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I can't figure out the best way to partition one of my 2x2TB nVME drives for Ubuntu.

I'm also going to install Mint as well, but that's going to occur on another drive and out of scope of this question.

In windows I shrunk my data nVME drive to create a 150GiB partition for Ubuntu. My plan was to just install on this drive. But I completely neglected to think about things like:

  1. Where to place swap
  2. Should I set up another partition to share files with Win10?
  3. Should I separate the Ubuntu system and my personal files via partition as well?

I'm reading this right now and just confused on what to do next.

Here is my data drive and its partitions (I'm running Ubuntu Live right now so I can get this sorted):

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The partition labeled "Ubuntu" is the shrunk partition I originally planned to install Ubuntu on. "Data" is all of my personal data from Windows (If this partition gets messed up, I am royally F'd.)

Edits below:

I am going to be using Ubuntu for desktop and development work. Not using server / core / etc. Mostly for coding, browsing the web, and occasionally gaming on GOG/Steam.

I'm thinking now that two partitions would be best:

A. Ubuntu System
B. /home (to share with other NIX and my future Mint install)

So my updated questions are:

  1. I don't know how to split /home into a separate partition. So I need someone to explain this to me or give me a link. I'll search more about this myself as well.
  2. I don't know if splitting /home into a separate partition is really a good idea. Are there downsides?
  3. Should I use GParted to do the partitioning or Windows 10 + DiskMgmt?
  4. What file system formats should I use? ex2/3/4 or NTFS?
  5. The reason I'm mentioning NTFS is because I'm wondering if I can I use NTFS for the /home partition so I can also access it via Windows.
  6. What is the most preferred way to share files between all distros I have installed and W10?
  7. How much disk space should I allocate to Ubuntu? I carved out a 150GB partition, but I'm now positive that's overkill. I made the partition that large because I wanted to make sure I had space for files and other stuff, but now I'm thinking I need to make everything much leaner. How much space is necessary for a normal install?

Edit for #7: I found the following online:

According to the official website, Ubuntu’s minimum requirement 
is 8 GB for the main partition plus the size of your RAM and 
250 MB to 1 GB for the boot partition. At least 15 GB is 
recommended to avoid any issues (the system is blocked when 
the partition is full).

I have 64GB of RAM. Do I really need to add the full size of my RAM to this calculation?

  1. Are there any additional things to consider in regards to optimizing performance?

Any help at all would be hugely appreciated.

fmotion1
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  • Its helpful if you be specific; you mention Ubuntu - but not if you're asking about Ubuntu Server? Ubuntu Desktop? Ubuntu Core etc? How you partition will depend on how you'll use it; which includes file-systems with extra features available depending on what fs you opt to use. For desktop installs I keep it simple; where that's few partitions as you can non-destructively re-install Ubuntu Desktop systems using only a single partition (though other OSes don't all do that so splitting /home can be beneficial if you may not stay on Ubuntu). ie. consider the future in the decision too. – guiverc Jun 21 '23 at 22:42
  • I am going to be using Ubuntu for desktop and development work. Not using server / core / etc. Mostly for coding, browsing the web, and occasionally gaming. – fmotion1 Jun 21 '23 at 22:46
  • I'd be interested in having /home available via windows as well as Ubuntu. I also want to separate all of my dev files (repos, projects, etc.) from the system (I think this is a good idea?) Also, should I create another partition for swap? – fmotion1 Jun 21 '23 at 22:49
  • @guiverc Also, thank you so much for the help. – fmotion1 Jun 21 '23 at 22:49
  • You've not provided release details; but modern Ubuntu systems allow swapfiles which allow you to easily adjust sizes without needing to make partition changes - so swap partition is not required for modern releases as you just use a swapfile. If you use swap partition you can share that space; eg. I can share between my LTS release & my development release (you with Linux Mint & Ubuntu) providing you won't hibernate one & want the other to be used (they need their own swap for that!). Extra details belong in question; comments are just that comments to OP or prior commenter – guiverc Jun 21 '23 at 22:55
  • @guiverc Thanks. I've updated my question. I'd definitely like a way to share space between Mint / Windows / Ubuntu. I'm thinking a NTFS partition. I don't know if this is technically called a "swap partition" or not. The idea is just a communal space to share repos, code, files, etc. – fmotion1 Jun 21 '23 at 23:27
  • Do not share /home as settings conflict. I keep /home inside / (root) but then have a large data partition that I mount in all installs. When system has Windows I add another data partition formatted NTFS, but Winodws bit locker & fast start up must be off to be able to share NTFS data. More info: https://askubuntu.com/questions/1013677/storing-data-on-second-hdd-mounting & https://askubuntu.com/questions/1058756/installing-all-applications-on-a-ssd-disk-and-putting-all-files-on-hdd-disk or https://askubuntu.com/questions/1462851/shared-home-folder-between-2-linux-os-trippled-booted-w-win11 – oldfred Jun 21 '23 at 23:46
  • @guiverc Thank you for all that. How big is your data partition if you don't mind me asking? I also want to be able to share files with Windows so it's good to know that I can just create a NTFS partition for that. I don't use bitlocker, but I'm not sure if I have fast startup on. I'll have to check. I think now my biggest concern is how large to allocate my root partition for Ubuntu. – fmotion1 Jun 22 '23 at 00:12
  • According to the official website, Ubuntu’s minimum requirement is 8 GB for the main partition plus the size of your RAM. I have 64GB of RAM (I do a lot of 3D work on the side with GPU rendering) and don't intend on using hibernation... so I don't really know if I need to add the complete size of my ram to the partition. I was hoping to get away with 25-30GB. – fmotion1 Jun 22 '23 at 00:14
  • You tagged me on what I think was a comment that maybe should have been directed to @oldfred . Swap space (partition or swapfile) is used in the swapping of RAM to disk to make the machine more usable; it has nothing to sharing data, but is used to achieve more by simulating more RAM (pages in RAM get temporarily stored (swapped) to disk in the swap area so the CPU can process other tasks). Swap space can't be shared during operation, but if an OS isn't running another OS can use the space; but windows/Linux use swap differently - so only Linux OSes can share swap space. – guiverc Jun 22 '23 at 01:47
  • @guiverc Oops! Sorry about that. Thanks for the explanation. – fmotion1 Jun 22 '23 at 01:50
  • You mention 8GB minimum in relation to main partition on official website which has me confused.. If you mean https://help.ubuntu.com/community/Installation/SystemRequirements then I'd suggest using the recommended 25GB if you plan on adding additional software; myself I like >32GB for my main partition as I want space to add software, and don't want the additional maintenance burden... If you're talking about swap size; I'd likely use swapfile which allows you to easily adjust if you didn't allocate enough (or too much) space.. the swapfile size should be added to disk allocation.. – guiverc Jun 22 '23 at 01:51
  • I saw one user who, just for snaps used 20GB. I use Kubuntu and remove all snaps & my root is about 18GB in a 40GB partition. Data partition totally depends on what data you have, and that will come with experience. Every 3 to 5 years I get new larger drive & repartition. My photos is the folder growing the most, grandkids & vacations. – oldfred Jun 22 '23 at 03:36
  • Does this answer your question? Installing Ubuntu on a single partition – karel Jun 28 '23 at 09:26

0 Answers0