FW: [CS-FSLUG] Add-on to my previous message

[Ruth Marlene Friesen]

I'll do some combining here to save on emails. First about backups and 
then partitioning.

Don Parris wrote:

>I would recommend sticking with CD's, personally.  Tapes can break -
>I've heard tooo many stories to even think about tape back-ups.  On my
>"day job", they use a tape silo and a vendor who provides off-site
>back-up service.  Obviously, they rotate the tapes frequently.  But as
>a home/SOHO user, I'd use CDs.  Just a personal preference on that.
>
>Don
>  
>
Thanks, Don. Tapes would be an additional expense, and I have other 
other priorities just now. But I can go with CDs - if I don't have to 
burn a fresh one every time I do a back up.
Is it possible to re-format and burn over a CD-R, or only on a CD-RW?

Now, this 2nd computer comes with a Zip drive. I know next to nothing 
about it, but one friend said hers had caused nothing but trouble for 
her, so I'm not sure whether to bother.

>
>On Tue, 12 Oct 2004 15:11:35 -0400, Fred Miller <fmiller at lightlink.com> wrote:
>  
>
>>On Tuesday October 12 2004 1:32 pm, Ruth Marlene Friesen wrote:
>>    
>>
>>>Thanks, Stephen,
>>>I didn't realize this.  You've answered that question.
>>>
>>>So ... how do you do backups? It always involves burning a CD?
>>>      
>>>
>>Ruth, depending on the amount that has to backed up, a CD or DVD burner can be
>>good. A GOOD tape drive is also a good choice, in particular the DLT drives
>>from ADIC.....VERY good and VERY expensive. Another VERY GOOD way to backup
>>is to buy a hard drive just for that purpose. Hard driver are cheaper than
>>any other method when you have a large amount of data.
>>
>>Hope this helps,
>>
>>
>>Fred
>>    
>>
At present, while in transition, it wouldn't be much yet. But I'd like 
to establish good backup habits.

Oh.  I hadn't thought of an extra drive. At the moment that would be an 
unwelcome expense, but ... something to keep in mind.
 
Guess I need to learn to burn CDs in Mandrake. :)


Now about your suggestions for partitioning my 10 gb drive. This is 
really helpful. I've made notes, and will see if I can do this on Friday 
night. That's the first block of time I think I can free up to do a 
re-install. I'll let you know how it goes.

[snip]


>> Okay, as I just wrote in reply to another email, I kept notes while I
>> did the install, and here's that section;
>> on 3/13/04 on newer 10 GB computer,
>> created a small HFS "bootstrap" partion of at least 1 MB on 50 MB.
>> for use by yaboot loader.
>> Partitioning.
>> Linux Boot section: mount/boot hda1. Linux (oops, can't make out my
>> handwriting -native?) 1 GB.
>> Swap section: hda5 743 MB
>> Root section: Journalized FS? 3 /753 MB
>> Home section; hda7 Journalized FS  407 MB.
>> USR section: hda8 Linux Native 3.5 GB
>> Var section: hda9 Linux Native 109 MB
>> Tmp section: hda10 Jornalized FS-on3 635 MB
>> /mnt/windows section: hda11 FAT 32  2.8GB
>  
>

Ok......10G is "thin" for a drive, but it can be done. I setup an old Dell for 
my son recently with SUSE 9.0 and it has a single 10G drive.

Here's what I did, based on how I know Linux "works," and needs space to grow 
to a certain extent. First, setting up the bootloader to use the MRB of the 
drive is the best way to go, IMHO. So, with that in mind, here's the setup I 
used.........sizes are best I can remember.  :) 

/ = 3G.
/swap = 1G
/usr = 2G
/home = 4G

Now, setting "/" to 3G gives plenty of room for /var, /tmp, /opt, etc. /usr 
also holds /usr/local and will expand as some apps. want to installed 
there. /home provides some storage space for created data.

I've setup a number of systems this way and unless the user starts downloading 
a bunch of junk off the Net., it will be fine for quite awhile.

Hope this helps,

Fred

Oh that reminds me. I did try downloading two things in Mandrake, and 
there was no way I could install them from there. It has its own system 
and seems to only allow installations from the original CDs. Or is there 
some other trick to downloading things in Mandrake? Like for instance, 
an upgrade to Open Office, etc.?

Blessings & Thanks,
Ruth