[PLUG] Configuring Dual SSD/spinning HD System

[Paul Heinlein]

On Fri, 23 Oct 2015, Ken Stephens wrote:

> Rich Shepard wrote:

>>     The new system has a 60G SSD drive and a 750G WD Caviar Black 
>> drive. I've read enough to know that the SSD drive needs to be 
>> tuned to work well with linux (and I have a bookmarked Web page 
>> with explicit instructions and explanations for that). But, what 
>> I've not found to my satisfaction are 1) what file system(s) to use 
>> on each drive and 2) what partitions to put on the SSD.
>>
>>     One forum thread suggested putting /, /boot, /bin, /etc, and 
>> /usr on the SSD drive since they have fewer writes than do 
>> /usr/local, /opt, /home, /var, and /tmp. The latter group go on the 
>> conventional, spinning HD.
>>
>>     Another thread (on a Ubuntu forum) was by a user who had 
>> problems booting from the SSD; he could not partition it, IIRC.
>>
>>     I'll be running only Slackware on this system (as I do on all 
>> my hosts), and I suspect that the distribution flavor makes no 
>> difference in selecting an appropriate file system (or two) and a 
>> partitioning scheme.
>>
>>     All your suggestions and recommendations are eagerly awaited. 
>
> Rich,
>
> 60GB is big enough to put all your system files on that.  Put your 
> /home on the spinning drive.  You will never run out of space.  It 
> will be at least as fast as your previous system seemed when you 
> first loaded it up.

I'd tend to agree with this, assuming the SSD isn't old and/or used. 
If it's fairly new, there's little chance you'll "wear it out" unless 
you're doing high-frequency i/o 24x7.

If the drive is old (say, more than three years), then you might 
consider putting /var on your spinning platter along with /home.

Some older mainboards have trouble booting from an SSD when there's a 
tradition HD alongside it. I suspect testing is the only way to know.

In general, though, I'm with Ken: put your OS on the SSD.

-- 
Paul Heinlein
heinlein at madboa.com
45°38' N, 122°6' W