Summary

• Automatic partitioning is safe and fast for standard installs—choose it if unsure.
• Manual partitioning is needed if you dual-boot, use LVM, or want separate filesystems for different partitions.
• Plan key partitions (root, home, swap, EFI) and sizes before you start manual setup.

Are you installing Linux for the first time and wondering if you should let the installer automatically partition the OS—or if you should brave the manual option? Well, here’s a detailed guide on when you need manual partitioning, what the different partitions are, and how to set them up!

Do you need manual partitioning when installing Linux?

Most popular distros ship with intuitive graphical installers that quickly set up your system following best practices. This makes installation significantly easier (and faster) for Linux newcomers—just click through a few buttons and let the installer handle everything, including setting up all necessary partitions.

As a rule of thumb, automatic partitioning is great for building a simple Linux system for day-to-day use. For instance, if you want to wipe everything on a drive and install one distro, automatic partitioning is super convenient! Even if you’re trying to build a dual-boot system, most distros let you “Install Alongside Windows” and handle partitioning automatically.

There are only a few niche and advanced use cases that require manual partitioning. For example, the Linux home partition is generally inside the root partition, but you might want to separate them—making it easier to reinstall or upgrade your Linux system by preserving the home partition content. This requires manual partitioning!

Likewise, you might want different filesystems for different partitions. The root partition generally benefits from using the Btrfs filesystem because it allows easy system snapshots and rollback if something breaks. However, since Btrfs isn’t ideal for large continuously written files—think Docker images and heavy Steam game libraries—you’d want to store them in a separate home partition formatted in Ext4. This advanced setup requires manual partitioning.

Understanding Linux partitions

If you manually partition your Linux PC, you’re setting up all the necessary partitions for your system and allocating disk space to each. To do this, you need to know what each partition does so you can make an informed decision on which ones to use and how much disk space to allocate. Here’s a quick overview of the most common Linux partitions.

ESP (EFI system partition)

The ESP partition is mandatory for modern UEFI-based systems (almost all systems manufactured after 2017). It stores the bootloader files necessary for your computer’s firmware to start your operating system. This partition must be formatted as FAT32, and you can allocate around 100MB of space—though I’d recommend 500MB to leave room for multiple bootloaders if you ever decide to set up a multi-boot system!

Root

Next, we have Root (/)—the main partition where your entire Linux system lives. It’s the foundation of the Linux filesystem hierarchy and the directory structure. A minimal installation needs 15–20 GB, but I’d recommend at least 100GB if you plan on doing real work and installing all your necessary apps and packages.

Home

The Home (/home) directory, by default, lives inside the root partition, but you can create a separate partition for it. This stores all your personal files, documents, downloads, and configuration files. The biggest advantage of a separate /home partition is reinstalling or upgrading your OS without losing personal data. The size is based on how many files you plan to store.

Boot

The /boot directory also lives inside the root partition, and creating a separate partition is optional. It contains your Linux kernel and initial ramdisk files needed during boot. The only reason to create a separate /boot partition is if you plan full disk encryption. Separating the /boot directory gives the bootloader unencrypted access to files required to boot your system. Allocate 1GB of disk space for this partition.

Swap

The swap partition acts as overflow memory when RAM gets full or your system hibernates. Most modern distros use a swap file instead of a dedicated partition. That said, if you want a separate swap partition, its size will depend on your RAM. With 8GB of RAM or less, make swap equal to your RAM size (especially for hibernation). With more than 8GB of RAM, stick with 4GB-8GB of swap—the idea being that the more RAM you have, the less swap you need.

Other optional partitions

Beyond core partitions, Linux lets you create separate partitions for specific directories like /var—for storing logs and databases; /opt—for storing optional add-on software; /srv—for storing server data; /usr—for storing most system-wide user-installed packages; and /tmp—to store temporary files. However, most folks will never need a dedicated partition for these.

It’s important to remember that creating too many partitions makes your system inflexible. Running out of space on one partition while having plenty on another is frustrating. Unless you’re setting up a specialized server, stick with the basics: EFI, Root, Home, and maybe Swap.

