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Dual Booting with Windows 8.1, what partitions should I create on HDD and SSD?

rated 0 times [ 0] [ 0] / answers: 1 / hits: 1065 / 1 Year ago, fri, february 10, 2023, 5:26:55

I've never used any OS other than windows, but have decided to try ubuntu 14.04. I have 30GB of free space on the SSD and 200GB on the HDD. Now what partitions should I create?

I really have no idea how the file system in ubuntu works. I have been reading a lot and got a lot of conflicting information.

In Windows I use the SSD for the OS and smaller programs and the HDD for bigger programs, games and other large files. I want to do it similarly for ubuntu. I also want to be able to exchange files between Windows and ubuntu without them interfering.

So obviously /root should go on the SSD, as that takes most advantage of the SSD's speed? How big should /root be?

I seem to also need a /home partition. Where should I put that, if some of my programs should go on the SSD and some on the HDD? Is it possible to "split" /home between both? Or can I install programs outside of home? If yes, what would the disadvantages of that be? Should I install programs on home at all or is it simply the ubuntu equivalent to Windows' Appdata, and programs themselves should go somewhere completely different?

Lastly, what about swap? A lot of conflicting information on that. Some say you don't need it at all, some say it should be a fixed size, some say it needs to be more, the more ram you have. I have 8GB ram, which I almost never fully use and I do not plan on ever hibernating.

So as I understand it, swap is basically a reserve for when your ram is all in use. What's the worst thing that can happen, if I don't have swap? And why would it need to be larger if I have MORE ram? Shouldn't I need LESS "reserve", if I already have more "actual ram"? Also, why do I need an extra partition anyway? AFAIK windows simply uses a normal file pagefile.sys on the normal partition, which can easily be changed in size. What's the advantage of having an extra partition?

Also, if I do need swap, where should I put it? Some sources they it wears out the SSD much more quickly, others say that won't be a problem for over 20 years and swap benefits hugely from being on the SSD.

Sorry if my questions sound stupid, I'm long-term Windows user, who was just convinced to try ubuntu.

Thanks in advance for any help you can give a ubuntu beginner!

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sconhoney

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answered 1 Year ago bathtusain · Accepted Answer

To help you with your confusion:

/root is not the directory where the system is installed. It's the home directory of the "allmighty system administrator", known as root user (username is root, user ID=0)

What you're probably thinking of is the root directory. Windows has multiple root directories, C:, D: and so on. Most other OS's, including Linux, only got one root directory: /. The system gets installed into various subfolders of it: /bin, /boot, /usr, ...

No program gets installed into /home. This is where the users have there own directories, e.g. /home/sebastian/ for me. This is where you store your own stuff (like C:Usersusername on Win 7 or C:Documents and Settingsusername on XP). Programs only store there configuration stuff in here. Most programs get installed somewhere into /usr.

What I'm now writing is opinion based and everyone got another opinion on it. I can't recommend you any scenario, you have to choose:

Scenario 1 (no swap, you'll have to live with 8GB of RAM (should be enough)):

Use the SSD to install the core system in (mountpoint /)

Because it's only 30GB, you should put /home to the HDD

Scenario 2 (8GB of SWAP):

Create a 8GiB swap partition on the SSD, use the rest for your core system (/)

Create a partition on the HDD for /home

Create another partition for /usr

I'd recommend to the HDD 100GiB for /home and 100 for /usr, but this is up to you