Best partitioning strategy

sweyhrich · 03-15-2002, 03:12 PM

I have passed the 6 month mark in my use of OS X, currently on 10.1.3, on my iMac DV 450, and would like suggestions on the best way in which to partition my hard drive (which I've just recently upgraded to 60 gig size). I currently have four partitions:

iMac Ruby X - everything else
iMac Ruby 9 - 4 gig
Swap - 80 meg
Virtual CD - 700 meg

The "Swap" partition is to implement the strategy I read about early in the OS X game that said a partition for JUST the OS X virtual memory file would help performance, to avoid letting that file get fragmented. (BTW, is that still true, and is 80 meg enough?)

"Virtual CD" is to help in creating a bootable CD before burning it.

"iMac Ruby 9" is for the MacOS 9 system files and applications.

I did have a system screw-up and had to reinstall my OS X system, requiring the reformat of the OS X partition (quite a nusiance). What I would like to know is whether or not there is a "best standard" for partitioning a hard drive to mix convenience with ease of system repair. Obviously, a hard drive with NO partitions is most convenient, as EVERYTHING is on one virtual drive. Having too many partitions will ultimately slow down what I want to do in using the system. So what are people's experiences out there? What works? If you have a partition that is JUST for OS X system files, and leave all of your applications, documents, etc. on a different partition, how difficult is that to manage? (Does OS X not like having more than one location for "Applications"?)

Also, what is the best place to put files that should be easily accessible by ANY user of the system? For example, where is the best "central" place to put my MP3 collection, or a clip-art collection is to be shared with the rest of the family when they login to the OS X system?

Thanks for all suggestions, and if there is a file somewhere that discusses this, please point me in that direction.

Cadre · 03-15-2002, 08:12 PM

How much RAM do you have in the first place? What do you plan on doing? I have 1.5 GB of RAM (ah hell yea) so I rarely swap. Chances are if you have anything over 512, unless you are doing some intensive stuff, it isn't worth putting the swap on an extra drive. Also you might want to note that if you do move the swap to another small partition you limit the amount of swap you have (and if make a larger partition then you could be just wasting space because it never gets used).

mervTormel · 03-15-2002, 08:17 PM

another reason to leave the danged swap file alone...

if kernel_task needs another 80MB swap file and it goes to create one and there is no space for it, you may find yourself in the crapper real fast.

sweyhrich · 03-15-2002, 11:46 PM

Well, Swap issues aside, any other thoughts on the "ideal" partitioning scheme?

(BTW, I have 384 mb of RAM)

mervTormel · 03-16-2002, 12:32 AM

best and ideal are highly subjective, and prolly why no one wants to answer. it depends on what you have, what you will have, how you work, how organized you want to be, how much maintenance you're willing to dedicate/sacrifice...

for starters...

Consider carving up your disks with the following partitions:

OS X - you’ll need 4GB here
cOS 9 - tiny 600 MB partition for vanilla classic OS9
pOS 9 - perhaps a larger boot production OS9 part
Data - your blood, sweat, tears and other documents
Apps - installed apps
Scratch - cd master, photoshop, downloads, large workspace
Music - your mp3 library
alt OS - run VPC? Linux? you’ll need partitions for disk images
hot OSX backup - ditto target

sweyhrich · 03-16-2002, 07:32 AM

>> merveTormel

>OS X - you’ll need 4GB here
>cOS 9 - tiny 600 MB partition for vanilla classic OS9
>pOS 9 - perhaps a larger boot production OS9 part
>Data - your blood, sweat, tears and other documents
>Apps - installed apps
>Scratch - cd master, photoshop, downloads, large workspace
>Music - your mp3 library
>alt OS - run VPC? Linux? you’ll need partitions for disk images
>hot OSX backup - ditto target

Thanks for the input! For the installed Apps part: Does OS X complain when the Apps aren't on the same partition/disk as the OS X system itself? Same for the Documents folder (usually within a User directory). I mean, a freshly installed OS X system has these files in the root directory:

Applications
Library
System
Users

and each user in the User directory has a set of folders (similar but more of them). Do you just put aliases of the REAL folders in the other partitions in those locations? And do I just use CHMOD to change permissions to allow anyone in my family that is logged in to access those folders that I want to be public?

