I've installed Ubuntu Server 10.04, for serving as a samba server and development web server in my home network, on the following box:
- Pentium III 733MHz @133MHz
- 768 MB RAM
- HD 1: 20.5 GB
- HD 2: 41 GB
What I did, as far as partitioning is concerned, is as followed:
HD 1:
- Primary partition [/] 19 GB
- Logical partition [swap] 1.5 GB
HD 2:
- Logical partition [/home] 41 GB
Is this a reasonable configuration? Coming from a predominantly Windows (and a little bit of Mac OS X) environment, I believe a primary partition is needed for booting the system. But I think I read that I could do away with a primary partition altogether for a linux environment, and make it a logical partition as well, because Linux can boot from a logical partition. I believe this was suggested to make creating a multi boot system easier. While I don't have a need for a multi boot system though, is using only logical partitions still advisable nonetheless?
Furthermore, when printing out the partitioning info, I expected partitions to be named consecutively as:
/dev/sda1 Linux
/dev/sda2 Linux swap / Solaris
/dev/sdb1 Linux
But got:
/dev/sda1 Linux
/dev/sda2 Extended
/dev/sda5 Linux swap / Solaris
/dev/sdb1 Extended
/dev/sdb5 Linux
Now, if memory serves me correct, an extended partition is indeed needed for a logical partition. This is correct, right? However, what I don't understand is why the logical partitions are numbered sda5 and sdb5 in stead of sda3 and sdb2 respectively. Is this a sign that there are still undiscovered / hidden partitions on both drives? Or is this a conventional naming strategy I was unaware of?