CSCI 257 - Linux System Partitioning Notes



"Linux System Administration" by Carling, Degler, and Dennis gives the best and easiest to understand explanation of partitioning theory I've read anywhere.  This chart gives an overview of this explanation.


Directory
Does this partition grow? (in other words can it harm others?)
Does it need free space? (will you have problems if it is on a partition that is filled?)
Directory needed for minimal system functionality?
Part of root partition?
/



this is the root partition
/bin
no
no
yes
yes
/boot
not really, when you install new kernels it grows a little
no
yes
yes/no
/dev
no
yes
(system could crash without free space)
yes
yes
/etc
no
yes
(mtab is an example)
yes
yes
/home
yes
n/a
no
no
/lib
no
(modified during system upgrade only)
no
yes
(nearly every executable depends on /lib)
yes
/lost+found
This directory is part of every filesystem - file system entries orphaned by power failure go here
/mnt
no
(doesn't really take up space)
no
no
yes
/opt
yes, if you install third party applications here it can grow
n/a
no
no
(you can keep it part of root if it isn't used)
/proc
This is a virtual filesystem and doesn't actually take up or need any disk space so it is of no concern.
/root
no
(at least it is not supposed to)
no
no?
yes
/sbin
no
no
yes
yes
/tmp
yes
no
(if tmp is filled it will interfere with any applications that try to write to tmp but not crash the system)
no
no
/usr
yes
n/a
no
no
/var
yes
no
(will cause problems with applications if space isn't available though)
no
no