Partition Guide

Partition Guide

This is the most critical step of the entire installation. Take your time, read carefully, and do not rush. A mistake here can result in data loss or an unbootable system.

Before you start — open a second terminal and run lsblk to see all your disks and their sizes. Make absolutely sure you know which disk you are partitioning.

Step 0 — Know Your Firmware Type

Before partitioning, you must know whether your system uses UEFI or Legacy BIOS. The partition layout and bootloader setup are different for each. Getting this wrong will result in a system that cannot boot.

Check your firmware type by running in the terminal:

ls /sys/firmware/efi

• Directory exists → you are on UEFI. Use the UEFI partition layout.
• No such directory → you are on Legacy BIOS. Use the Legacy partition layout.

Step 1 — Select Partitioning Utility

You will be asked to choose a partitioning tool:

• cfdisk — Simple and intuitive. Recommended for everyone.
• fdisk — Classic console-based. For experts only.

Select cfdisk and press Enter.

If you want to learn more about cfdisk in depth, refer to:

• ArchWiki — fdisk (cfdisk section)
• Void Linux Handbook — Partitioning

Step 2 — Read the Installer's Recommendations

Before launching cfdisk, the installer shows an important summary:

For UEFI systems:

• GPT partition table required
• Create a FAT32 partition of at least 512 MB, type: EFI System
• Mount point: /boot/efi

For Legacy BIOS systems:

• MBR or GPT supported
• If using GPT on BIOS: create a 1 MB partition, type: BIOS Boot

Vostok recommendations:

• Root / — minimum 30 GB, recommended 50 GB+
• Partition type: Linux filesystem
• Swap — equal to your RAM size (for hibernation support)

WARNING: Moving /usr to a separate partition is not supported.

Read this screen carefully, then press OK to enter cfdisk.

Step 3 — Inside cfdisk

If the disk already has partitions

If your disk already has partitions from a previous system, you need to delete all of them first. Select each partition with the arrow keys and press [ Delete ] to remove it. Repeat for every partition until the disk shows only Free space.

If you are dual-booting and want to keep another OS — do NOT delete its partitions. Only delete the partitions you want to replace with Vostok.

If the disk is empty

You may be asked to select a partition table type. Choose GPT — it works with both UEFI and modern BIOS systems and supports disks larger than 2 TB.

Step 4 — Create the EFI / Boot Partition (1 GB)

Select Free space and press [ New ]. When asked for the partition size, enter 1G.

This partition will be used by the bootloader.

Now you must set the correct type depending on your firmware:

For UEFI systems — EFI System

Select the partition, press [ Type ], and choose EFI System.

This partition must be:

• Size: 1 GB (512 MB minimum, but 1 GB is safer)
• Type: EFI System
• Filesystem: vfat (FAT32) — set this in the Filesystems step
• Mount point: /boot/efi — set this in the Filesystems step

For Legacy BIOS systems — BIOS Boot

Select the partition, press [ Type ], and choose BIOS Boot.

This partition must be:

• Size: 1 MB is technically enough, but you can leave it at 1 GB — there's no downside
• Type: BIOS Boot
• No filesystem needed — GRUB writes directly to this space
• No mount point needed — skip this partition completely in the Filesystems step

Step 5 — Swap Partition (Optional)

Do you need swap?

Swap is disk space that the system uses as overflow RAM when physical memory is full. It also enables hibernation (saving RAM to disk and powering off).

When to create a swap partition:

• You have 8 GB RAM or less
• You want hibernation support (laptop users)
• You run memory-intensive workloads

When you can skip swap:

• You have 16 GB RAM or more and don't need hibernation
• You're installing on an SSD and want to minimize writes

Recommended swap size:

• For hibernation: equal to your RAM size (8 GB RAM → 8 GB swap)
• Without hibernation: 2–4 GB is usually enough as overflow

Creating the swap partition

Select Free space, press [ New ], enter the size (e.g. 8G).

Then press [ Type ] and select Linux swap:

Step 6 — Root and Home Partitions

Now you need to decide: will you have a separate /home partition or put everything on one / partition?

What is the difference?

Think of it like Windows drives:

• / (root) = C: drive — this is where the system and all installed programs live
• /home = D: drive — this is where all your personal files, documents, downloads, and user settings live

Why separate /home is beneficial:

• You can reinstall Vostok without losing your personal files
• You can upgrade to a new version and keep all your data
• It's easier to back up just your personal data

When to use a single partition:

• Small disk (under 120 GB)
• You prefer simplicity
• You will back up data manually

Creating the Root Partition /

Select Free space, press [ New ]. Enter the size for your root partition.

Recommended root size: 100–150 GB

This is where the system and all installed applications will live. With KDE Plasma, packages, and typical software — 100 GB is comfortable. 150 GB gives you plenty of room.

Press [ Type ] and select Linux filesystem:

Creating the Home Partition /home

Select the remaining Free space, press [ New ]. Leave the size as the full remaining disk space (just press Enter without typing anything).

Press [ Type ] and select Linux filesystem.

Step 7 — The Final Layout

Your partition table should look similar to this:

When you're satisfied with the layout, press [ Write ], type yes to confirm, then press [ Quit ] to exit cfdisk.

This is the point of no return. Once you write, the partition table is applied to the disk.

Step 8 — Filesystems

After partitioning, return to the installer's Filesystems menu. Here you assign a filesystem format and mount point to each partition you created.

The installer will show your newly created partitions. Go through each one:

EFI Partition (UEFI only)

Select the 1 GB EFI partition. Choose filesystem: vfat (FAT32).

When asked for the mount point, enter: /boot/efi

Legacy BIOS users: Skip the BIOS Boot partition entirely. Do not assign a filesystem or mount point to it. Move on to swap.

Swap Partition

Select the swap partition. Choose filesystem type: swap.

No mount point is needed — the system handles swap automatically.

Root Partition /

Select your root partition (100–150 GB). Choose filesystem:

• ext4 — stable, reliable, battle-tested. Recommended for most users.
• btrfs — modern, supports snapshots and compression. Good for advanced users.

Recommendation: ext4 — it's the safest and most compatible choice.

When asked for the mount point, enter: /

Home Partition /home

Select your home partition (remaining space). Choose filesystem: ext4 (same as root).

When asked for the mount point, enter: /home

Summary — What You've Done

You have:

1. Created a bootloader partition (EFI or BIOS Boot)
2. Created a swap partition (optional)
3. Created a root / partition where the system will be installed
4. Created a /home partition for your personal files
5. Assigned filesystems and mount points to each

You're ready to go back to the main installer menu and proceed to Install.

Quick Disk Reference

Before and after partitioning, use these commands to verify your work:

List all disks and partitions:

lsblk

Show disk details with sizes:

lsblk -f

Check partition types:

fdisk -l /dev/nvme0n1

For deeper partitioning documentation, see:

• Void Linux Handbook — Partitioning
• ArchWiki — Partitioning
• ArchWiki — EFI system partition