Creating a Second Partition for Ubuntu Linux

To create the second partition, click on the "unallocated" item in the list (or the unallocated part of the diagram).

For this example, the computer has 512 MB of RAM, so we need 1024 MB of swap. In addition to this reserve, there is more space we need to subtract. For each partition after the first one, it is best practice to plan a buffer of at least 1 MB on either side.

At their simplest form, computers are just machines that run on electronic switches. They are still governed by physical laws. This means that physical problems can (and do) occur. It is not impossible for the control arm of a disk drive to overstep the partition. It does not happen often, but overruns are possible on any computer system. Therefore, a small buffer on either side of each partition ensures against major catastrophe.

With the swap space and buffers considered, the 8 GB hard disk of the example has around 3.161 GB of space left for the home directories.