Installation partitioning question

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1

Please excuse if this is a frequent question. If it is covered elsewhere please can you provide a link.

I am trying to install Leap 15.2 to my new computer. It is an HP Elite (refurbished) with a 120Gb SSD and a 500Gb HDD. Windows 10 Home 64 is installed with, I think, a home partition on the HDD. I would like to retain the Windows and install Opensuse as the main OS with the /home partition on the HDD and everything else on the SSD.

I can start the install and get to the disc partitioning stage. I can then resize the Windows partition on the SSD down to allow the remaining space for the Linux / partition. I can’t see how to move the /home partition to the HDD which is currently occupied by the Windows partition. Presumably I will need to resize this partition down to allow space for the Linux /home but then how do I move /home to the HDD?

I hope this makes sense. Any advice welcome. Thanks
Mike

2

Here just a few things to consider:

  • Your SSD is 120GB. Depending on the file system you want to use with openSUSE and the amount of software packages you will install you might need up to 40GB (or more) for openSUSEs root partition. It makes perfect sense to put that root partition on the SSD. However this will leave you with 80 GB (or less) for MS Windows!
  • To be safe it might be better to shrink any by MS Windows created partition with MS Windows tools before you try to install openSUSE. AND DO NOT FORGET TO BACKUP YOUR DATA BEFORE YOU START SHRINKING.
  • If you want to be able to access some/all of your data with MS Windows and
    openSUSE you will have to prepare for this (e.g. switch of any fastboot or hyperboot options in MS Windows, install NTFS-drivers in openSUSE, …).

Regards

susejunky

3

The most reliable method to shrink the Windows 10 partitions is, to use the onboard Windows tools – <https://www.diskpart.com/windows-10/resize-partition-windows-10-0528.html&gt;

  • From a elevated Command Line – “diskpart”.
  • From the Windows 10 GUI – “Disk Management” with administrator rights.

When you’ve shrunk the Windows partitions, install openSUSE –

[HR][/HR]Parallel to the post from susejunky …

4

@susejunky

Thanks for the suggestions. I will only be using Windows for the very few instances where I absolutely need to use a Windows application not available for Linux; I have been using this on my current PC for a long time.

Subsidiary question: what is the recommended file system these days, I have been using ext4 but is something else preferable?

5

@mikejd:

If you’re planning to use Btrfs as the file system on the system partition, with a reasonable amount of applications installed, you’ll need at least 60 to 80 GB for that partition – with only 40 GB for the Linux system, there won’t be much space for any applications over and above the default ones – the space need by /tmp and /var shouldn’t be forgotten – plus the space Btrfs needs for the Snapshots …

  • Microsoft state that, 64-bit Windows 10 needs at least 20 GB.
  • But, that’s only the space needed by the Windows OS – there’s also the space needed for cache, registry, and temporary files …
  • Therefore, at least 50 GB disk space for Windows 10 is reasonable, provided that, you don’t want to do too much with Windows …

There’s also the disk space needed by Linux for the Swap partition – at some time in the future when the Linux Kernel will support hibernation again «with UEFI Secure Boot», you’ll need a Swap partition the same size as your main Memory – you could place the Linux Swap partition on the HDD …

  • You could also consider placing the /tmp and /var partitions on the HDD.

Given that, you’ll not have much space on the SDD for a Linux System partition, consider using ext4 as the System partition’s file system.

6

With a relatively small SSD I would stick to EXT4 for the root partition, unless you definitely need the features of BTRFS (such as snapper snapshots, but they fill up the disk very quickly…).
For the separate /home partition I would also stick to EXT4 if you are used to that; an alternative to consider is adding an extra partition formatted to NTFS if you are planning on sharing data between Linux and Win***

7

As far as i know the openSUSE installer defaults are btrfs as the root file system and xfs as file system for /home.

I use ext4 for all my partitions.

Regards

susejunky

8

@mikejd:

Further to “How much disk space does Windows 10 need?” – <https://www.computerworld.com/article/3615494/skimping-on-drive-space-means-windows-10-update-woes.html>.

  • If the next Windows 10 updates are to execute as expected, you’ll need rather more than a 100 GB disk …
    *=2]Your current 120 GB SSD system disk may, possibly, be just about enough for the next Windows 10 update …

Please consider installing the Linux system completely on the HDD …

9

That was the old standard, the 15.2 installer defaults to a single btrfs partition for / with /home as a subvolume.

10

The answer depends on your drives. Boot into a rescue or live system and run:

**3400G:~ #** inxi -Daz 
**Drives:    Local Storage:****total:** 2.5 TiB **used:** 367.4 GiB (14.3%)  
           **ID-1:** /dev/sda **maj-min:** 8:0 **vendor:** Seagate **model:** ST2000DM001-1CH164 **family:** Barracuda 7200.14 (AF) **size:** 1.82 TiB  
           **block-size:****physical:** 4096 B **logical:** 512 B **sata:** 3.1 **speed:** 6.0 Gb/s **rotation:** 7200 rpm **serial:** <filter> **rev:** CC29  
           **temp:** 34 C **scheme:** GPT  
           **SMART:** yes **state:** enabled **health:** PASSED **on:** 1y 71d 9h **cycles:** 2129 **read:** 5.59 TiB **written:** 6.19 TiB **Pre-Fail:**
           **attribute:** Spin_Retry_Count **value:** 100 **worst:** 100 **threshold:** 97  
           **ID-2:** /dev/sdb **maj-min:** 8:16 **vendor:** Samsung **model:** SSD 850 EVO 500GB **family:** based SSDs **size:** 465.76 GiB  
           **block-size:****physical:** 512 B **logical:** 512 B **sata:** 3.1 **speed:** 6.0 Gb/s **rotation:** SSD **serial:** <filter> **rev:** 3B6Q  
           **temp:** 33 C **scheme:** GPT  
           **SMART:** yes **state:** enabled **health:** PASSED **on:** 205d 18h **cycles:** 972 **written:** 4.66 TiB  
           **ID-3:** /dev/sdc **maj-min:** 8:32 **vendor:** Samsung **model:** SSD 850 EVO 250GB **family:** based SSDs **size:** 232.89 GiB  
           **block-size:****physical:** 512 B **logical:** 512 B **sata:** 3.1 **speed:** 6.0 Gb/s **rotation:** SSD **serial:** <filter> **rev:** 2B6Q  
           **temp:** 31 C **scheme:** GPT  
           **SMART:** yes **state:** enabled **health:** PASSED **on:** 1y 87d 11h **cycles:** 1649 **written:** 3.07 TiB  
**3400G:~ #**
11

Just wipe windows out with the opensuse install. Then install windows on Virtualbox. It runs better on Virtualbox anyway. Just an idea.

12

Someone can extend swap with adding swap device as a file. So there is no need to reserve huge space for swap partition.

Another option: install Windows on HDD, Linux on SSD. Linux will have access to NTFS on HDD.