Partitioning is one of those topics that you can argue round forever without any danger of reaching agreement about the general case. I'm not sure what arguments you've read about the "/ + /home" approach, but I found a recent discussion on this list fairly interesting:
https://lists.ubuntu.com/archives/ubuntu-devel-discuss/2008-May/004207.html The short version of the argument is that two partitions can solve some problems, but there are better solutions to the problems that ordinary people have in practice. The only way I would expect you to benefit from a second partition, based on the usage you've described, is if you wanted to dual boot between two Linux distributions (say, Ubuntu and Red Hat), and maintain a shared /home partition. My advice would be to investigate how to repartition, but not to actually do anything until/unless you need to. Repartitioning now is no easier than repartitioning later, and later you'll have more skill and perhaps better tools to do the job. If you really want to add a /home partition, which as Bryce suggests isn't something to consider lightly, you probably want to use gparted (available in all good repos). I'm ambivalent about whether to include an intermediate option, but I think a collection of "roles" would be a good choice if we do include one. Roles could include "standard" (as automatic), "multiple Linux distributions" (/ and /home), "mail server", (/ and /var), and so on. As well as helping people with less common use cases, it would give us an excuse to add documentation that's only visible to those that care. Example descriptions could include: Standard: this partitions your disk in a way that has been found to be the most appropriate for ordinary use, based on experience from a variety of operating systems Multiple Linux distributions: this partitions your disk in a way that allows you to share your home directory with other Linux distributions installed on your computer Mail server: this partitions your disk in a way that ensures mail will still be delivered if your root partition fills up. - Andrew -- Ubuntu-devel-discuss mailing list Ubuntu-devel-discuss@lists.ubuntu.com Modify settings or unsubscribe at: https://lists.ubuntu.com/mailman/listinfo/ubuntu-devel-discuss