How to manually partition Linux

Now that you know when to manually partition, what the different partitions are, and how much space to allocate—let’s install Kubuntu and see how manual partitioning works.

I picked Kubuntu for this demo because it uses the Calamares installer, one of the most popular Linux installers. If you install a distro that doesn’t use Calamares—e.g., Ubuntu (uses Ubuntu-desktop-installer) or Fedora-based distros (uses Anaconda)—the interface might differ slightly, but the same principles apply.

1. Select manual partitioning

When you reach the partitioning screen, you’ll see options like these: Erase Disk, Install Alongside, Replace a Partition, and Manual Partitioning.

Before making changes, double-check that you’ve selected the correct drive for the Kubuntu installation.

Choose “Manual Partitioning” and click “Next” to open the following page showing all your drives and present partitions:

If you’re installing Kubuntu on a new drive, the partition list should be empty, like this:

2. Wipe the drive to create a new partition table (optional)

If you’re working with a new drive, click “New Partition Table.” A dialog box will appear asking whether you want GPT—for modern UEFI systems (recommended for computers sold after 2017), or MBR—for older systems running legacy BIOS. Pick the correct option based on your system—most likely GPT.

You’ll now see new free space available that you can start splitting to build your partition table.

Alternatively, if you see existing partitions but want to wipe everything and start fresh, just select the main drive and follow the same process by clicking “New Partition Table.”

Samsung T7 SSD

Storage capacity 2TB

Transfer rate 10 GB/s

Dimensions 3.3“L x 2.2“W x 0.3“Th

Weight 0.13 Pounds

3. Configuring a drive partition for installing Linux

You’ll typically use manual partitioning for dual-boot or multi-boot systems where you install Linux alongside other OSes. Now, the best practice is creating free unallocated space before installing Linux. However, if you forgot, you can use GParted—generally pre-installed in most Linux live environments—to shrink a partition and get free unallocated space.

That said, if you notice a partition you won’t use, you can also select it in Calamares and click Delete. This will delete everything there and leave free unallocated space the size of the deleted partition(s) that you can now use to install your Linux distro.

Select the free space, click “Create,” and divide it into necessary partitions—root, home, and others.

4. Creating new partitions

At minimum, you need two partitions—an ESP and a root (/) partition. Swap is optional, and a separate /boot partition is only required for encrypted or LVM-based setups.

The priority should be creating your ESP partition first. If the drive already contains a small FAT32 partition flagged as EFI System Partition (often 100–500MB), you can reuse it and skip creating a new one. The installer will automatically detect and assign it as the bootloader target. However, if it doesn’t exist, create a new partition with these specs:

• Size: 300–500 MB
• Filesystem: FAT32
• Mount Point: /boot/efi
• Flags: boot (or ESP or EFI System Partition)

Next, create the root partition. Again, select the remaining unallocated free space with these configurations:

• Size: 50GB or more (depending on apps you’ll install)
• Filesystem: Btrfs (or Ext4 if you don’t want snapshots)
• Mount Point: /
• Flag: root

For a swap partition, repeat the same process with these configurations:

• Size: 4GB–8GB (based on available RAM)
• Filesystem: linuxswap
• Mount Point: NA
• Flag: swap

The following partitions are optional, but manual partitioning is the simplest way to configure them. I’d recommend creating a separate home partition because it can be helpful if you plan to reinstall your distro often.

• Size: >50GB (as much as root or more for personal documents and config files)
• Filesystem: Ext4
• Mount Point: /home
• Flag: NA

You can create optional /var, /tmp, /srv, /opt, or /usr partitions for finer control, but most folks won’t need them.

5. Confirm your partition table and proceed with the installation

Once you’ve created all desired partitions, click “Confirm” and proceed with installation as usual—your custom, manually partitioned Linux distro is ready! The installer will notify you if a partition is misconfigured or if you forgot the root partition or ESP.

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Manual partitioning isn’t scary—it’s just filled with jargon that can be confusing. However, now that you know what everything means and what you’re supposed to do, you’re on the road to becoming a more informed and advanced Linux user.