Partition Sizing
The Doctor What (docwhat@gerf.org)
Thu, 22 Jul 1999 13:10:19 -0500
On Thu, Jul 22, 1999 at 02:28:11AM -0400, Anthony Barbachan wrote:
> I think this is Gregory Maxwell, but I'm not sure:
> > Also, why is you / so big? You'll get better performance, fsck times, and
> > fragmentation control (from reducing lifetime mixture)..
>
> I can think of at least two reasons:
>
> 1 - simplicity. Especially for an everyday user who only has vague notions
> of what partitions are or for those who just don't want to deal with
> handling multiple partitions. With multiple partitions there is more to
> consider when deciding where to install programs, assigning drive space,
> etc.
>
> 2 - annoyance avoidance. I've seen the problem many times of that one
> partition which just happens to have been created just a bit too small while
> others are inundated in available space. Furthermore a partition is
> basically a virtual drive and that the more drives you have the more likely
> it is that in time one will run out of space. With the all the free space
> concentrated in one partition you would have to fill up more of your drive
> not just fill up this or that directory tree.
>
> By the way how do you get better fsck times from multiple partition on a
> drive vs. one partition on that drive? You can't really run them in
> parallel to speed up checks as both are accessing the same slow device and
> would just slow each other down as they compete in telling the drive where
> to move its heads next. Plus the added startup, exit, and initialization
> time for fsck for each additional partition. Is there something which I
> have overlooked?
What you forgot was that the partitions have less structures and or
therefore faster to fsck. I believe that the fsck time increases faster
than linearly with the size of the disk.
I'm curious about this as well. What advantages are there to multiple
partitions, besides faster fsck times? How do I know what size to make
them? How should I break the partitions up? What do I do if I run out of
space in one?
Ciao!
--
"I've hired you to help me start a war. It's a prestigious line of work, with a long and glorious tradition."
--Vizzini (The Princess Bride)
The Doctor What: A really hip dude http://www.gerf.org/~docwhat/
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