There is an interface that allows you to delete existing partitions, to create new partitions and to change type identifiers of existing partitions. It also allows you to change the sizes of the available partitions with or without data loss. When partition size is increased, existing free space unoccupied by other partitions works as a delimiter of maximum increase allowed. When partition size is decreased, the actual amount of space occupied by data on the partition determines the limit for the decrease.
This interface is capable of automatically labelling of the hard drive using one of the following models of disk space distribution, depending on the user's choice:
Creates three partitions: /, swap, and /home. This disk space distribution mode is used by default in the “Recommended” installation class and is appropriate for the majority of user workstations.
Five partitions are created: /, swap, /usr, /var, /home. This configuration can be recommended for the majority of general-purpose servers.
Four partitions are created: /, swap, /usr, /home. This configuration may prove useful to many developers and system administrators.
In any case, after the automatic allocation of partitions is done, there is an option to manually correct the allocation when necessary.
When the allocation of partitions is completed, the user is asked to acknowledge the process by pressing the «» button. An enquiry asking to confirm the writing of new data into the partition table will be issued separately for each hard drive. Before this confirmation is received, the installer will not write anything into the partition table: all changes, aside from the actual change of the partition sizes, take place in the operating memory. If a positive answer is given, a list of partitions that, according to the installer, should be formatted, will be outputted. The user may choose from this list partitions that will actually be formatted. During formatting, types of partitions are automatically chosen according to the types of file systems declared.
Qualified users have an opportunity to fine-tune the partition table. In order to do this, Ctrl-Alt-F2 combination of keys should be pressed as soon as the installer enters the “Setup Filesystems” stage, which will switch control over to a console. A certain set of system utilities is available in this console mode, including the standard fdisk program, which gives users an excellent choice of sophisticated partition management options.
After partitions are formatted, the installation of the system is conducted in the regular mode and does not differ from other installation modes until the moment when the bootup software is chosen.