Need some help on a SSD and HDD install
 

Hey everyone! What I needed some opinions and help on is performing an Ubuntu 13.04 install on a laptop that I can use the best of both worlds with my 64GB SSD and 750GB hard drive and utilize them both.

Laptop Specs:
HP Envy dv7-7243nr
Core i5-3210M
8GB RAM
Intel HD 4000
64GB ADATA SSD
750GB Samsung 5400RPM HDD

My plan so far is to have /home and SWAP on the HDD, /tmp on a 1GB RAMdisk (if I can get that to work), and everything else on the SSD. Now this laptop is also a UEFI setup which I am new too so I need some help on what to to for a EFI partition on the SSD. This is a Ubuntu only box so no dual booting setup required. Just want to know if this particular setup will work well and just get some professional second opinions on this. I would start fiddling with this now but I am waiting on the SATA cord for the secondary HDD bay before I can try it out. Any help would be appreciated!

The _latest_ Ubuntu version supports UEFI secure boot, so in essence you won't have to worry about it if you get a newer GNU/Linux kernel with UEFI support. If you install / and swap on the SSD, you don't need to put /tmp in a RAM disk. It will reside on the SSD and the difference from ramdisk will be minor.

But do remember to activate SSD trim! (It's simply adding a couple of lines into the /etc/fstab file.) I know some newer distros does this automatically (OpenSUSE AFAIK), but just check it yourself.

See: https://wiki.archlinux.org/index.php...te_Drives#TRIM

The most important one is 'discard', but 'noatime' will also reduce number of writes to SSD. It's all about increasing the longevity of the SSD.

Hi,

A good article; Enable TRIM On SSD (Solid-State Drives) In Ubuntu For Better Performance

https://wiki.archlinux.org/index.php/Solid_State_Drives is a good reference.

I would consider using the 'noop' I/O scheduler for your 'SSD' device, see 2.2 I/O Scheduler

Hope this helps.

You'd be better off putting your SWAP on the SDD, make use of the speed of that when you need it most.

Member Response
 

Hi,

FYI: Linux 3.9 Clamps Down on Power Speeds Up with SSD