I've been considering moving to Debian or Ubuntu for a while now (from Windows 10) and the latest update which borked a bunch of stuff made me want to drop Windows right away.
At first I had intended to set up Debian but after playing around a bit with a live CD I found that it wasn't as intuitive as I thought it would be so I went with Ubuntu with the classic Gnome look (Gnome Flashback).
Anyway, even though I've tried quite a few distros via live CD's I've never actually installed anything and I'm a bit confused about how to partition my drives. I have a 120GB and a 250GB SSD and am currently using the 120GB drive for Windows and the second one for storage, installation of games etc.
From my understanding all of the software ends up under /home by default so I figured I'd use the smaller drive just for root and swap and then have /home on the larger drive. Is this possible to set up when installing? I've googled around a bit and have found guides that show how you move or change the /home dir but is it possible to place it on another drive during the installation process? If so, are there any (dis)advantages of having it on a second drive?
tl;dr Can I place /home on a different drive than the rest of the Ubuntu installation?
The installer has "advanced options" which do this exact thing.
>>16614756
>From my understanding all of the software ends up under /home by default
wrong. /home has your user configurations and the files you save in your home directory
to keep it simple: most software ends up in /usr
>Can I place /home on a different drive than the rest of the Ubuntu installation?
yes. you can put every directory on a different drive if you want to.
>tl;dr Can I place /home on a different drive than the rest of the Ubuntu installation?
yes
But if your SSDs are that damn big then I don't see why you WOULD do that; might as well just leave everything to defaults and stick your actual crap onto the HDD manually. The only thing you need to avoid doing is saving everything you see directly onto your desktop, which you should avoid doing anyway. Set your web browser to "always ask me where to save files" and save them to the HDD.
>>16614810
...I post this, then I re-read your post and see no mention of a hard disk drive. Do you even have one? If not, consider getting an external drive at some point and save all your bullshit to that thing. This one last piece of the puzzle should prevent you from worrying about storage for another 5~10 years.
>>16614773
>>16614788
Thanks for your replies.
>>16614810
>>16614816
No, I don't have any HDD since I don't really have a lot of stuff. Everything large (i.e. HD TV/movies) are stored on a NAS so my PC is only used for stuff like installed software/games. I only had the 120GB drive at first and it was fine until I wanted to install a large game but other than that it has fit my needs. The only reason I got a second one was because I got it cheap on a BF sale.
>>16614840
>Everything large (i.e. HD TV/movies) are stored on a NAS
if your home network is fast enough you might consider having your /home directory on the nas
Is it possible to choose where to install certain software? I'm not a big gamer but I have a few games I play and I might try out some new ones and I've read that there's no way of installing games to an alternative location using Steam. Is this true? If so, would it perhaps be wiser to place / on the 250GB SSD?
>>16614894
>Is it possible to choose where to install certain software?
depends on the software. if it comes with that option or you build it yourself: yes
>I've read that there's no way of installing games to an alternative location using Steam.
never used steam so no idea, but you can put the folder steam installs it's stuff to on an other drive/partition
