Step 3 - Do You Have Enough Disk Space?

Nearly every modern-day operating system (OS) uses disk partitions, and Red Hat Linux is no exception. When you install Red Hat Linux, you may have to work with disk partitions. If you have not worked with disk partitions before (or need a quick review of the basic concepts) read An Introduction to Disk Partitions in the appendix of the Official Red Hat Linux Reference Guide before proceeding.

If Red Hat Linux will share your system with another OS, you will need to make sure you have enough available disk space on your hard drive(s) for this installation.

The disk space used by Red Hat Linux must be separate from the disk space used by other OSes you may have installed on your system, such as Windows, OS/2, or even a different version of Linux. Two partitions (/ and swap) must be dedicated to Red Hat Linux.

Before you start the installation process, one of the three following conditions must be met:

• Your computer must have enough unpartitioned disk space for the installation of Red Hat Linux.

• You must have one or more partitions that may be deleted, thereby freeing up enough disk space to install Red Hat Linux.

• You must have a preexisting, formatted FAT (DOS) partition with sufficient disk space, and install Red Hat Linux using the partitionless installation (Appendix B).

	Note
	To perform a partitionless installation, you must also choose the class of installation you want to perform. Unlike a typical installation, however, you will not have to worry about losing any information on your system. A partitionless installation will not remove existing partitions. For more information, turn to Appendix B.

Installation Disk Space Requirements

Workstation-class

A workstation-class installation, choosing to install GNOME or KDE, requires at least 1.2 GB of free space. Choosing both GNOME and KDE requires at least 1.5 GB of free disk space.

Server-class

A server-class installation requires 650 MB for a minimal installation and at least 1.2 GB of free space if every package is selected.

Laptop-class

A laptop-class installation, when you choose to install GNOME or KDE, requires at least 1.2 GB of free space. If you choose both GNOME and KDE, you will need at least 1.5 GB of free disk space.

Custom-class

A custom-class installation requires 300 MB for a minimal installation and at least 2.4 GB of free space if every package is selected.

	Note
	To use automatic partitioning, you must have enough free disk space available (1.2 GB or more); if you do not have enough free disk space available, this option will not appear during your installation.

If you are not sure that you meet these conditions, or if you want to know how to create free disk space for your Red Hat Linux installation, please refer to the partitioning appendix in the Official Red Hat Linux Reference Guide.