Hi. I want to install Linux on my laptop (for the first time in quite a while) for dual boot with Windows. I’ve been using it on a VM thus far. (I will install Tumbleweed with KDE)
However. I’ve been overthinking the partitioning scheme. The thing is, I have two drives:
A 1TB HHD; it’s mostly empty. I broke it down so Windows, Linux (i.e. this is currently empty) and shared data have each around a third of the drive.
A 128GB SSD; unfortunately, despite my best efforts to install all application data on the HDD, Windows has taken over most of it. Without going into detail regarding my decisions, I’ve spared 33GB for the Linux installation.
I’m not sure how I should organise the partitions. From what I have read, it is a good idea to have both root and /home on the SSD for performance. I plan to do that. Is 33GB good enough? And how big should each partition be?
It also seems to me as if I should maybe put /usr (and/or /usr/local?) on the HDD, since that takes more storage. I’ve done a lot of research, but in most cases people have more storage to share in their SSD, so people tend to advise them to put everything there. I also plan to put swap on the HDD. Should I put anything else? If so, how do I go about that?
That was probably a little messy, so to break this down into the essential questions:
Is 33GB enough for both root and /home partitions on an SSD?
How big should root and /home, each, be, in that case?
What should I put on my HDD?
Should I put /usr and/or /usr/local there?
If I do that, should I make those folders their own partition(s)? Or should I somehow put both them and other things in a single partition to avoid wasting storage space?
If I make a single partition for HDD mount points, how do I do that? Particularly at installation, if it includes essential directories (e.g. /usr)?
Is my overall plan good? Or should I approach this another way?
There will be a different opinion from everyone who has one. Start with deciding whether you prefer to go with the openSUSE default partition type BTRFS, which provides snapshotting, which in turn requires more space than other options, or one of the other options, such as the previous default which I use always, EXT4.
If you’re going with BTRFS, I suggest keeping / and /usr and /boot on a “single” 33GB partition on SSD, with /home and /data and possibly /usr/local as separate partitions on HD. FWIW, 40GB is a typical recommendation for / on BTRFS, so 33GB could potentially be somewhat limiting if you install a lot of software and/or are not careful to not keep too many snapshots and log generations. FWIW2, I know of no other major distro that even supports BTRFS, much less has it as a default.
If / will be EXT4, much less than 33GB is more than likely plenty, unless you are a software developer. e.g., this is my main system’s current use of SSD:
Filesystem Size Used Avail Use% Mounted on
/dev/sda10 18G 7.4G 9.1G 45% /
I have /home, /data & /usr/local on separate partitions on HD. I have swap partitions on both SSD and HD and currently use neither.
6.If I make a single partition for HDD mount points, how do I do that? Particularly at installation, if it includes essential directories (e.g. /usr)?
This suggests you have a deficient understanding about how Linux uses mount points and partitions. In the openSUSE installer there is much flexibility to utilize whatever partitioning you please. You can designate use of existing partitions with or without reformatting, create and format new ones, delete old ones, and any combination. When you designate use of a partition, its mount point is automatically created. You can’t use a single partition for multiple mount points, but you may be able to make various directories visible in multiple locations via bind mounting or symlinks once you have a better understanding of Linux filesystems and mounting generally.
Okay. That sounds like solid advice, I’m just a bit unsure about /home, since supposedly, putting it in the SSD leads to a performance increase? (I’ve been trapped in a sluggish VM for days I’m desperate for a snappy KDE lol) Either way. I’m looking into ways of decreasing my Windows SSD storage to see if I can pull it up to a 40GB storage.
Also. Lol. I feel like the way I phrased that (particularly since I was trying to be brief and not tangle my thoughts too much) made me seem less knowledgeable of the file system than I really am. (Or maybe I am little knowledgeable. Either way.) I did gain (what I hope is a) fair understanding of how to manipulate partitions from experimenting in a separate VM, and I was aware of bind mounting and symlinks. I suppose my main concern is that I’m not sure how to make /usr a symlink from within a differently mounted partition at run time, or if there is a way. (E.g., making a partition, mounting it as /data, creating /data/usr and symlinking that to / - I could alternatively create /usr/data and symlink that, but it feels like an ugly solution (if it’s even possible, I’ve heard /usr is supposed to be read-only))
I think you misunderstand what /usr is. Except for the most sophisticated of admins, /usr needs to be a directory on the root filesystem. It’s not intended for users or the admin to use directly, except for /usr/local, which in most distros is totally free for admin and qualified user use.
Okay. Yeah, no, lol. I never really found a clear explanation as to the difference between /usr and /usr/local. So, from what I understand now, /usr is just a part of the OS, while /usr/local is where applications are (usually) installed. Is that right?
Oh, also. I have just discovered that for whatever reason, Virtualbox decided to save my VMs to the SSD rather than the specified HDD folder. I’m in the process of moving them, which will free maybe 20GB?
Linux distributions have sophisticated package management systems. Applications installed via the package management system go wherever the system directs, most of which is in /usr. Apps from outside the system can go several places, of which /usr/local and /opt are two. Check out
Something to think about if you want to use BTRFS, or even if you don’t: for roughly the same money it takes to fill a car’s fuel tank in the USA, a 240GB-256GB SDD can be had, to clone the 128GB to, replace the 128GB with, and have 145GB or more freespace to put / and /home.
I’ve managed to push it up to 55GB. I could in theory get a few more GBs, but my Windows storage rn has 14GB free, and it feels like less than that might be too little, while 55GB feels like more than enough? Plus, from research it seems like BTRFS backups can be moved automatically to another partition (i.e. the HDD). Thoughts?
Oh? I was under the impression that OpenSUSE didn’t have live boots, but rather, Argon or Krypton was required? I’d rather not get into that if that’s possible? I have burnt GParted to my USB though, I could run that from the terminal later, maybe?
What is the system hardware, CPU, GPU and RAM?
I have an AMD Ryzen 5 2500U (quadcore), with Radeon Vega 8 GPU (I’m not entirely sure as I think I’ve gotten different answers through research, but I’m pretty sure I have 256MB VRAM. Worst case scenario, 128MB), 8GB RAM.
Something to think about if you want to use BTRFS, or even if you don’t: for roughly the same money it takes to fill a car’s fuel tank in the USA, a 240GB-256GB SDD can be had, to clone the 128GB to, replace the 128GB with, and have 145GB or more freespace to put / and /home.
Unfortunately I’m 16 and don’t have a job (shh, it’s fine, I’m sure I’ll get one within this century). I’d rather avoid spending money, particularly if it’s not necessary (and it doesn’t seem to be).
So, in other words, you are saying it is out of reach of us ordinary joes? In that case, only those who have a mortgage and can take out a 2nd mortgage can afford one!rotfl!