Thanks again

silicondiode · 03-16-2002, 10:49 AM

i just redid my iBook and i settled on this, i had a 30gb drive to play with:

32MB linux boot partition (boots YDL, OS 9 & OS X)
2.5GB linux /
512MB linux swap
4.5GB linux /home
1.0GB Mac OS 9.x
4.0GB Mac OS X.1.x
15GB HFS+ partition named "Meta"

Meta holds my "Users" folder, which is symlinked over to the X partition. within "Users" i use the "Shared" folder for everything else, all media files, downloads, disc images, games etc. my mp3 collection is on a 30gb firewire drive that i access via:
/Volumes/Meta/Users/Shared/Music/
symlink.to.firewire.drive/Shared/Music

(i still have 120GB of mp3s on a BeBox, which is a media server for my house and the internet, but that's another web site forum...)

it's a loopy path but it works... iTunes sees everything fine, provided the drvie is plugged in.

i install ALL 3rd party applications to "Applications" which is in "Users/Shared" on Meta. i have a symlink in /Applications on the X partition for navigation ease. /Applications holds only stuff that ships with X & XDarwin, which i think would pitch a fit if moved....

i haven't really played with an "optimized" Classic, as i really only use Classic for Outlook to connect to an Exchange Server. Is MS gonna update Outlook, ever?

sweyhrich · 03-16-2002, 02:22 PM

Quote:


	Originally posted by silicondiode i just redid my iBook ... my mp3 collection is on a 30gb firewire drive that i access via: /Volumes/Meta/Users/Shared/Music/ symlink.to.firewire.drive/Shared/Music

Thanks for your comments. A couple of questions:

1) What is a "symlink"? Another name for a MacOS alias, or something different?

2) Regarding the Swap question again: You have a 512 mb Swap partition. I have one that is 80 mb. I have 384 mb RAM installed. Would 512 be wasted space for me if I changed my system to that large a size? Or is 80 mb sufficient for a non-power user? (I am only 1% Unix active; most of what I do is just updated Mac stuff).

silicondiode · 03-16-2002, 03:58 PM

answers:
1 - sorry, a symlink like an alias, you make them from the command line; i'm in terminal a lot so i prefer symlinks to aliases... from a terminal prompt:

ln -s "path to your target" "name of your symlink"

they come in handy if you FTP to your mac a lot, like i do... (you can't drill through aliases AFAIK...)

2 - the 512 swap partition is for linux. i have 640MB of RAM and if Mac OS X needs to swap out for something, i've got other things to consider... i've never played with VM in X, my swap file in X, as far as i have checked has never gotten bigger than the 80MB that the system initially creates. i don't really think that playing around with VM or the location of the swap file in X is worth the effort or headache if one messes up relocating it. linux requires a swap partition. things would be a little more elegant if both X and linux could access the same swap partition, i suppose it's possible somehow, but at the end of the day, we're only talking about less than a GB of space overall...

also:
the reason for my apps being on another partition is for the sake of backup, if i ever decide to redo my X partition, i won't have to move much off of it. the same goes for the Users folder... go here for info about that:

http://www.macosxhints.com/article.p...10619195610633

03-15-2002, 03:12 PM	#1
sweyhrich Prospect Join Date: Mar 2002 Location: Omaha, NE Posts: 44	Best partitioning strategy I have passed the 6 month mark in my use of OS X, currently on 10.1.3, on my iMac DV 450, and would like suggestions on the best way in which to partition my hard drive (which I've just recently upgraded to 60 gig size). I currently have four partitions: iMac Ruby X - everything else iMac Ruby 9 - 4 gig Swap - 80 meg Virtual CD - 700 meg The "Swap" partition is to implement the strategy I read about early in the OS X game that said a partition for JUST the OS X virtual memory file would help performance, to avoid letting that file get fragmented. (BTW, is that still true, and is 80 meg enough?) "Virtual CD" is to help in creating a bootable CD before burning it. "iMac Ruby 9" is for the MacOS 9 system files and applications. I did have a system screw-up and had to reinstall my OS X system, requiring the reformat of the OS X partition (quite a nusiance). What I would like to know is whether or not there is a "best standard" for partitioning a hard drive to mix convenience with ease of system repair. Obviously, a hard drive with NO partitions is most convenient, as EVERYTHING is on one virtual drive. Having too many partitions will ultimately slow down what I want to do in using the system. So what are people's experiences out there? What works? If you have a partition that is JUST for OS X system files, and leave all of your applications, documents, etc. on a different partition, how difficult is that to manage? (Does OS X not like having more than one location for "Applications"?) Also, what is the best place to put files that should be easily accessible by ANY user of the system? For example, where is the best "central" place to put my MP3 collection, or a clip-art collection is to be shared with the rest of the family when they login to the OS X system? Thanks for all suggestions, and if there is a file somewhere that discusses this, please point me in that direction. __________________ Steven Weyhrich Apple II History http://apple2history.org Last edited by sweyhrich; 03-15-2002 at 03:14 PM.

03-15-2002, 08:12 PM	#2
Cadre Prospect Join Date: Jan 2002 Posts: 36	Swap size How much RAM do you have in the first place? What do you plan on doing? I have 1.5 GB of RAM (ah hell yea) so I rarely swap. Chances are if you have anything over 512, unless you are doing some intensive stuff, it isn't worth putting the swap on an extra drive. Also you might want to note that if you do move the swap to another small partition you limit the amount of swap you have (and if make a larger partition then you could be just wasting space because it never gets used).

