You can add another HDD by mounting it as a secondary drive and setting it as your Home directory.
You can add another HDD by mounting it as a secondary drive and setting it as your Home directory.
I have my SSD set up for dual booting Linux and Windows, with a portion of an external HDD serving as my home directory. I initially doubted I'd stick with Linux long-term, but it quickly became my go-to daily tool. To make the most of this setup, consider optimizing storage usage and ensuring smooth performance between the operating systems. TIA
@Joe Jackman I'm not sure what you're aiming for, but I'll guess you want to expand your Linux partition. That usually isn't as simple as just adding space. You'll need to install the operating system on that drive first.
You're not required to follow that method. You can insert a new drive, transfer your files, and then set it as your new home directory. I've done this on my system too. Initially, I had Linux on a 75 GB partition, then upgraded to a 1 TB SSD and switched to that as my home folder. Check this guide: https://www.tecmint.com/move-home-direct...-in-linux/
You can keep your Boot EFI partition solely on the SSD for quicker startup, while placing your root partition on the HDD. You can also dual-boot both Windows and Linux from the same SSD, with EFI, swap, and recovery partitions on the SSD. Your external HDD contains your home directory.
Adjusting system files often requires more care than relocating a simple folder. Moving directories with your active operating system isn't as straightforward as relocating your home folder. It might be manageable during startup, such as from a bootable USB drive, but I recommend making a backup first. Prioritize keeping essential files on the SSD, except for /home and perhaps /var. Ideally, retain the kernel and core applications there. You could also transfer all directories to another disk or partition. If using LVM, you can span a directory across multiple drives and dynamically adjust their sizes as new drives are added. This setup demands more initial effort. I also experienced dual-booting Windows and Linux from a 512 GB SSD, with Linux initially occupying 75 GB. Later, I expanded to a 1 TB SSD, which now stores my /home directory.
I understand the delays in my responses—I’m on a different continent and time zones don’t match. LVM isn’t something I’m familiar with, so I don’t have it installed. In the future, I might upgrade to another SSD for Linux, so I won’t worry about long-term compatibility just yet. For installing Games on /home, I hope you can try prompting for a disk selection if it appears. Regarding backups, since you’re new to Linux, consider using a reliable solution like LUKS or a cloud service for safety. You’re already enjoying the streamlined experience—great progress!
Modern Linux distributions typically include LVM support, but configuration happens during the setup phase. Running a straightforward test like "df -h" can reveal your storage layout. If you notice entries such as /dev/mapper/pihole--vg-root 28G 4.2G 22G 17% / and similar, it indicates LVM has been properly configured. Volume group names may vary, but entries starting with /dev/mapper are typical. Most applications tend to install in standard directories like /bin, /sbin or /usr/bin, which are usually fixed. For example, Steam games usually go to /home/<username>/.steam/... So if your home folder resides on the HDD, the game remains there too. I haven’t personally used Lutris, but it appears to let you pick a custom installation path, making it suitable if you select your home directory. Several options exist: I’ve used rsnapshot successfully, and I’m considering borg but haven’t tried it yet. Restic and Bareos are also available. For a guide on rsnapshot, check this link: https://workaround.org/rsnapshot-and-usb-drives/. If you prefer a graphical interface, Ubuntu offers a selection of backup tools with visual options: https://help.ubuntu.com/community/BackupYourSystem
I receive what you get, but I actually have LVM set up as your root. I don’t think I’m using much of it. I decided to add the HDD as my extended home directory, though I’m not sure if I can move it around since it’s on an external drive and I can’t remove it as a separate volume. Then I’ll back it up.
IT functioned correctly, thank you. One more thing—can I use rsync for backups? Also, what about backing up the root partition?