Tim CowChip wrote:The next time you install Sailx or any other OS, consider using the entire drive or partition and mounting it as "/". This way you can grow folders as big as you want. Seperate partitions like /home or /usr or /var, are overrated and, as you have already seen, have their limitations.
I don't consider that a good solution. Separation of system data and user data has proven itself for a long time. Why? It's handy if you have multiple OS or if your system partition gets corrupted or if you want to reinstall for some other reason. Without any copying around all your data is still available. Also if your user partition runs full it won't have any negative impact on the core system.
I never had serious problems with a root partition sized 12-15GB, a swap as I deem fit and as space constraints allow and a home partition with as much space as possible. It's hard to get 12GB full with applications and if other data starts filling up your root it doesn't belong there probably anyway and you can redirect to your home partition using symlinks or bind mounts.
Aside from being a far simpler solution to this particular user's installation problems, the only negative aspect of mounting the entire drive at "/' is the home directory might grow to over 235Gb leaving less than your safe limit of 12-15Gb for the root directory. That's a lot of data.
Re-using /home partitions across mutiple installations can cause permission issues and leftover config files can cause problems as well, and with today's typical ram sizes, nobody needs swap anymore.
swap is usefull when you use it for hibernate. I see no reason today to use the "use double of your RAM size". Just use your RAM size if you plan to use hibernation, less if you do not intend to.
And I vote for separate /home partition. It saves me from a lot of trouble already.
If you're still having trouble I still recommend just installing using automatic options. That should solve whatever problem you're having by giving you a clean slate. The main reason you might want to organise your partition scheme differently is if you are dual booting, but this hard disk is intended to be entirely devoted to Salix.
@Tim CowChip You're right about reusing /home not being straightforward but it is doable, probably by backing up those ~/.* files and a few others and maybe retaining the same username to circumvent the permissions trouble. A more complex setup is to have a small /home and a big /data (perhaps there is a better place for it within the traditional hierarchy), on a separate partition.
Having said that (and thinking again of the OP) when I am installing a new version of Salix I usually just back up the data from /home and start from scratch.
IF deleting ALL the partitions of the specific HDD where you installed Salix is an acceptable option for you (I mean not just the "/" partition for Salix but also all other partitions in that same HDD), then I would suggest being thorough.
1_ Boot with your LIVE system.
2_ Start Gparted.
3_ Select the appropriate HDD. BEWARE: triple check that you are really selecting the correct HDD, where you are going to re-install Salix and that no data in that specific HDD is important (or that you already have a backup of such data).
4_ Once the correct HDD was selected, go to "Device" menu and "Create a new partition table". The "msdos" type should be the adequate one. Did I mention you should be sure about which HDD you selected before doing this?
5_ Now all partitions were deleted and your HDD is "empty". If you want to try again the automatic partitioning of Salix's installation, close Gparted, reboot again and start Salix installation again. When the installation procedure gets to the automatic partitioning stage, select the correct HDD and let it work. Before you actually proceed to install Salix you have the possibility to review your choices. So if the new automatic partitions sizes are not what you want/need, then change them manually before going ahead with the actual installation.
Please let us know what you finally did and whether your problem was solved.
thanks akuna for your help, that's kind of you . well about your solution , i don't know if i need to edit only the fstab file or to do something else ? anyway i'm going to edit the fstab file , then i'll see if there is anything good . if it doesn't work i'll try the Adys method . just about the automatic thing i'm sick about that methos because always gave only five gigabyte to the root partition .
thanks everybody for your nice comments and support , concerning the swap and the ram size i see it's useful to have a double size swap of ram , i use a lot blender and it's very handy on that situation .rendering sometimes takes hours
The Linux philosophy is 'Laugh in the face of danger'. Oops. Wrong One. 'Do it yourself'. Yes, that's it.
The automatic installation option shouldn't normally have given you such a small / . If editing /etc/fstab doesn't help, I suggest following Adys's comprehensive advice, which is pretty much bound to work because it will give you a truly clean slate and a good setup. The gparted part will be quick because it doesn't involve moving partitions.
