[SOLVED] SSD as boot and original HDD as storage

GPGAgent · 07-27-2020, 09:41 AM

Okay folks, I've added a 250Gb SSD drive to a Lenovo Thinkstation C20.
I've left the original 2Tb HDD which has Mint 20 installed
I just plugged the SSD into one of the three vacant i/o sockets on the MB. And that's all I've done so far.
fdisk shows this:

Code:

jonk@dave:~$ sudo fdisk -l
[sudo] password for jonk:          
Disk /dev/sdb: 232.91 GiB, 250059350016 bytes, 488397168 sectors
Disk model: CT250MX500SSD1  
Units: sectors of 1 * 512 = 512 bytes
Sector size (logical/physical): 512 bytes / 4096 bytes
I/O size (minimum/optimal): 4096 bytes / 4096 bytes


Disk /dev/sda: 1.84 TiB, 2000398934016 bytes, 3907029168 sectors
Disk model: Hitachi HUA72302
Units: sectors of 1 * 512 = 512 bytes
Sector size (logical/physical): 512 bytes / 512 bytes
I/O size (minimum/optimal): 512 bytes / 512 bytes
Disklabel type: dos
Disk identifier: 0x289f73ed

Device     Boot   Start        End    Sectors  Size Id Type
/dev/sda1  *       2048    1050623    1048576  512M  b W95 FAT32
/dev/sda2       1052670 3907028991 3905976322  1.8T  5 Extended
/dev/sda5       1052672 3907028991 3905976320  1.8T 83 Linux
jonk@dave:~$

I've not formatted or created any partitions on the SSD so far.
I intend to re-install Mint 20, I've backed up the folders I need to from /home so I'll wipe everything.
I'm also guessing it doesn't matter which i/o socket I use on the MB. Yes/No?

I'm guessing the SSD will become /dev/sda and my old HDD will be /dev/sdb because I'll select that when I install using the "Something Else" option. Yes/No?

Also I believe I should place the swap partition on the HDD. Other suggestions is to put /home /var and /tmp on the HDD. Is there anything else I should consider when running Linux off an SSD?

BTW this is the memory on the machine:

Code:

jonk@dave:~$ free -h
              total        used        free      shared  buff/cache   available
Mem:           11Gi       1.8Gi       9.0Gi       149Mi       971Mi       9.5Gi
Swap:         2.0Gi          0B       2.0Gi
jonk@dave:~$

And final question, do I need to make any changes to the bios, all I've found is this:

Code:

Enable Fast Boot, SATA support, Hardware Fast Boot, Launch CSM.
Boot Device Control: UEFI and Legacy.
Boot from any devices: Legacy OPROM first.

SATA configuration: AHCI.
Disable Hot Plug on all ports except those set for eSATA.

I've done a bit of googling to get this far, but just to be sure I'd like any advice from LQ users, any other pitfalls?

berndbausch · 07-27-2020, 10:21 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by GPGAgent

I've not formatted or created any partitions on the SSD so far.

I would still expect it to be listed by fdisk. Or at least lsblk.

Quote:

I'm also guessing it doesn't matter which i/o socket I use on the MB. Yes/No?

You probably guess right, but it really depends on the motherboard and its configuration.

Quote:

I'm guessing the SSD will become /dev/sda and my old HDD will be /dev/sdb because I'll select that when I install using the "Something Else" option. Yes/No?

I would not bet a very high amount on that. Again, it depends on the motherboard and its configuration. It might even be random - while unlikely, it could be sda today and sdb tomorrow.

Quote:

I believe I should place the swap partition on the HDD. Other suggestions is to put /home /var and /tmp on the HDD.

I would put /tmp on a tmpfs (i.e., in memory) and /var on the SSD. Files that are used often should go to the fast disk, and my guess is that /var is used quite a bit.

Quote:

And final question, do I need to make any changes to the bios, all I've found is this:[CODE]Enable Fast Boot, SATA support, Hardware Fast Boot, Launch CSM.
...
I've done a bit of googling to get this far, but just to be sure I'd like any advice from LQ users, any other pitfalls?

I have a laptop with an SSD in it, and I did nothing to configure it. It had Windows 7 when I bought it, I replaced it with Fedora. No problem at all.

My recommendation: Use Live media to get answers to your questions.

sevendogsbsd · 07-27-2020, 10:29 AM

Personally, I wouldn't bother creating separate /var and /tmp partitions on another hard drive but I like to keep things simple. For a server, this is probably a good idea but overkill on a workstation. Up to you really.

SSDs are tremendously robust these days. The only thing I would personally recommend is not doing "discard" in /etc/fstab as that is no longer recommended, at least for ext4. If you use systemd, it has a scheduled file system trim which works fine. If you use a distro without systemd, I used to run "fstrim -v <mount point>" on whatever partitions I had on a weekly basis.

You can go down a rabbit hole trying to minimize writes to SSDs but personally I think that is largely a waste of time. Just my opinion based on Internet research and personal experience with SSDs.

