HDD partitioning scheme when installing Ubuntu

Reprinted from: http://www.cnblogs.com/wtwdwr123/archive/2009/05/05/1449215.html

If you are going to install only one Ubuntu operating system on your hard drive, it is recommended that you adopt a three-partition scheme: "/", "swap", and "/home".
/: 10GB-15GB.
Swap: Physical memory is less than or equal to 512MB, it is recommended to allocate the actual physical memory capacity of twice times the size of swap, physical memory is greater than 512MB, it is recommended to allocate capacity swap with physical memory.
All remaining space except for/home:/and swap.
You need to manually partition, instead of being scheduled by the system yourself, before you install, you need to learn some basics:

------linux Partitioning Basics--

Linux is evolving, and older Linux documents are likely to mislead readers about their knowledge of Linux.

Ubuntu has canceled the use of HD and SD to distinguish between different types of hard disk mechanism, instead, with SDA Unified representative of the first hard disk in the computer.
Under Linux, the number of the number x in/dev/sdax is limited, and the largest partition number is 16. Therefore, the primary and extended partition numbers occupy 1~4, and logical partitions occupy 5~16. Even if you have only one primary partition (for example,/DEV/SDA1) and one extended partition (/DEV/SDA2) on your hard disk, the remaining two primary partition numbers:/DEV/SDA3,DEV/SDA4 are not assigned to logical partitions. The first logical partition must be numbered starting with/DEV/SDA5.

File system

Linux supports many different kinds of file systems. Linux is capable of reading and writing FAT16/32 and NTFS partitions.
The common file systems used to install Linux include ext3, ReiserFS, XFS, JFS, and so on.
Usually we use EXT3 as the default file system.
We use Ubuntu as a desktop system, and in most cases the performance of the file system is not a big problem that we need to consider. You may see a lot of negative reviews of ext3, but Ext3 is the oldest, most tried and tested Linux file system, so choose it right.
Ubuntu uses the Ext3 file system by default.

Maximum Partition size: Ext3 is 4tb,reisefs is 16TB. FAT32 the maximum partition under Windows is 32GB, while the FAT32 in Linux can be supported to 2TB.
Maximum file size: Ext3 is 2gb-4gb,reisefs is 8tb,fat32 is 4GB.

Partition type

1,/partition. Used to store system files.
2, swap, that is, swap partition, is also a file system, it is the role of Linux as a virtual memory.
Under Windows, virtual memory is a file: Pagefile.sys; while Linux, virtual memory requires the use of separate partitions, which is said to improve the performance of virtual memory.
3./boot: Contains the kernel of the operating system and the files to be used in the process of booting the system.
In many old tutorials, users are asked to mount a separate partition of about 100MB in the/boot directory and recommend that the/boot be placed in front of the hard drive-before the 1024 cylinder. In fact, it was a relic of the era when Lilo failed to boot the OS kernel after 1024 cylinders. Of course, it is also said that the advantage of standalone//boot is that multiple Linux can share a/boot.
In fact, there is no need to separate the/boot partition for any of the above reasons. First, grub can boot the Linux kernel after 1024 cylinders, and secondly, even if you have multiple Linux installed, you can completely not share boot. Because the/boot directory size is usually very small, about 20MB, dividing a 100MB partition is undoubtedly a waste, but also put the hard disk fragmented, inconvenient management. In addition, if you let two Linux share a/boot, each upgrade of the kernel, will cause the grub configuration file conflicts, causing unnecessary trouble. Furthermore, the non-standalone/boot partition takes up approximately 20MB of space in the root directory and does not have any impact on the use of the root directory at all.
It is noteworthy, however, that the inability to boot the Linux kernel will reappear as hard disk capacity increases, which is known as the 137GB limitation. Unfortunately, Grub is unable to boot the Linux kernel in the partition after 137GB. If this happens to you, consider mounting the/boot standalone into a separate partition in front of the 137GB, or simply move the Linux partition forward so that the root directory is located at 137GB before the partition.
4,/usr/local: Linux system is the place to store software.
Recommended to put/OPT,/USR or/usr/local independent out of the tutorial, is basically very old. When using Ubuntu, we usually install software using the system's Package manager and seldom compile and install the software ourselves. The reason to suggest independent/usr,/opt,/usr/local is simply to use the previously compiled version without recompiling the software when reloading the system. For most ordinary users, however, this advice is usually meaningless.
5,/var: is the system log record partition.
6,/TMP partition, used to store temporary files.
It is recommended that a separate tutorial for/var and/tmp is typically server-oriented. Because high-load servers often produce a lot of log files, temporary files, these files often change, so the/VAR,/tmp Independent to improve server performance. But we use Ubuntu is to do desktop, and even some users never care about the system log this thing, so there is no need to separate for/VAR and/tmp mount partition.
7./home: Is the location of the user's hometown directory.
This is probably the only directory that deserves a separate mount partition. /home is where the user folder resides. A user may store a large number of files in the/home/user, if the independent Mount home/home, even if you encounter the embarrassing situation of the accidental death of Ubuntu, you can immediately re-install the system to obtain their own file information. Therefore,/home is the only directory where you can consider a separate mount partition.
Some of the older tutorials recommend that you install Linux in the primary partition, or mount a primary partition in/boot. In fact, this is not necessary. All partitions of Linux can reside in logical partitions. So don't be misled by these old tutorials, don't waste a limited primary partition, and install Linux in logical partitions with confidence.

-----------Actual Operation---------

1. Select "Free space".
2, then click "New Partition" (new partition).
3. Type for the newpartition (choose a new Partition): Primary (primary partition) (Ubuntu to the new disk,/partition needs to select Primary, other partition selection logical logical partition can be If you are installing a dual system and Windows is installed, the/partition type select Primary or logical, other partitions select logical logical partition. ）
4. Enter the size of the new partition (in megabytes) after new partition size in megabytes.
5. Location for the new partition select the position of the fresh partition (you want the new partition to be built on the first or the end of the available space, and the general default is to "start" on a unified selection).
6, after "use as" Select the file system used. Ubuntu uses the Ext3 file system by default.
7. Select mount points after mount point.
8. Click "OK" to confirm.
Ps:
It is recommended that you first divide/swap and then divide all the remaining space into/home.

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HDD partitioning scheme when installing Ubuntu