03-15-2002, 11:46 PM	#4
sweyhrich Prospect Join Date: Mar 2002 Location: Omaha, NE Posts: 44	Well, Swap issues aside, any other thoughts on the "ideal" partitioning scheme? (BTW, I have 384 mb of RAM) __________________ Steven Weyhrich Apple II History http://apple2history.org

03-16-2002, 12:32 AM	#5
mervTormel League Commissioner Join Date: Jan 2002 Posts: 5,536	best and ideal are highly subjective, and prolly why no one wants to answer. it depends on what you have, what you will have, how you work, how organized you want to be, how much maintenance you're willing to dedicate/sacrifice... for starters... Consider carving up your disks with the following partitions: OS X - you’ll need 4GB here cOS 9 - tiny 600 MB partition for vanilla classic OS9 pOS 9 - perhaps a larger boot production OS9 part Data - your blood, sweat, tears and other documents Apps - installed apps Scratch - cd master, photoshop, downloads, large workspace Music - your mp3 library alt OS - run VPC? Linux? you’ll need partitions for disk images hot OSX backup - ditto target

03-16-2002, 07:32 AM	#6
sweyhrich Prospect Join Date: Mar 2002 Location: Omaha, NE Posts: 44	>> merveTormel >OS X - you’ll need 4GB here >cOS 9 - tiny 600 MB partition for vanilla classic OS9 >pOS 9 - perhaps a larger boot production OS9 part >Data - your blood, sweat, tears and other documents >Apps - installed apps >Scratch - cd master, photoshop, downloads, large workspace >Music - your mp3 library >alt OS - run VPC? Linux? you’ll need partitions for disk images >hot OSX backup - ditto target Thanks for the input! For the installed Apps part: Does OS X complain when the Apps aren't on the same partition/disk as the OS X system itself? Same for the Documents folder (usually within a User directory). I mean, a freshly installed OS X system has these files in the root directory: Applications Library System Users and each user in the User directory has a set of folders (similar but more of them). Do you just put aliases of the REAL folders in the other partitions in those locations? And do I just use CHMOD to change permissions to allow anyone in my family that is logged in to access those folders that I want to be public? Thanks again __________________ Steven Weyhrich Apple II History http://apple2history.org

03-15-2002, 08:17 PM	#3
mervTormel League Commissioner Join Date: Jan 2002 Posts: 5,536	another reason to leave the danged swap file alone... if kernel_task needs another 80MB swap file and it goes to create one and there is no space for it, you may find yourself in the crapper real fast.

03-16-2002, 10:49 AM	#7
silicondiode Major Leaguer Join Date: Jan 2002 Location: New York Posts: 252	partitioning scheme on an iBook i just redid my iBook and i settled on this, i had a 30gb drive to play with: 32MB linux boot partition (boots YDL, OS 9 & OS X) 2.5GB linux / 512MB linux swap 4.5GB linux /home 1.0GB Mac OS 9.x 4.0GB Mac OS X.1.x 15GB HFS+ partition named "Meta" Meta holds my "Users" folder, which is symlinked over to the X partition. within "Users" i use the "Shared" folder for everything else, all media files, downloads, disc images, games etc. my mp3 collection is on a 30gb firewire drive that i access via: /Volumes/Meta/Users/Shared/Music/ symlink.to.firewire.drive/Shared/Music (i still have 120GB of mp3s on a BeBox, which is a media server for my house and the internet, but that's another web site forum...) it's a loopy path but it works... iTunes sees everything fine, provided the drvie is plugged in. i install ALL 3rd party applications to "Applications" which is in "Users/Shared" on Meta. i have a symlink in /Applications on the X partition for navigation ease. /Applications holds only stuff that ships with X & XDarwin, which i think would pitch a fit if moved.... i haven't really played with an "optimized" Classic, as i really only use Classic for Outlook to connect to an Exchange Server. Is MS gonna update Outlook, ever?

03-16-2002, 03:58 PM	#9
silicondiode Major Leaguer Join Date: Jan 2002 Location: New York Posts: 252	answers: 1 - sorry, a symlink like an alias, you make them from the command line; i'm in terminal a lot so i prefer symlinks to aliases... from a terminal prompt: ln -s "path to your target" "name of your symlink" they come in handy if you FTP to your mac a lot, like i do... (you can't drill through aliases AFAIK...) 2 - the 512 swap partition is for linux. i have 640MB of RAM and if Mac OS X needs to swap out for something, i've got other things to consider... i've never played with VM in X, my swap file in X, as far as i have checked has never gotten bigger than the 80MB that the system initially creates. i don't really think that playing around with VM or the location of the swap file in X is worth the effort or headache if one messes up relocating it. linux requires a swap partition. things would be a little more elegant if both X and linux could access the same swap partition, i suppose it's possible somehow, but at the end of the day, we're only talking about less than a GB of space overall... also: the reason for my apps being on another partition is for the sake of backup, if i ever decide to redo my X partition, i won't have to move much off of it. the same goes for the Users folder... go here for info about that: http://www.macosxhints.com/article.p...10619195610633