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I'm somewhat new to linux, in college its the preferred by my computer science professors so I decided to install Ubuntu and Kubuntu alongside my windows 8 installation. Now, here's my problem. I read somewhere that its best to keep files in a separate partition than your linux installation, so if you ever upgrade, you don't lose all your stuff. So I created a large partition (800 gigs) where I store all my photos, music, etc. for all my Operating Systems. Here's a couple of my questions.

  • I'm at Ubuntu 14.04, if I update to 14.10, will my currently installed programs like unrar, chromium, be compatible with 14.10?
  • If so, then would updating remove them since they are on the same partition as the linux installation?
  • If this is true, then for future reference, can or how do I specify an installation directory when installing packages using aptitude/apt-get, compiling myself, or from the software center?

I would like to have my installed packages on a separate partition if its possible. Thanks in advance :)

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  • Usually one question per question. You can put /home on a separate partition, probably easiest, or make a data partition and mount it wherever you wish.
    – Panther
    Feb 13, 2015 at 16:35
  • The vast majority of stuff goes into /usr and /var. If you ever reinstall, consider giving those their own partitions.
    – muru
    Feb 13, 2015 at 16:50

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  1. Ubuntu will automatically update programs installed from the Ubuntu repos to be compatible with the new version of Ubuntu.
  2. Updating may remove some packages, but I believe they are obsolete dependencies only.
  3. That's a bad idea, and I'd advise against that. Eliah Kagan has a great answer that says why, and it boils down to: everything has a place, the system looks for things in specific places because it's linux, moving things will confuse the hell out of it (and you!).

The common wisdom seems to be that spliting partitions reduces damage. Your OS and your /home directory are kept separate so you can

  • reinstall over the system partition while keeping your data,
  • backup your data partition easily, or
  • move your data partition easily.
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