fine, I continued. But when the computer booted up I got an error message saying - error loading operating system.

So What Have I done wrong?
Do I:

• Set up my first drive as the Quantum (windows) and then write GRUB to the boot loader on the quantum?
• Set the SATA drive as my first drive and still write the GRUB to the quantum disk
• first drive - quantum and GRUB to the SATA drive
• First drive SATA and GRUB to SATA drive?

At the moment I can only load windows, which is fine but, hey, the idea was to have Linux as first choice and Windows as back-up.....

Thanks for any help.....

 

Windows has a pretty cheesy bootloader, and it's very picky about the way it's booted. Set the drive with Windows on it as the bootable HDD in your BIOS, then install the bootloader to the MBR of that drive.

 

Cool.... will do vat!

Will let you know.

Thnaks once again.....am I getting predictable?????

 

AAAAARRRRRRRGGGGGGGGHHHHHHH

Ok, got that out of my system.....

Right, it feels like I am going through the troubleshooting book ticking all the boxes.....

Inventory of disks in BIOS -
1st IDE disk (Master) - 15GB Quantum - installed with Windows XP on NTFS.
2nd IDE disk (slave) - 20GB WD - No OS, just FAT32
3rd SATA disk - 120GB Samsung - trying - Ubuntu - 256MB swap, 1.3GB Free (lig/prm???? I think) and the rest raiser fs "/".

Up untill this morning I had Windows installed and running happily on the first IDE drive (Quantum)
I have BIOS set up to start according to the following:
1st device - Removable media (normaly the USB floppy when uit is connected)
2nd device - CD/DVD drive
3rd device - 'Quantum' windows drive.

This morning I installed Ubuntu (I lost count now....) on my SATA drive.
I got to the point where GRUB is to be installed. The install disk advised that if the additional OS detected are all showing, it is safe to install GRUB. I did not amke any changes allowing the install to choose the default, which I assume is the first installed device (1st IDE drive - quantum) I hit enter and GRUB was installed to HD0 (I think....).

Next the install finished and the machine re-booedt. GRUB started but threw an Error 17. and stopped.

I then started again (Thank god ubuntu has a really quick installation.....) and this time asked for GRUB to be installed to HDC (/dev/hdc) which is my first IDE drive according to Linux. rebooted but got the same mesage - Error 17.
I think Error 17 means "Cannot Mount selected partition - partition cannot be recognised by Grub"

What can I do now? and how can I fix Windows MBR so I can at least boot into windows again? I really cannot be bothered to start the Windows installation again

Maybe the best thing will be to make my SATA first boot device and have the dual boot there? So I will install GRUB to the SATA MBR? Or am out toshing myself here?

 

Make sure the HDDs are set to "Auto" for their cylinder configurations in your BIOS, then try the installation again.

 

Thanks AT.

I have managed to repair my MBR so I am back with windows.

I am not sure why the boot manager written wrong or badly.
It worked fine when I had both installed on IDE drives.

It seems like the system is not happy dual-booting from different types of channels, i.e. PATA and SATA. Starnge.

Anyway, I will try you recomendation this evening and see how it goes.

So just to re-cap:

* Check BIOS to make sure cylinder config. is set to Auto.
* Set up Ubuntu on my SATA drive and just let GRUB install to the default
location.

I have noticed that GRUB is installing to the HD0 location. Is that true? My Windows disk is seen by Linux as hdc. Shouldn't I specify that for GRUB?

 

Whichever drive you have set as bootable in your BIOS is the one you want the GRUB MBR loaded on.

 

Nope! no go.....

GRUB is not playing ball......
I have installed Ubuntu so many times now, I have lost count.....

The situation is as follow:
I set my first drive in bios, and when I finish installing Ubuntu I let grub use the default location which is hd0 (first ide drive). On re-boot, I get error 17.

I set my first drive as SATA (where Linux is installed) and set the location for GRUB as /dev/sda. On reboot i get error 17.

Basically, the bottom line is that I cannot get GRUB to do the job!
When I go through LILO it does not Dual-boot and anyway, only starts in command line. I am sure there is away to start gnome from the command line but that is not what I am after.

Now, what shall I try next?

 

Don't know if this will apply in your case, but to start gnome from command line you may be able to use:

Code:

startx

 

Thanks Addis

I might try this if all fails.....
I just cannot get my head around this.......

Maybe it is the way Windows has been installed originaly?

Or maybe it is because the MBR sits on an IDE drive and the actual Linux sits on a SCSI drive?

Is there a way to dual-boot from the linux drive?
i.e. - first drive will be the linux one and the MBR willsit there?
Am I talking from my :swear: arse?

 

You installed Ubuntu because your Debian buddy recommended it, right? But it seems I'm the one giving you the support, and I recommend Mandriva or Suse. Either will handle the Lilo boot loader efficiently, and either will install your modem automatically (I'm not 100% positive about Suse, but Mandriva will for sure). What sayeth thou?

 

Thy sayeth, thy nearly weteth my pants from laugheth.....

Thou is so correct.......

You are so right.
Well, to be frank I was just too embaressed to call him every 2 senconds. He is a busy family man......and live thousands of miles away so he cannot just pop in and sort me out.
I think I am going to follow your advice.... Hell, why not give it a go....
If it will be quicker and easier to install and use, why the :swear: not?
I will download the image(s) and see.....

Where can download a free image? CD or DVD would do.

Thanks again.....

 

You can get the RC2 cd isos off the mandriva site somewhere, of better find mirrors. I'm going to school now so no time but you'll need about 3 cds to download, from there you can urpmi to the official release.

 

cheers!

 

OK here's a mirror with the isos.
http://anorien.csc.warwick.ac.uk/mirrors/Mandriva/devel/iso/2006.0/i586/
download the 3 700mb~ files and use a cd burning tool to create the cds.