Free space on disk C: in Windows refers to free space of that partition.
Newcomers to Linux are usualy best serverd (to get started) by using:
- / : The 'root' partition (unlike the root dir: /root - the 'home' of root/admin)
- /home : The home for all your personal files and configurations
NOTE: Most linux use 500 as the default UID for new Users.
AFAIK: Fedora (not sure about the other RH based Linux') is the only one using 1000.
Thus, sharing /home of Fedora with a Debian install might cause issues, unless you have changed /etc/passwd accordingly and relabel the /home for SELinux matters (better use:
system-config-users).
The useless complexity is given if you do:
- /opt
- /var
- /tmp
- /home
- /boot
- /
As a first time user, most of those 'used' or 'suggested' moutpoints are only relevant for companys/professional use (meaning: work - not hobby/private use), in which case they'd have the NEED for those mountpoints.
Again, as a newcomer, all you 'need' is:
"/home" and of course "/"
For which "/" should be something around 8-24gb, and /home 'ALL' the rest!
A comman linux installation takes around 4-6 gb, ~7gb if Gnome 3.11...
Adding another 7gb just in case you might want do backup-copys of your fav. DvDs giving a requirement of ~ 14gb providing 7gb of free space for the tempfiles of the dvd.
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EDIT: to include post that was done mainwhile....
I tried to do symlinks too at the beginning, makes things more complex than they are, and might cause you to delete files by accident, by deleting a symlink the wrong way (happened several times to me, even recently).
If you have 2 drives, and no windows.
Then i'd use the small disk-drive for the OS (read: the "/" partition) (as previously stated, usualy max 24gb for / are sufficant... 32gb for LTS - just to be sure....)
And the large disk for the files: /home.
Do not forget about SWAP, that should ALWAYS BE about 1.5 times your RAM. 1:1 at least - so you can hibernate/suspend.