Does boot from hdb2 matter?

[Thomas Sprinkmeier]

On Mon, 2006-11-20 at 15:22 +1030, Dr Brian Astill wrote:
> OK so I thought that hdb1 and hdb2 were both empty and, as hdb1 is 
> slightly larger than hdb2, Ubuntu Edgy would install itself 
> there.
> 
> BUT - hdb1 was NOT empty.
> 
> Thus Edgy is on the Active partition which is hdb2, leaving hdb1 
> as an area usable for something else.
> 
> Does this arrangement matter?
> Should I erase data from hdb1 and copy ALL hdb2 files to hdb1? 
> (That in itself presents problems with symlinks, special system 
> files, and the like).
> Would it be OK to leave things as they are and use hdb1 for (eg) 
> my clipart collection?


You could nuke hdb1 and resize hdb2.
(usual warning about backups!!!)
gpartd (gnome partition program) can do this sort of thing for you.

Depending on the size of the partitions it might make sense to
move /home onto hdb1.

Moving directories around various partitions is usually OK, provided:
 - the mounts are updated (/etc/fstab)
 - the boot loader knows where to find stuff
 - the 'essential' stuff is in the / partition (i.e. don't try to
put /bin or /root on separate partitions, these are needed during
booting)



Thomas