Choosing a partitioning scheme
Partitioning a hard disk used to be simple. You had one large partition for the Linux operating system and one swap partition to provide additional virtual memory when your RAM ran out. Today, however, you are often well-advised to consider more complex partitioning schemes.
Especially on networks, traditional partitioning is often replaced today by Logical Volume Management (LVM) [1], an alternative method for dividing hard drives. LVM has several advantages over traditional partitioning, including the ability to hot-swap disks and to create a single logical volume that spans multiple hard disks. In particular, with LVM, the resizing and moving of partitions is much easier and quicker than with traditional partitioning, which can take six or seven hours to resize a 1TB partition.
Both LVM and traditional partitioning help contain runaway processes and applications that might otherwise crash the system. Both, too, work well with disk-oriented backup applications and can help increase system security by marking key directories as read-only for everyday use. However, when LVM goes down, it can make all partitions inaccessible. By contrast, with traditional partitioning, the failure of one partition often leaves the others recoverable. For this reason, many administrators continue to regard traditional partitioning as the preferred way to divide hard disks.
[...]
Buy this article as PDF
(incl. VAT)
Buy Linux Magazine
US / Canada
UK / Australia
Subscribe to our Linux Newsletters
Find Linux and Open Source Jobs
Subscribe to our ADMIN Newsletters
Support Our Work
Linux Magazine content is made possible with support from readers like you. Please consider contributing when you’ve found an article to be beneficial.
News
-
Bugs Found in sudo
Two critical flaws allow users to gain access to root privileges.
-
Fedora Continues 32-Bit Support
In a move that should come as a relief to some portions of the Linux community, Fedora will continue supporting 32-bit architecture.
-
Linux Kernel 6.17 Drops bcachefs
After a clash over some late fixes and disagreements between bcachefs's lead developer and Linus Torvalds, bachefs is out.
-
ONLYOFFICE v9 Embraces AI
Like nearly all office suites on the market (except LibreOffice), ONLYOFFICE has decided to go the AI route.
-
Two Local Privilege Escalation Flaws Discovered in Linux
Qualys researchers have discovered two local privilege escalation vulnerabilities that allow hackers to gain root privileges on major Linux distributions.
-
New TUXEDO InfinityBook Pro Powered by AMD Ryzen AI 300
The TUXEDO InfinityBook Pro 14 Gen10 offers serious power that is ready for your business, development, or entertainment needs.
-
LibreOffice Tested as Possible Office 365 Alternative
Another major organization has decided to test the possibility of migrating from Microsoft's Office 365 to LibreOffice.
-
Linux Mint 20 Reaches EOL
With Linux Mint 20 at its end of life, the time has arrived to upgrade to Linux Mint 22.
-
TuxCare Announces Support for AlmaLinux 9.2
Thanks to TuxCare, AlmaLinux 9.2 (and soon version 9.6) now enjoys years of ongoing patching and compliance.
-
Go-Based Botnet Attacking IoT Devices
Using an SSH credential brute-force attack, the Go-based PumaBot is exploiting IoT devices everywhere.