JawsThemeSwimming428 wrote:If you have the /home in the root partition it keeps all of your configs and settings with it. So when you delete root you delete your /home (because they are in one partition) and then upon re-installation would have to redo all of your configurations. If you have the /home in a separate partition you can delete the root partition and reinstall the OS without touching /home. So when you install the new root and point it to your already configured /home you will have a system that is more configured to your preference.

Yes, thank you. Up till now I have always kept my /home in the root partition in Ubuntu, and every time a new version is released, I have to copy my /home to an external HD and paste it back into the new Ubuntu release once I install it. So what you say is true, it will be more convenient to instead keep the /home as a separate partition so I don't have to go through this headache anymore.

But my question in the post just above yours, was different. There I was already understanding that it is better not to put /home in the root partition, and was asking about whether to create--in addition to the root partition--separate additional partitions for /home and another separate partition for backup data from my main HD which has Ubuntu Hardy on it. Or whether to just put the AntiX /home and the Ubuntu backup data in the same partition (but that partition would in any event be a separate partition from root). And then I asked, if I put say, four separate small distros on my HD of which AntiX is one, then does each of their"/home" need to be in its own separate partition? Or could I make one partition and put the /home of all four distros into the same partition together?

I'm just trying to understand the practical theory behind how to manage /home directories outside of the root directory.

Not sure about putting a few /home's in the same partition but I would not put your antiX /home and data backup on the same partition. If that partition would become corrupt you would lose two things instead of one.

JawsThemeSwimming428 wrote:Not sure about putting a few /home's in the same partition but I would not put your antiX /home and data backup on the same partition. If that partition would become corrupt you would lose two things instead of one.

I see. Yes, that makes sense. It's just that it gives you flexibility of space. I think I'm going to try and read a bit more about this. Thanks though for your advice. __{{emoticon}}__

No problem! Let me know if you find anything.

Well, one practical point I can report on-- I went ahead and set up partitions today on my HD in order to install AntiX. I had plans to add other small distros on that HD as well in order to do a comparison, so before the AntiX install I wanted to set up several extra partitions in anticipation of adding more root partitions and home partitions later. But I found, or rather gparted reminded me, that one can only create a maximum of four primary partitions or which one is swap. That leaves you with three. And one of those can be an extended partition with two logical partitions inside. So aside from swap, it gives you a total of four partitions to work with. At least, that is the limit if you use gparted. That will only allow for setting up two distros on the drive, if you want to keep the root and home directories in separate partitions. I guess one could squeeze up to four distros on the HD using gparted, but only if you keep the"/" and"/home" in the same partition. Am I missing something here? Sounds like two distros is the limit if you keep the / and /home in separate partitions.

You should be able to create as many extended partitions inside those logical partitions.

I see, that's interesting. If it is like that, then it does give scope for a few extra distros. --So long as the grub menu can manage them. Anyhow, my 10g HD is not going to allow me to put so many on to test all that. But at least the theory is clear now. Thank you.

Well, now I created a bit of a problem. But nothing that someone here won't be able to clear up I'm sure. I set up my 10g HD with one 3g extended partition (hda1) containing two logical drives (hda 5 & 6)-- one a 2g partition which I put AntiX"/" on, and one a 1g partition which I put AntiX"/home" on. Then there are three other primary partitions-- one 385 mb partition (hda3) for swap, a 2g partition (hda2) for another distro's root, and a 4g partition (hda4) which will be for that distro's"/home" plus will also serve as a backup location for data from another drive. So first I set up AntiX and had AntiX set up its Grub menu. And AntiX was booting fine. But then tonite, I installed Tinyflux with its root on hda2, and home on hda4. Tinyflux of course set up its own Grub, and invited me to add any other linux or Win OS's already on the HD, into the Grub menu. So I added AntiX into the Grub menu, giving the info when asked, that its root is located in hda5. Tinyflux's Grub setup also wanted to know what kernel AntiX uses, and I of course did not know. But the wizard supplied some default kernel name which I accepted. Anyhow, the grub menu looks fine, with both Tinyflux and AntiX listed there. But only Tinyflux boots up. If I select AntiX, it gets stuck quickly, gives some error messages, and can't boot. My guess is that AntiX isn't properly listed somehow in the Grub menu or something.

1. Given the limitations of a 10g HD, did I set up the structure and architecture of the two distros and 5 partitions the best way I could have?

2. Can someone tell me what I have to do to fix things with Grub so AntiX will again boot properly as it did when I initially installed it?

Post your /boot/grub/menu.lst so we can have a look.

ok, I'm going to put the HD back in my laptop now, and in a few minutes will be able to paste the menu.1st contents here.

Here is the menu.1st file:
And I should just mention, that the AntiX root is indeed in hda5. hda5 is a logical partition inside the extended partition hda1. That should be alright, eh? So that much is correct. As for the rest i.e, the kernel version etc, I do not know.

Change the antiX section to this:

title antiX-M7.2
root (hd0,4)
kernel /boot/vmlinuz root=/dev/hda5 nomce quiet nosplash vga=791
initrd /boot/initrd.img

If that doesn't work try this:

title antiX
root (hd0,4)
kernel /boot/vmlinuz-2.6.22-1-mepis-smp root=/dev/hda5 ro quiet nosplash vga=791
initrd /boot/initrd.img-2.6.22-1-mepis-smp

Ok, I've tried the first one you gave and it didn't work. I am typing the error it gave below, in case it is of any use. In the mean time I'll try the second one now and see if it works.
I don't know why it says filesystem type is ext2. The file system I created is ext3. I'm sure that is what it is.

I just tried the second way, and got the very same error as I got with the first way. And I put in my Parted Magic livecd, booted to it and opened gparted just to make sure all the filesystems are ext3. They are. And as per gparted, all the partitions are ok.

Why then is grub saying it is of type ext2?

What should I try next?

I would try using the Antix live cd and reinstall grub. It should see both installs and configure them in the menu.