Hello! >> What's the benefit to having separate /, /home, /var, etc? > > You will notice the benefit to separate /home /opt and /etc directories > when > you upgrade to Mandrake 9.0.
Yes, the advantage of having /home, /opt, and /etc _DIRECTORIES_, as you write yourself, no doubt about that. But is there any benefit of having these on different _PARTITIONS_? > Performing an 'upgrade' to a distro is still not > as reliable as users would like, and many people are more comfortable > with a > fresh install right down to reformatting the partitions. But if you want to install, you don't have to reformat the partition. The installer will install every file (thus replacing all the files having the same name), and it will work exactly as it would on a clean partition, the only difference being that the files that are not use anymore would still remain. as far as the installer installs all the necessary files, I cann't see any reason that could make it less reliable than a clean (i.e. with formatting) install. As for upgrade, you may be right. It depends how the upgrade is done, which files are kept and which ones are overwritten... > If you have just one > big '/' partition that would mean you would lose all your user data in > /home, Only if you reformat. I use Mandrake's default formatting, so in case of installing a new version, I format the partition in order to clean everything, but it's not mandatory. BeOS used a single partition and it was perfectly possible to install without formatting, and without loosing your previous settings. > all your configuration settings in /etc and all your 'extra' > applications you > mat have put in /opt. So by having separate partitions you can > reformat '/' > and '/usr' without destroying all the other data. > Also if you were running a heavy duty server you would want to have > different > partitions to optimise HD performance, but that is not usually a > consideration in a desktop system. > > derek > > Want to buy your Pack or Services from MandrakeSoft? > Go to http://www.mandrakestore.com > Pascal
Want to buy your Pack or Services from MandrakeSoft? Go to http://www.mandrakestore.com
