I am installing a fresh Ubuntu 15.10 on my laptop after erasing my hard disk completely. Now, what I am interested to know is whether it is good to have a separate data partition along with separate home partition. I checked Internet to get the answer but I am still not convinced on what should I do. One Internet site I read is this.
I want to completely secure my data like docs, music, videos, photos etc. I may go for fresh installations of newer versions and also I may later install another Linux operating system which may use the same data.
While surfing Net to get the solution, I got a view that yes, separate data partition is good along with separate home partition. This view says that my data like photos, videos, etc. will be completely safe in the data partition and the application settings will be there in home partitions. If my application settings get corrupted or if I want to upgrade/reinstall my OS, my data partition will be untouched. I liked this.
Another view says that home partition is meant to keep user's data there. So, making separate partition for data signifies reinventing the wheel.
Please suggest me how to go ahead with my Ubuntu 15.10 installation, shall I keep both data and home partitions or only the later one is enough.