[Ticiano]

Guys, I know this is problaly a real dumb question, but with my lack of experience with linux, I'm not being able to solve it.

I just like to make a small partition (something like 6Gb) in a 1,5 ou 2Tb HD and use it to install XBMC Live (i know the new version make it possible), but after installing the system, I want to be able to mount the big storage partition, set sources there, and get access to it by SFTP.

I sorry for the dumb question, but I'd be very thankfull for your help!

[TheHazel3yes]

Easy: You'd have to partition your hard disk manually, so eg. 6 GB for linux (ext4, mountet at /), 2 GB for swap and the rest for your movies (whatever format you like).

After installing XMBC Live you have to close XBMC, log in at the console and mount your movies partition - to do it automatically at startup just add it in fstab.

I have the same scenario: XBMC Live is installed onto a 4 GB USB thumb drive and all movies are on an internal 500 GB hard disk.

[Ticiano]

Thank you TheHazel3yes! Could you give me a link to some "how to" if the best way to make this thru terminal... I'm really a newbie with linux and I just have made this kind of things with softwares with an easy GUI...

[lcapriotti]

During manually partitioning, specify the biggest partition to be used as /home, and you are done.

[TheHazel3yes]

Ok... First things first: I am not an Linux expert either, however I had some fun with my XBMC Live system in the last months so I gained some experience...

Well, here is what I have noted in my how-to that I wrote for myself, just in case I have to reinstall the system:

Install XBMC Live and do a manual partition (there should be some guides in the net), however you will need 3 partitions: root (that's your system, it is mounted as /), swap (that's the place where Linux writes stuff of the RAM so it should be at least as big as your RAM) and in your case another partition with your movies & tv shows.
Your root partition would be ext4, as it is standard in Ubuntu 9.10, swap has it's own format and does not need to be specified by you and your movies partition can be whatever you want - I choose ext3 as ext4 still has some problems, I even heard of problems with big files (would be bad for big movies).

So, you have your partitions set up and XBMC installed. After your first boot XBMC is launched but you have no content as your movies partition is empty and maybe even not mounted (depends on if you have specified a mounting point at partition time). If that's the case:
Exit XBMC, you are now at console
type: sudo mkdir /media/MYMEDIAPARTITION (replace the upletterwords with whatever you like)
type: sudo mount /dev/sda3 /media/MYMEDIAPARTITION (sda3 would be the 3rd partition on the first hdd in the system. don't remember the name of your partition? type: sudo fdisk -l to see all your partitions)
now you can access your partition at /media/MYMEDIAPARTION. these first steps are not necessary if you specified a mounting point within partitioning.
You'd like to mount it at startup, right?
type: sudo nano /etc/fstab
Add the following line at the bottom of the file:
/dev/sda1 /media/MYMEDIAPARTITION ext3 defaults 0 0
Press Ctrl+X, type y and press enter.

SFTP is working out of the box, and if your partition is mounted you should have no troubles accessing it.

[hogfan]

Download GParted Live (partition manager). Make it bootable on USB stick using Unetbootin. Then use GParted to create your partitions. On my Revo I did:

XBMC OS partition - 10 GB
Linux SWAP partition - 4 GB (double max RAM supported by Revo)
Home Directory (for media) - remaining space available

It is best to put the swap partition and the end of the drive.

10 GB is plenty for many future addons, skins, etc........even Aeon skin

Once partitions are setup, reboot and install live to OS Partition.