I like to have two partitions: one for my data (/home) and one for everything else (and a third for the swap file, and a physically different hard disks for backups). Such a small number of partitions might make me a heretic :-)
There are clear advantages to this setup: 1. I can backup/restore the entire operating system partition without losing my data. 2. I can reformat and reinstall the operating system without losing my data. If possible it's always a good idea to separate the OS and your data. I bet if you had to choose between losing your data or having to reinstall your OS you'd go for the latter. Your single partition worst-case scenario is if you reinstall/format the OS partition forgetting that some of your own data also resides on the partition. Separating data (along with user settings) and programs is simple in Unix-like environments. Symbolic links are your friend. Regards, Adam
