Posted on 10/05/2025 5:51:28 AM PDT by Paul R.
I'm looking for recommendations for the (primary) volume size to allocate on a brand new SSD being used for a mildly unique purpose: It will be the 3rd drive in the machine, and will function as the drive most programs (except the OS) will reside on, and also it will be used for "fast" data backup of the primary data drive, which is the 2nd SSD: Drive F.
Background and more info. is in my Post #1, below. Please read that too, B4 posting. :-)
Thanks in advance, All!
Do you mean a PHYSICALLY separate hard drive? (In the past we would have said "disk", not "drive".) That's what I'd been led to believe in the past.
Openurmind's post above is referring to what I guess would be called "virtual" drives on the same SSD. I'm assuming the Linux installation would also modify it's partition(s) to EXT4 file format?
“Openurmind’s post above is referring to what I guess would be called “virtual” drives on the same SSD. I’m assuming the Linux installation would also modify it’s partition(s) to EXT4 file format?”
Exactly right. But EXT4 only for it’s own partitions. I think what fireman15 is sharing is that it is a common practice to create two separate physical drives instead of putting both Operating Systems on one physical drive. That way if one OS becomes corrupted from the os it doesn’t physically affect the other OS and it’s own physical drive.
And I agree, it is a good practice do that also if you want. The dual boot option is mainly for when you have only one drive like on a Laptop or if you want that one drive to be a master for both Operating systems. You fortunately have the advantage of having plenty of physical drives to do this also if you want.
I use a Laptop but actually have an external 2 Tb USB drive that is portable. So I can always have two totally independent physical drives in case one becomes corrupted, I can still boot up and use the machine from the working external physical drive. And sometimes even use it to go rescue data from the corrupted internal drive.
Honestly, because Linux is so small at just over 2 Gb, I have a dozen whole operating systems of different flavors on external USB sticks I can boot into and use from off the sticks. If I am going to do something I am worried about damaging my Laptop I just boot from one of the stick OS systems that are expendable if need be. It is something that I’m not sure Windows will let you do?
The terms hard drive and hard disk have been interchangeable for as long as I have been using computers. I have preferred the term hard drive because floppy drive refers to the mechanical device not the media. To me hard disk more accurately describes the platters and not the complete assembly. But that is a personal preference.
Yes, the safest option is putting separate operating systems on separate physical drives, disks, SSDs, or NVMEs or whatever your preference for calling them is. I have successfully added numerous operating systems to the same physical drives by using numerous partitions. Windows creates 3 or 4 partitions when it is installed, and most Linux builds create 2 to 4 partitions when they are installed usually the primary partition is EXT4. This is why things can get complicated when you are installing multiple operating systems on the same physical drive.
The other thing that you can do is create bootable “to-go” disks preferably on NVME drives in a USB3 or higher enclosure. There are numerous ways of doing this with both Linux and Windows. You can even choose to have this operating system not recognize the other drives installed in your computer. This avoids the complications that can arise when you are installing multiple operating systems on the same physical drive. You just set your BIOS or UEFI to look at your USB port before it looks at the primary hard drive or in most cases today an NVME. When you have an NVME in a USB3 enclosure the decrease in performance is barely noticeable during most operations.
“(In the past we would have said “disk”, not “drive”.)”
Actually both are correct... Either is short for “Disk Drive” because we are a lazy species we are too lazy to say two words... lol
We abbreviate before we will even add one extra character... :)
“The terms hard drive and hard disk have been interchangeable for as long as I have been using computers.”
Yes and now that we have solid state drives most just use “Drive” because there is no disk. Unfortunately it becomes confusing when discussing logical drives or physical drives. I suppose we should differentiate and identify them correctly as different entities.
Ah, then I slightly mis-spoke and should have said “logical drive”, not “virtual drive”.
We knew what you meant... :)
The 3rd drive (used as an OS backup, programs, and redundant data drive) in the old Win 10 Pro machine (Dell 3420) is a 500 GB NVME drive in the M.2 slot -- which slot apparently was not intended for a drive, just network stuff, but will function with a drive. I could never get the BIOS to "permanently" set it as the boot drive, though: If I powered down and then rebooted, the machine would revert back to the SATA SSD. I could shut down and reboot yet again, and go into BIOS to boot off the NVME, but I never could get the darn thing to "remember" to boot off the NVME automatically. So, if a Windows update ran when I wasn't watching, the restart would bump me back over to the SATA drive (and likely an update there, too.)
For a little while I actually had a funny graphic as my desktop image, when the Win 10 Pro machine would flip back to the SATA drive: The graphic "shouted":
"Warning: Your DRIVING is all wrong!!"
But, I decided the SATA drive was plenty fast anyway, so, I ended up using the NVME as noted above.
Once I figure out what to do with the old Win 10 Pro machine, which means I'll almost certainly not need the NVME drive in it any more, that drive will be freed up for possibilities such as you describe.
IF I can ever get to all this stuff!
Tomorrow I'm going to be on the lookout for a deal on a modest capability Win 11 Pro desktop for my wife, as her teaching job at a local parochial school requires many, many hours of computer work at home, mostly on Libre Office, and she needs something automatically that stays up to date on security. Then her present computer is likely (again if I can find time!) to end up with Linux on it.
Thanks for all the info. / assistance!
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_NvZEXZTqLg&list=RD_NvZEXZTqLg&start_radio=1
(A little musical interlude)
;-)
The only spinning discs I use these days are two 22TB drives for network storage and a bunch of backup drives in USB enclosures. All the rest were replaced with NVMEs and SSDs years ago.
I am anxiously awaiting the start of Prime Days myself. I am hoping to find an “inexpensive” mini-PC with an APU with a neural processor along with an Octalink connector to use with a powerful GPU. I want to use this as a server for AI models, and some Flight Simulator use. This is mostly just for fun, but producing AI video using online providers gets expensive really fast. I spent about $200 last year on AI music, audio, image and video production. There are open-source AI models that can do the same thing for a few dollars of electricity. My gaming laptop is capable for most of this, but it is a serious power hog and not optimized for AI use.
In the lower price ranges mini-PCs with Ryzen processors are far more capable than the ones with Intel N90, N100, and N150 processors. This is largely because the integrated GPUs are much better.
Being mobile I am space challenged so I just use old hand me down Laptops. They all have disks except one ASUS which is a hybrid drive hard/SSD. But all my USB drives are SSD. That is the cool thing about Linux, as you know it likes old computers so acquiring give away Laptops is easy. I just keep the disk drives backed up well in case they fail.
In many ways you are lucky to have culled your possessions to what you can keep with you. I have collected so much crap that it is difficult even to find another house with garages and shops that could accommodate all of my stuff. It ties one down.
“In many ways you are lucky to have culled your possessions to what you can keep with you. I have collected so much crap that it is difficult even to find another house with garages and shops that could accommodate all of my stuff. It ties one down.”
I have to be honest and say that I was like that too and I am not quite there yet. I am living mobile and have culled most, but I still have storage for my car collection. But I have been selling them off as I can to get it down to just what I actually need. Then I will be liquidated and minimal.
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