Linux Mint Forums

I was reading in the sticky topic "what are your top tips for a newbie" that you should name your partitions "/" "swap" and "home". and by doing that if you break linux and have to re-install you wont lose your data because you can just replace your "/" partition. Is this true? And if so how would i go about changing my partition names? looking at system tools>disk usage analyzer i see that i have what appear to be 5 partitions (if each disk is a partition). one labaled "/" and 2 named "/media/jon/sdata2". the other 2 are unnamed.

i have linux mint 14 with cinnamon.

computer is : asus g74sx

pretty sure i have 2 500g harddrives


sorry i have been creating so many topics lately, i just want to learn!

To see your partitions and hard drives clearly, install the gparted program. The disk usage analyzer won't do it.
Oddly, when I installed gparted, it did not show up in the menu until I rebooted.

It is certainly the best idea to create a / partition, (which is where the operating system will be)
Then create a /home where all your personal stuff will be.
That will allow you to install a different operating system when you want to, leaving your personal files just as they were.

However, this is something that has to be done at the time that you install your operating system. You can't do it by simply renaming partitions.

Note: you only need about 8 GB at the most for the / partition.

ok, i will download gparted. now i don't mind re-installing linux as i dont have much on here yet and what i do have i can put onto an external harddrive. however when i installed it originally from an iso burned onto a dvd i dont recall it ever asking me to do anything involving partitions. i chose the option to install over windows so the only OS i have is linux.


thanks for your help!

When you boot the live dvd, it has the gparted program on it. I use that to create the partitions I want before I install. The reason I do it that way is because I create the / partition (8 GB), then /home (450 GB) then a /test partition for trying out different os's (8 GB), and then my /swap (2 GB).
Then when you install, choose the "Something Else" option, and designate the existing partitions, / and /home, that you want to use.

You can actually create a /home after you install, but it is certainly not recommended. I wouldn't try it.

How to Create a Separate Home Partition After Installing Ubuntu
http://www.howtogeek.com/116742/how-to- ... ng-ubuntu/

ok i am going to do a fresh install then. i like your idea of a partition to test operating systems out on. Thanks for the help!