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## Partitioning hard drives

OS/2 or ArcaOS or eComStation can installed on a single disk partition on the only hard disk on a computer. Many people use a more complex configuration, frequently with multiple operating systems which can be selected at boot time by a boot manager.

Even for a computer which will only run one version of OS/2, ArcaOS or eComStation, Blonde Guy recommends a boot manager, a principal operating system partition, a maintenance partition, and a user data partition. A separate programs partition is optional. The operating system and applications can be reinstalled fairly easily, but user data is often irreplacable.

#### Disk Partition for operating system

The size of the operating system partition depends on what will be installed on that partition. If programs are to be included on the operating system partition, Blonde Guy recommends using a 10 to 20 GB partition. Try to be generous when allocating disk space for the operating system and applications -- it is sometimes difficult to make more room later. If the applications are to be installed to a different partition, a 1 GB operating system partition will be sufficient.

OS/2 uses a swap file to provide virtual memory. While most modern systems provide far more RAM than OS/2 needs, you can allocate up to 4 GB of swap space, which by default will be on the operating system partition. Most people can safely ignore this requirement if they are using modern hardware.

For Warp 4, the operating system partition must be within the first 1024 blocks of the physical disk drive. For this reason, it may make sense to put Warp 4 on a separate small partition near the start of the disk, and to put applications and data on partitions at the end of the disk. This restriction is removed for the LVM versions of OS/2, that is OS/2 Warp Server for e-business, the Convenience Pack releases and eComStation and ArcaOS.

Last Modified: 11 Aug 2025
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