I am setting up a Linux laptop for multiple users, Emily and myself, with the following requirements and constraints:

• Emily and I each have our own files that we need to keep private from one another (so I have files that Emily shouldn't be able to access, and she has files that I shouldn't be able to access), and there are also shared files that we both should be able to access.


• We need to bring our laptop with us to far flung places that have no internet connection, so NAS is out of the question, no matter if we can configure it to be accessed remotely.


• We are limited to using the single physical hard drive in this laptop, but we can create as many partitions as necessary to meet our needs.


• We do not need to be able to multiboot multiple Linux OS's, we just need one OS.


• We do not need to both use the laptop at the same time, it's just a plain-Jane, single boot machine with two different users.

I know I want to keep swap, OS, and data storage on separate partitions; however, in thinking specifically about how to organize our data storage, I've been debating between the following two options:

1. Combine all of our data files onto one partition, create three top-level folders (one for me, one for Emily, and one for Shared), and manage user permissions at the folder level under that single partition.


2. Create separate partitions - one for my files, one for Emily's files, and one for Shared files - and manage user permissions under each partition.

I was wondering what would be the pros and cons of each option that I describe above? I've searched and found a few other questions that discuss multiple users on a single machine, but none that specifically address my question. Thanks in advance.