Install Linux Mint - HDD Prep

Well... I finally got around to doing a Full Install of Linux Mint on a PC.  It is remarkably easy... though I did have to look a few things up.  This post is to fill-in the gaps, and remind me of what I did, and where I went to get the answers.

The machine I used was a Notebook PC that had Win-XP on it, which is dead now, so I chose to re-partition the HDD and start from scratch.  It was relatively resource rich (for a hand-me-down / give-away machine), and just begging for an installation such as Linux Mint, which I typically install on machines with 1+ GB of RAM.  (For PC's between 1 GB and 500 MB of RAM, I typically use Puppy Linux.)

The resources were:

• Dual Core CPU - 32-bit
• 1.8 GB RAM
• 250 GB HDD

Also included were the usual bells-and-whistles such as a DVD Drive, LAN Adapter, WiFi Adapter, and even a camera and mic.

I decided to re-partition the HDD first, and ran into a few minor snags that I had to look-up.

I wanted two partitions... one for the OS, and one for Data.  I used ext3 as the formatting option (the default was ext4).  Another installation, on a PC with slimmer resources, went to ext4, and it seems to run OK.  I'd say try it, and if it "breaks", just try a different installation.

This is what I ended up doing to get through the full partition process:

• 50 GB - Set partition 1, at the beginning, using ( / ) to set the root, for the OS installation.
• 175 GB - Set partition 2, at the beginning, using ( /home ) for the Data section.
• 25 GB - Created a Swap ( ) partition.

I have no idea at this time if this is correct, or best, but I know it is good for a 1st try.

Here are a few links that helped me make a few decisions:

• Choosing the "Mount Point"
• Not for Mint (different screen-shots), but Mint is a version of Ubuntu, so it was close enough.  This helped me decide what Mount Point to use for which partition ( / or /home in this case).
• How to Install "Mint" with Manual Partitioning
• More info than the above, and helped me decide that 30+ GB (30,000+ MB) was adequate for the OS install.
• Linux File Systems: Ext2 vs Ext3 vs Ext4
• Good overall explanation at "The Geek Stuff".

Some other links of interest:

• How to Install Linux Mint
• From WikiHow... even includes ISO burning instructions

After the installation was done, an icon in the (equivalent) Task Bar prompted me to install a large number of updates, which took some time, but went OK.  Some updates failed, but what did finish went well, and after a boot, all was well (the PC ran OK).

:-)