Code Bloat Ubuntu Style

[Computer Hobbyist]

For some time now I have been using Ubuntu. Generally I like it. It is nice and clean. I really loved the previous version (Breezy Badger or Bucky Beaver or something like that.) It is very well put together. When I installed it I set aside 3.4 gig for the / volume. I put the rest of my drive in /home. It was great until all the recent automatic upgrades. Now having updated to Ubuntu's latest version 6.06 LTS (Dapper Drake) with a pretty tight set of applications (mostly gnome and open office) the / volume contains 2.9 gig. Last night after installing some updates I bumped right up on 3.4gig. I had to delete a lot of stuff just to get gnome to open. I guess they want me to dedicate my entire drive to ubuntu but I don't like exposing my home files to a crash. I recall that when I installed ubuntu I wasn't given the option of installing /usr in its own partition.

I am about to upgrade my system. When I do I am going to reinstall Ubuntu, but I am going think long and hard about how large I am going to make my / partition.

Is there a way to create a seperate partition for /usr in ubuntu, or should I just give up and assign the entire drive to /?

I ask my question here because (1) you guys are the guys who turned me on to Ubuntu, (2) I have a lot of respect for your expertise, and (3) Ubuntu's support pages seem pretty obscure to me. Thanks in advance.

[Redo40]

I tend to make my / partition around 10 gigs, I also like to keep my home partition safe from an OS crash. I can't recall how ubuntu installs, but there should be an option to do what you want. Sorry I couldn't be much help, after trying PCLinuxOS I stayed with it.

[faulkner132]

I have an 80 Gig drive running Ubuntu 6.06 and have a 6.18 GB partition set to / and the rest is for /home.
I would say 5 should be the bare minimum.

I wouldn't dedicate your entire drive. As Redo mentioned, you want to be safe in the event of an OS crash.

[Computer Hobbyist]

Is there a way in ubuntu to increase the size of a partition without losing data?

[faulkner132]

Originally Posted by Computer Hobbyist Is there a way in ubuntu to increase the size of a partition without losing data?

Personally, I've never used it, but gparted should handle it.
It is in the repositories, or you can get it from source:
http://gparted.sourceforge.net/

[Computer Hobbyist]

Great, I have everything backed up. I'll give you all a report. If it fails I am going to reinstall anyway when I upgrade my PC to an AMD64 next weekend.

[faulkner132]

Originally Posted by Computer Hobbyist I'll give you all a report.

Please do.
I've been curious as to how effective this is. I don't see any reason why it wouldn't work, but I'm always cautious with a tool that modifies something this significant.

[Computer Hobbyist]

I wouldn't use it unless I was absolutely sure nothing of value was at stake. In this case I have to reinstall everything anyway and I have backed up all my data.

[LocoCoyote]

Gparted on a liveCD available here: http://gparted.sourceforge.net/livecd.php is a good way to go.

[Computer Hobbyist]

I tried gparted last night. It seems to be unable to move ext2/ext3 partitions. So I am left with reducing the size of my /home partition, but since it reduces the size on the back end of the drive, it can't help me increase the size of my / partitioin on the front end. (I know I am being imprecise with my language, but I am trying to express my problem so everybody can understand.) I am probably going reformat the entire drive and reinstall data from backup.

It has no such limitation when it comes to Fat 16 or Fat 32 partitions. I recall it said I was able to move NTFS partitions, but checking the website it doesn't seem to agree with my memory.

[RRS]

An ext3 partition can only be expanded backwards (towards the end).

Also gparted can't make changes to a mounted partition. I.E. it won't be able to move your / or /home if your running it in Ubuntu.

Download and burn the gparted live cd mentioned above and use it instead.