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I am new to Ubuntu and I have just finished installing 13.10 amd64 on my PC. This will replace my Windows 7 as my only OS.

I just want to clarify some issues that've been bugging me. I tried reading posts with the same topics but I just can't wrap my head to it yet.

I partitioned my 80GB drive into:

  • /root: 30GB (sorry for the confusion, I actually meant /)
  • /home: 40GB
  • /var : 3GB
  • swap : 4GB (2GB of mem)

Please correct me if I'm wrong about these:

  • All of the users' documents are saved in their respective folders in /home. But say I want to clean install (format) Ubuntu, I don't need to make backups of /home and /var as they are on separate partitions. But when re-installing, do I just choose /root and format and it will recognize all the partitions (not making another /home and /var inside /root)?

  • Downloaded packages (from all the repositories) and all their dependencies are saved in /var. So after re-installing on the same PC (assuming I'm offline), it will just use the latest updates in /var if I choose to update? And if all the installed apps and their dependents are all in there, all I need to do is re-install them without encountering errors? I have also read that you can back them up using aptoncd and then adding the DVD to the sources. So if I download all the high ranking apps using Synaptic, could I then have an all-in-one DVD installer?

  • 30GB for / is excessive because the bulk of files will either be in /home (personal, downloads, music, videos) or /var (updates, packages, installed apps)?

Please excuse me for asking such a question but I really want to explore and learn more.

LiveWireBT
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    I suggest you split this question into smaller questions that fit the Q&A format of AskUbuntu. Your concerns are valid and there is plenty of advice to give you, but not in the way the question is currently framed. – zwets Oct 30 '13 at 20:23
  • The /root folder is pretty much useless. It contains a very minimal Home folder for the root user. Did you mean / (filesystem root) instead? – kiri Oct 31 '13 at 08:57
  • @minerz029 Yes he did, look at his comment to the first answer posted 12 hours ago. – LiveWireBT Oct 31 '13 at 09:25
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    This question is a very useful reference for the file system layout: http://askubuntu.com/q/138547/176889 and also the man hier page – kiri Oct 31 '13 at 09:34
  • This answer may also be helpful: http://askubuntu.com/questions/142925/reinstalling-ubuntu-without-formatting-partition-what-folders-are-deleted/143052#143052 – LiveWireBT Oct 31 '13 at 09:43

2 Answers2

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You seem to have the right ideas about some things, but I'm not sure about the packages.

As for /root, you've got it wrong. The Filesystem Hierarchy Standard (FHS) has a good article at Wikipedia.

/ is referred to as root, but you've put /root on a separate partition(probably confusing the two; there's really no need to put /root separately.). Also, I see no need to put /var on a separate partition.

In case it was unclear, / is your main filesystem - your root partition. If during installation you make another partition to be used at /home, as you have, then after installation when you browse to /home from / it will be like any other folder, but it will actually be kept on another partition.

If I were you, I would install with 2 partitions (not including swap): / and /home. If you've got an SSD and a HDD, as I do, put the above on your HDD and put /boot on your SSD for faster boot times.

BTW, this is less a question for Ask Ubuntu and more a discussion. I suggest taking it to ubuntuforums.org.

LiveWireBT
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  • Thank you for your answer. Im sorry for the confusion but what i meant was / instead of /root. – user209645 Oct 30 '13 at 20:12
  • You need to put /var on a separate partition, but it does not need to be to big. From memory, I think that is where programs place their log files. If the program is being generally silly, and exponentially increasing the size of their log file, the hard disk would fill up with junk, making the computer pretty unusable. A good example is cups, which, on one of my old computers, the error log file increased in size until it filled the entire /var partition, which, instead of mucking up the computer, just meant I had annoying error messages saying '/var is full'. – Wilf Oct 30 '13 at 20:17
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Re-installation scenario

You re-installation scenario deserves a bit of further explanation. Usually I install only once and don't need to reinstall as I did when I was running Windows XP years ago, because the system felt sluggish or it became a abnormal esoteric habit to maintain performance by doing regular nLite installs. (It was not only XP's fault, but also the performance characteristics of HDDs.)

Re-installation of the same distribution release will become more and more unlikely as you get to know your way around. Rather than worrying about re-installation you should plan for backups and know how to restore them. With that in place, even release upgrades, where almost every package is new and things may break you're save and can rollback until bugs are fixed.

However, as I found out when writing the answer to this question: Reinstalling Ubuntu without formatting partition - what folders are deleted?

May 27 21:21:02 ubuntu clear_partitions: Removing var/backups from / (/dev/sda1).
May 27 21:21:02 ubuntu clear_partitions: Removing var/cache from / (/dev/sda1).
May 27 21:21:02 ubuntu clear_partitions: Removing var/crash from / (/dev/sda1).
May 27 21:21:02 ubuntu clear_partitions: Removing var/games from / (/dev/sda1).
May 27 21:21:02 ubuntu clear_partitions: Removing var/lib from / (/dev/sda1).
May 27 21:21:02 ubuntu clear_partitions: Removing var/lock from / (/dev/sda1).
May 27 21:21:02 ubuntu clear_partitions: Removing var/log from / (/dev/sda1).
May 27 21:21:02 ubuntu clear_partitions: Removing var/mail from / (/dev/sda1).
May 27 21:21:02 ubuntu clear_partitions: Removing var/not-formatted from / (/dev/sda1).
May 27 21:21:02 ubuntu clear_partitions: Removing var/opt from / (/dev/sda1).
May 27 21:21:02 ubuntu clear_partitions: Removing var/run from / (/dev/sda1).
May 27 21:21:02 ubuntu clear_partitions: Removing var/spool from / (/dev/sda1).
May 27 21:21:02 ubuntu clear_partitions: Removing var/tmp from / (/dev/sda1).

The installer will clean a lot of folders in /var (and others), among them /var/cache which contains /var/cache/apt where the downloaded packages are stored. You wouldn't want to mount you var partition during your re-install scenario.

Folders with huge diskusage

The biggest folder on a typical installation apart /home (depending on if your users store files or do everything in a webbrowser) should be /usr, because that is where most of the files from the compressed packages are getting extracted to. If you don't clean your package cache, as you intend to do, /usr may be twice as big as /var/cache/apt or even bigger.

If you install a lot of proprietary packages/applications /opt may also grow in size. Steam on the other hand let's you choose where to install but uses /home/$USER/.local/share/Steam by default.

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