Going to install Ubuntu 10.10 on new intel x25M 80GB SSD. It will be fresh install. I have been googling for past few days and getting overwhelming articles/blogs/Q&As. One particularly very useful being:
How do I optimize the OS for SSDs?
But with so many suggestions and differences of opinions (on different links) this simple OS install process seems to be daunting task to me and I really want to stick with Ubuntu (although have used for very short period of time).
Can someone help me by answering few questions (yes, they are repeated because I couldn't comprehend the answers elsewhere)
- Which file system (ext2/3/4 or something else)? (consider SSD life)
- Can it be changed after installation?
- Should I partition the disk? (as we do in traditional HDD) for now, no plan of dual booting. Only Ubuntu will live on scarce space of 80GB SSD.
- I have 2 GB RAM, should i still allocate swap space (if I don't allocate swap space, can I still hibernate the machine)? will swap space impact SSD life?
- Should I consider putting additional 1GB RAM to avoid swap space?
- What is partition aligning? Is it needed to be done before installing the Ubuntu OS or can be done later?
Intended usage - heavy browsing, programming, regular video/music and some other non-CPU/RAM-intensive programs. Will keep big files in an external hard drive.
laptop config - 3yr old Vaio, Core2 Duo, 2GB RAM
More references:
- http://opentechnow.blogspot.com/2010/02/linux-ssd-optimization-guide.html
- Is a 40GB SSD practical to use for ' / '
- http://ubuntuforums.org/archive/index.php/t-1145332.html
- https://help.ubuntu.com/community/SwapFaq
- http://ubuntuforums.org/showthread.php?t=1242740 (resizing/creating does not seem a simple process after look this)
- http://en.dogeno.us/2010/01/karmic-with-solid-state-disk-how-to-optimize-ubuntu-for-ssd/
- How to enable TRIM?