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Install only the "core" of the distro on an SSD, other packages on HDD? (self.linux4noobs)

submitted 4 months ago by poplargrove to c/linux4noobs

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I use Ubuntu installed on a hard disk. My computer also comes with a tiny (16GB) SSD that I've another Ubuntu installation on. While a fresh install on the SSD worked great, this is too small to hold all the packages I will eventually need.

Is there any way to only have the core bits of the distro on the SSD, and have all the other packages I later install on the HDD?

I want this so I can have a fast boot (boots slowly using the HDD) and since I'm happy with the speed of apps as they work while now installed on my HDD, I'd like to keep using them off of it.

All idea welcome :)

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[–] SquiffSquiff 3 points 4 months ago (1 children)

I think you may have misunderstood your issue. 16 GB is more than is needed on / for a typical desktop Ubuntu installation. For example, here is a partial output of df -h on my Ubuntu 22.04 system- this is a server but it has a full desktop environment installed. I actually originally put 20.04 on it when that was current so it has accumulated some cruft. I also remove snaps:

Filesystem	Size	Used	Avail	Use%	Mounted on
/dev/sda1	47G	11G	34G	25%	/
/dev/sda7	84G	26G	54G	33%	/home
/dev/sda6	88G	22G	62G	27%	/var

The thing you're most likely running into is that whilst everyone quickly realises the advantages of putting /home on a separate partition, it's not so obvious that /var should be on a separate partition as well. This is because /var is where all the logs and caches are stored, and if you have a runaway process that fills up /var/log, it can cause the system to crash. Experienced Linux users will have encountered situations where /var was not on a separate partition and their box broke because of logs not being cycled...

I realise that you may be saying that you have 16GB total for 2 x installations. That is going it a bit but should be possible with some thought and care. Good luck!

[–] poplargrove 3 points 4 months ago

That was reassuring to hear, so I went ahead with it and so far it's looking good. Thanks for the comment.