GPGAgent · 07-27-2020, 10:51 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by berndbausch

I would still expect it to be listed by fdisk. Or at least lsblk.
You probably guess right, but it really depends on the motherboard and its configuration.

Check my original post, fdisk found it as /dev/sdb

Code:

Disk model: CT250MX500SSD1

cheers

GPGAgent · 07-27-2020, 01:23 PM

Okay, I started a Mint 20 install and went for something else when it got to the partition stage, see attached image

At this stage it seems I've set /dev/sdb to be my boot drive.

But how do I make /dev/sda one whole data partition?

I'm guessing I need to use the New Partition Table button?

What I'm after is for my old 2Tb HDD - /dev/sda, to be for data only and Mint to be on the SSD - /dev/sdb

What do I do next?

GPGAgent · 07-27-2020, 05:31 PM

Update: I went into the BIOS and added the SSD to the boot sequence and moved it above the HDD so it will be looked at first.

Tomorrow I'll swap the sata leads over on the MB, see how that affects sda and sdb and then re-install

To be continued.....

berndbausch · 07-27-2020, 06:28 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by GPGAgent

But how do I make /dev/sda one whole data partition?

Remove all partitions, then add a single one.

GPGAgent · 07-28-2020, 01:27 PM

Looking at the Thinkstation C20 manual these are the sata connections I'm going to swap over

cwizardone · 07-28-2020, 01:59 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by sevendogsbsd

......If you use a distro without systemd, I used to run "fstrim -v <mount point>" on whatever partitions I had on a weekly basis.

You can go down a rabbit hole trying to minimize writes to SSDs but personally I think that is largely a waste of time. Just my opinion based on Internet research and personal experience with SSDs.

F2FS runs the "cleaning process" in the background and I've seen it do it as the machine boots up.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/F2FS#Cleaning_process

Quote:

The motive for F2FS was to build a file system that, from the start, takes into account the characteristics of NAND flash memory-based storage devices (such as solid-state disks, eMMC, and SD cards), which are widely used in computer systems ranging from mobile devices to servers....

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/F2FS

sevendogsbsd · 07-28-2020, 03:00 PM

Interesting, never heard of it. On FreeBSD, UFS does this natively as well if you set a flag when making the file system. I have always used ext(2,3,4). Does Linux support F2FS? I don't recall that ever being a choice when I have done installs.

GPGAgent · 07-28-2020, 05:25 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by sevendogsbsd

Interesting, never heard of it. On FreeBSD, UFS does this natively as well if you set a flag when making the file system. I have always used ext(2,3,4). Does Linux support F2FS? I don't recall that ever being a choice when I have done installs.

Ditto! I've never seen it as an install option fs!

cwizardone · 07-28-2020, 05:29 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by sevendogsbsd

......Does Linux support F2FS? I don't recall that ever being a choice when I have done installs.

Yes, Linux supports F2FS, but that could be on a distribution by distribution basis.

I know Slackware64-current supports F2FS and it is an option when running the installer. However, LILO does not recognize F2FS, so one can use GRUB 2 as their boot loader. As I like LILO, I made a small 200 meg ext4 /boot partition and the rest of the partitions are F2FS. I don't need to use the UEFI capabilities of the motherboard, but will switch to GRUB 2 the next time I do a fresh installation.

Here is a discussion "we" had on F2F2 when I first decided to make the change from ext4,
https://www.linuxquestions.org/quest...or-4175673968/

GPGAgent · 07-28-2020, 05:39 PM

Right, I swapped the ssd and hdd sata cables over and bingo, as I expected the ssd is now /dev/sda and the hdd is /dev/sdb

Code:

jonk@dave:~$ sudo fdisk -l
[sudo] password for jonk:          
Disk /dev/sda: 232.91 GiB, 250059350016 bytes, 488397168 sectors
Disk model: CT250MX500SSD1  
Units: sectors of 1 * 512 = 512 bytes
Sector size (logical/physical): 512 bytes / 4096 bytes
I/O size (minimum/optimal): 4096 bytes / 4096 bytes


Disk /dev/sdb: 1.84 TiB, 2000398934016 bytes, 3907029168 sectors
Disk model: Hitachi HUA72302
Units: sectors of 1 * 512 = 512 bytes
Sector size (logical/physical): 512 bytes / 512 bytes
I/O size (minimum/optimal): 512 bytes / 512 bytes
Disklabel type: dos
Disk identifier: 0x289f73ed

Device     Boot   Start        End    Sectors  Size Id Type
/dev/sdb1  *       2048    1050623    1048576  512M  b W95 FAT32
/dev/sdb2       1052670 3907028991 3905976322  1.8T  5 Extended
/dev/sdb5       1052672 3907028991 3905976320  1.8T 83 Linux
jonk@dave:~$

The attached image shows the swapped cables, red one is to thew SSD and the black dusty one goes to the 2Tb HDD

Next step - re-install Mint 20, or maybe try LMDE 4 Debbie!