I'm curious about the advantages of creating a separate /home partition in Linux. I've always kept my personal files like photos and music in a different partition on Windows, which also includes programs and games. However, I'm under the impression that Linux programs are tightly integrated with the root filesystem, so creating separate partitions for apps might not be practical (unless I use something like AppImage). Can anyone elaborate on why a separate /home partition might be beneficial?
2 Answers
I stopped using a separate /home partition a while back since my backup strategy is solid. I just have one big Linux partition now. I’m okay with reinstalling software from the repos if I need to, though I do save some .debs and keep track of my installed packages to easily reinstall things if I ever do a clean install.
Having a separate /home partition is super handy for reinstalling your OS. It means you can wipe your root partition and start fresh without losing personal files or user settings, as long as you have backups. For instance, I’ve switched distros pretty easily thanks to this layout. Just make sure to regular back up your data, including the /etc folder if needed!
Totally agree! Reinstalling is a breeze, and you keep all your stuff intact.