Question about Ubuntu default partitions

Background:

I'm an Ubuntu noob, although I have used it before and installed it on an old laptop so I am aware of the convenient installation process and options.
I'm planning to install Ubuntu 18.04 onto a blank 500GB SSD, and for now I don't plan to dual-boot (might do some hackintoshing at some point).
I haven't done this before because in the past I have simply wiped the existing operating system and replaced with Ubuntu (because it was a useless Windows on an old machine).
I have read a lot of stuff online about the benefits of manually partitioning the disk upon installation although I haven't done it myself before.
Although a noob I'm prepared to go through the effort of doing partitions etc to generally learn more and improve my computer skills as well as optimising my system.

Questions:

What does the Ubuntu 18.04 installer do in terms of default partitions if you choose to wipe the whole disk?
I am wondering if it would be better to manually create /, home and swap instead?

Thanks! :)

1 Answer

What does the Ubuntu 18.04 installer do in terms of default partitions if you choose to wipe the whole disk?

1 partition for / and a boot partition.

I am wondering if it would be better to manually create /, home and swap instead?

don't forget to create a UEFI from BIOS. Is a one time task for a disk.
we don't do swap on a partition anymore. The system will create and use a swapfile.
I use the following setup after a few years of experimeniting:
```
/ 25 Gb (SSD).
/home (Remainder of my SSD. When I had 1 disk I made /home/ 10Gb).
/discworld (ie a "data partition"; My whole 1Tb HDD).
```
Then I copy a backup of ~./config/users-dirs.dirsover the default one. My version was edited to replace$HOME/` with the mountpoint of the data partition.
If you run services like apache or mysql edit those respective configuration files to point to a sub directory in the data partition. Keep / and /home clean from user related files so you can instantly decide to do a reinstall. Makes also for an easy backup: backup your partition and you have it all saved.