[mythtv-users] partitioning scheme

[Andrew Robinson]

matthew.garman at gmail.com wrote:
> I'm about to set up a new hard drive for my parents' MythTV system.
> I'm just wondering what kind of partitioning scheme is the "best"
> for a Myth system?
> 
> I know there's no single "best" way, I'm just trying to figure out
> what the pros and cons of doing it one way or the other are.
> 
> For every Linux machine I've ever built, I've always used separate
> partitions for /, /boot, /usr, /tmp, /var, /home and swap (swap
> obviously has to be its own partition).  But I feel like this may
> not be the most optimal use of space.
> 

The scheme I have settled on for my home systems is somewhat different 
than those everyone else has so far suggested, so consider this 
submitted for your consideration :). I partition my home machines with 
two boot partitions, two root partitions, a swap partition, and a data 
partition.

The two boots and roots allow me a clean install when I want to upgrade. 
The boot partitions are 100MB each. The roots include /, /usr, /tmp, 
/var and /home. I try to make them big enough to hold everything for the 
installation. There has been some trial and error in sizing them. I have 
run out of room in the past and had to move /usr/share to another 
partition. I am currently making them 20 GB. That number has grown with 
each new machine.

Each user will have a home directory on the current root partition 
because I find they need specific configurations for each installation. 
I create links to the data partition for "permanent" stuff. This sounds 
like a lot of administrative overhead, but typically there are only two 
active users, me and mythtv.

The swap is 2x memory. I tend to make it twice the maximum memory I 
think I might eventually put in the machine. With 300 GB drives, I find 
"wasting" 3 or 4 GB for swap acceptable.

I give all other space on the drive to the data partition. The data 
partition will hold everything I want to preserve between upgrades.

I realize this is somewhat unconventional, but it has worked for me for 
my home machines. HTH.

Andrew Robinson