Editing Disk partitioning (section)

=== Unix-like systems ===
On [[Unix]]-based and [[Unix-like]] operating systems such as [[Linux]], [[macOS]], [[BSD]], and [[Solaris (operating system)|Solaris]], it is possible to use multiple partitions on a disk device. Each partition can be formatted with a [[file system]] or as a [[swap partition]].

Multiple partitions allow directories such as [[/boot]], [[/tmp]], [[/usr]], [[/var]], or [[/home]] to be allocated their own filesystems. Such a scheme has a number of advantages:

* If one file system gets corrupted, the data outside that filesystem/partition may stay intact, minimizing data loss.
* Specific [[file system]]s can be mounted with different parameters, e.g., [[file system permissions|read-only]], or with the execution of [[setuid]] files disabled.
* A runaway program that uses up all available space on a non-system filesystem does not fill up critical filesystems.
* Keeping user data such as documents separate from system files allows the system to be updated with lessened risk of disturbing the data.

A common minimal configuration for Linux systems is to use three partitions: one holding the system files mounted on "/" (the [[root directory]]), one holding user configuration files and data mounted on /home ([[home directory]]), and a swap partition.

By default, macOS systems also use a single partition for the entire filesystem and use a [[swap file]] inside the file system (like Windows) rather than a swap partition.

In Solaris, partitions are sometimes known as '''slices'''. This is a conceptual reference to the slicing of a cake into several pieces.

The term "slice" is used in the [[FreeBSD]] operating system to refer to [[Master Boot Record]] partitions, to avoid confusion with FreeBSD's own [[BSD disklabel|disklabel]]-based partitioning scheme. However, [[GUID Partition Table]] partitions are referred to as "partition" worldwide.