Ubuntu 12.04 /Windows7 dual boot with ssd and hdd - partitioning & setup

Question

I'm running Ubuntu 12.04 64 bit and Win7 64 bit in dual boot. In few days I'm planing to use SSD 128GB and my current 500GB HDD to dual boot and have no idea how to set this up. There's lot of information but mostly imprecise and confusing. What I want to do is:

1. Window 7 completely on SSD

   -C/ 60GB system

   -D/ 30GB

   I use Win7 rather occasionally so installing it fully on SSD shouldn't be a problem.

2. Ubuntu 12.04:

   /boot - 500MB (on SSD)

   / - 10GB (on SSD)

   swap - 1GB ( don't know where: SSD or HDD?)

   /home - 26,5GB (on SSD) and 500GB (on HDD)

   I have some problem with /home partition - do I need to format my HDD as /home during the system installation or there is another way, maybe symlinks... but how and when create them?

   Which other folders/directories should be moved to HDD?

   Second thing: what is all about aligning? Do I need this and how to make this properly?

   Do I need to enable TRIM or is it enabled by default?

   After searching few forum treads I'm little bit confused... basically I need guidance how to properly set up Win7 and Ubuntu to gain maximum performance and longer life of SSD drive.

   Any advice will be appreciated.

Answer 1

1. After installation of systems I've created partition labelled as MyData on 500GB HDD(systems are on SSD)formated as ext4. I've made it with GParted and whole hdd is one big partition.

2. Then I've created mount point in /mnt/MyData and added owner and permissions with these commands:

   sudo mkdir /mnt/MyData (creates mountpoint)

   sudo chown -R user:user /mnt/MyData (adds owner - replace user with your user name)

   sudo chmod -R 766 /mnt/MyData (adds permissions)

3. Next, in Terminal we need to put command sudo blkid to find out disk UUID.

4. Then edit /etc/fstab with command: sudo gedit /etc/fstab and put this line in it:

   UUID=xxxxx(your disk id) /mnt/MyData ext4 auto,users,rw,relatime 0 2
   

   Save file and run sudo mount -a (everything is good when no errors appear)

5. Copy all folders you want from /home to /mnt/MyData or create them manually.

6. Open Terminal in /home and move temporally each folder with this command:

   mv Music oldMusic (do this with all folders you want)

7. Final step - create symbolic links from /home directory folders to your HDD folders with this command:

   ln -s (creates symlinks)

   for example:

   ln -s /mnt/MyData/Music

   Do this with each folder you want. After this delete all folder named as old from your /home directory.

   For example:

   oldMusic

   After this every file that we put to folders in /home directory lands on HDD so we don't force SDD to make read/write operations.

   All Credits goes to oldfred:

   • ubuntuforums
   • ubuntuforums

Answer 2

poster #5 in this thread explains maximizing your SSD life/performance on a system with HDD and SSD.

While you could potentially create your /home partition after the installation, it's much simpler to do it during the install.

BTW, from your question, it seems that you're confused as to what /home means. You don't format a partition /home. /home is simply a name given to a partition - you can format the partition with any file system you want (ext4, ext3, fat, etc). The partition you designate /home will hold your private user files.

In addition, you don't actually need an entire partition for /home - you can simply choose to keep all your user files in a directory called /home :) It's just that it makes it much simpler to update your system if you separate your user files in their own partition.