Some of the first decisions that must be made, even before installing Debian, involve deciding the best way to format the storage space for the installation. This includes what type of filesystem to use, how to partition it for the best effect, and whether and what to encrypt for security. The actual work of partitioning and boot code placement is handled by the Debian installer and can be altered later using standard Linux bootloader and partitioning utilities. The installation process and the utilities are covered well by the Debian installation guide mentioned in the previous chapter, and the documentations for the GRUB2, fdisk, and GNU Parted included with the appropriate software packages.
TItis chapter serves as a basic introduction to the concepts of boot loading and disk partitioning, along with some guidelines to keep in mind when installing Debian or updating your boot or partitioning schemes. Do not worry if you are still uncertain what is best for your situation when first installing Debian. As we shall see, the defaults will work just fine for most cases, and the beginner can't really go wrong while using them when in doubt.
