Partitions in Linux

Dedicated /home partition

In Linux, the /home directory is used to store user data and preferences.

This directory contains one subdirectoy for each user account. Say your username is john, your home directory is /home/john, your downloads are in /home/john/Downloads, your documents in /home/john/Documents, your Firefox bookmarks somewhere in /home/john/.mozilla and so on…

By giving /home its own dedicated partition, you separate the user data from the rest of the operating system.

The advantage is that you can wipe the operating system and replace it without affecting the user data.