ArcaOS Disk Setup Options

"C" Primary
Whole Disk
JFS
This is the worst possible disk setup. The entire disk is partitioned using one large partition and the operating system is installed into the one large partition along with all programs and all data. There is no separation of the various system components. Reliability is diminished. Safety and security are compromised. This is also the slowest booting configuration. This setup does not require a boot manager.
"C" Primary
2 GiB HPFS
ARCAOS
"D" Logical
JFS
DATA
This setup is slightly better. It provides a small bootable partition for the operating system, with the remaining part of the disk for programs and data. This keeps the operating system separate from the programs and data so that it can be customized, reinstalled, and updated without affecting the installed programs and data. This setup does not require a boot manager. Due to the larger overhead with JFS, HPFS is recommended for disk sizes less than about 10 GB. The small HPFS boot partition allows this configuration boot slightly faster since HPFS boots faster than JFS.

UNIXROOT=D:
PROGRAMS=D:\PROGRAMS
HOME=D:\Home

"C" Primary
2 GiB HPFS
ARCAOS
"D" Logical
20 GiB JFS
PROGRAMS
"E" Logical
JFS
DATA
This setup is even better. It provides a small bootable partition for the operating system, but it also separates programs from data. This has all the benefits of the previous setup but adds the separation of the programs from the data. This setup does not require a boot manager. Due to the larger overhead with JFS, HPFS is recommended for disk sizes less than about 10 GB.

UNIXROOT=D:
PROGRAMS=D:
HOME=E:\Home

"C" Primary
2 GiB HPFS
MAINT
"D" Logical
2 GiB HPFS
ARCAOS
"E" Logical
20 GiB JFS
PROGRAMS
"F" Logical
JFS
DATA
This setup is the best. It provides all the benefits of the previous setup but adds a separately bootable maintenance partition. The maintenance partition can be use to recover your system in the event the main partition becomes unbootable. This setup requires a boot manager. AiR-BOOT is recommended because it is fast, flexible, and does not require a partition and does not place any files or any data in any partition. Due to the larger overhead with JFS, HPFS is recommended for disk sizes less than about 10 GB.

The maintenance boot partition is considered expendable. It can be formatted, reinstalled, updated, tested, etc. without affecting any of the rest of the system. The "C" partition was chosen for the maintenance partition as it provides protection against badly written software that wrongly assumes that "C" is the boot volume so that these errant programs won't corrupt the working boot volume.

UNIXROOT=E:
PROGRAMS=E:
HOME=F:\Home

"C" Primary
2 GiB HPFS
MAINT
"D" Logical
2 GiB HPFS
ARCAOS
"E" Logical
20 GiB JFS
PROGRAMS
"F" Logical
JFS
DATA
4 GiB Logical
Linux Swap
Logical

Linux "/"
 
Another Possibility. This is the same as the last setup but adds Linux to the mix. Create the Linux swap and Linux boot partitions using MiniLVM and then install Linux into them. You can also separate the Linux boot from the Linux data by making another partion similar to what was done for ArcaOS.

This setup requires a boot manager. AiR-BOOT is recommended because it is fast, flexible, and does not require a partition and does not place any files or any data in any partition. For Linux, AiR-BOOT will start GRUB which should be installed into the Linux boot partition.

UNIXROOT=E:
PROGRAMS=E:
HOME=F:\Home


Other notes: