Set up Pop OS for gaming on a fresh SSD but encountered some problems :(
Set up Pop OS for gaming on a fresh SSD but encountered some problems :(
Hey everyone, I purchased a reasonably priced SSD (120GB Crucial BX500). I had to set up Pop-OS twice because I accidentally deleted the Gnome GUI during installation. After that, I ran all the updates and everything felt smooth. However, I encountered several issues that are really problematic. In short: I can’t copy or create files on other internal HDDs. I installed Pop-OS to take a backup (just in case I messed up), and after the setup, I found a snapshot in my "computer" folder—the same place where boot, binaries, and root files live. But whenever I try to copy these files elsewhere on my PC, they trigger permission or read-only errors inside Pop-OS. If I open the browse menu, it shows the snapshot location, but I can’t navigate to it. Then I go back a few folders to find the snapshot, right-click and choose "copy to," but it only works on a different HDD that’s formatted as ext4. It still fails, whether I drag and drop or just copy. So essentially, the boot drive has a snapshot that can’t be moved to other parts of my system or USB drives.
My second problem is with Steam. The "Linux Games" drive has a “lost+found” folder, and I can’t create folders inside it. I managed to mount it on a separate 80GB HDD by creating a “steam” folder, but now I can’t even create new folders there. I read that this is likely due to permission settings, but I haven’t changed anything beyond installing Pop-OS on the SSD.
In GParted, the “Linux Games” drive shows no flags selected—does that matter? In Disks, it says the drive is mounted and running in Ext4, which most experts say is the right format for fixing these permission issues. I’ve added extra screenshots just in case.
What’s confusing is that even though the drive is mounted, a “zzz” icon appears next to it, and sometimes I see a failed copy of the Pop-OS snapshot files. The folder shows a corrupted save state, which makes me think it can’t actually create new files there. I remember this working before switching to a 80GB HDD, but now it’s not possible.
I’m running out of SSD space because I’m testing other features, but I’d prefer to keep this drive solely for Pop-OS. I was expecting some hurdles when switching to Linux, but this permission problem is really puzzling. Why does the system set up without giving the actual user basic access? Is this just for security reasons? If you’ve seen this before, please help me out. Thanks!
I've been trying to figure out my Timeshift setup myself. The snapshot is taking up too much space, so I'm moving it off the drive. I'm curious if you used sudo and whether you attempted to become root. Often it comes down to permissions, and there have been times when even sudo wasn't enough—I had to log in as root.
It's essentially a simple GUI for rsync. Just run rsync to transfer the file and set Timeshift to write there. For my setup, I use an NFS share on the server via fstab at /timeshift. If you need it on a different drive, mount the partition or directory on the secondary drive in fstab.
I'm still getting familiar with the terminal and Linux, so I haven't explored those features yet. Since I'm new to this, I didn't try any options because I wasn't sure how to set them up. You mentioned using Timeshift to redirect a mount, but I'm not sure what fstab is or how it works. Can you explain it simply in everyday language for someone just starting out?
The file located at /etc/fstab needs root or sudo access to modify. Its format generally looks like this: /drive /mountpoint filesystem parameters more details /dev/sdb1 /timeshift ext4 defaults 0 0 For further info: http://www.landoflinux.com/linux_fstab.html This setup establishes a lasting mount point for the specified drive, making it ideal for storing backups on your game drive. You might want to initially mount the drive at either /Games or /mnt/Games instead of /timeshift, as the latter is less conventional. You could then place a directory like /mnt/Games/timeshift and create a symbolic link. The /timeshift folder must already exist for the link to function; otherwise, remove it before creating the symlink. Command to set up: ln -s /mnt/Games/timeshift /timeshift EDIT: Ensure the directory exists before linking, or use your file manager to create it.
I resolved the issue you mentioned. I tried opening the terminal and copying-pasting, but it didn’t work. I even attempted to use a different method, like mounting the drive, but that caused the same error. I found a way to log in as root by typing "su" in the terminal, which helped me bypass the authentication problem. Despite entering my password slowly to confirm, I still got the "Authentication failure" message.
Sadly for me and my situation... I prefer learning by doing instead of just reading. Even if Mount or GIO won’t work after a restart, I’ll remember this approach more than any text. I might have to reinstall everything, but at least I took action that I can learn from. Thanks for trying to assist, though now I’m left with just copying your suggestions. I get it what you’re showing is useful, but why do I keep having to use a simple drive that Windows can access right away? It seems like a basic thing.