I currently have 3 disks, 2 nvme ssds (one 512Gb and one 2Tb) and a 2Tb hdd.
At the moment I have W11 installed on the 512 nvme and the data on the 2 Tb one, but I would like to get rid of it because … because it has tired me and I need new stimuli. And I thought about installing Arch. I used Ubuntu years ago for quite a while, but it was a geological era ago given the changes that have taken place in the meantime.
I have some ideas of how to use the disks but I don’t know how to do with Endeavor, also because obviously my ideas do not coincide with the graphical installer (at least I think)
I would like to get rid of W11 and at most relegate it to a virtual machine with qemu just if some friend asks me how to fix something or a little more. The alternatives I have in mind:
use 512Gb ssd for root (btrfs and subvolume)
mount / @ home on the second 2Tb ssd, assuming it can be done
Hdd for backup (I think I use borg) and here I don’t know which filesystem is better.
For the virtual machine of W11 with qemu sincerely groping a little more in the dark. The only thing I understand is that eventually, if using btrfs, I should set the virtual machine directory to no cow.
Are these good ideas or am I doing everything wrong? Because these days I’ve read a lot of things, here and on the arch wiki, but more than finding answers, I’ve found a lot of different ways of doing things, all with pros and cons.
What I absolutely care about is that the data is safe from corruption (that’s why I thought btrfs), to be able to use btrfs snapshots with timeshift if necessary (at first I will try many things and easily something could go wrong), have backups of data (Documents, Pictures, Music; Videos I already have them on 2 external 4Tb HDDs, even if NTFS formatted). All in a reasonably easy-to-manage system.
I would just use the 512 GB disk for the system (all its subvolumes: root, home, etc) for convenience.
The other disks could be used later on as you wish for storage. Either with BTRFS and subvolumes to be mounted where you want or else.
What you’re saying can be done with the graphical installer. This is my table of prtitions.
NAME MAJ:MIN RM SIZE RO TYPE MOUNTPOINTS
sda 8:0 0 119.2G 0 disk
sda1 8:1 0 550M 0 part /boot/efi
sda2 8:2 0 8G 0 part [SWAP]
sda3 8:3 0 110.7G 0 part /
sdb 8:16 0 931.5G 0 disk
sdb1 8:17 0 931.5G 0 part /home
sdc 8:32 0 931.5G 0 disk
sdc1 8:33 0 931.5G 0 part /run/media/s4ndm4n/sinux1
sdd 8:48 0 931.5G 0 disk
sdd1 8:49 0 931.5G 0 part /run/timeshift/backup
/run/media/s4ndm4n/sinux2
sde 8:64 0 931.5G 0 disk
sde1 8:65 0 931.5G 0 part /run/media/s4ndm4n/sinux3
As you can see I’m using my SSD as my root and my bigger HDD as my /home. Rest are external drives automounted and used as fixed drives for my other data including VM and backups (timeshift mount point).
My file system of choice is EXT4 it’s well trusted and stable. Also supports a lot of data (The ext4 filesystem can support volumes with sizes up to 1 exbibyte (EiB) to be exact). btrfs is a new file system more targeted towards industrial level servers but there’s no limitation on using it on a personal PC.
But personally, I prefer EXT4 until btrfs get more stable, and well as a home user I really don’t need all the bells and whistles that come with the new file system. Because I’m not going to use them and there is a small performance hit as well compared to EXT4. And I don’t think most users would use most of the functions of btrfs with their daily drivers but btrfs is the new black of the Linux world.
You really don’t need btrfs to get timeshift working for you. I’ve mine working flawlessly. As you said you’re still new to Linux and mainly Arch side of things so it’s better to start with more stable stuff and build from there.
I’m an avid user of VM. For testing to just playing around. I’ve one of my external drives just dedicated to VM’s. I can’t comment on the later part of your question because I’ve never used btrfs. But it can be done.
Any system will be easy to manage once you get your head around the technologies you use to build up your system. If you run into any issues during your endeavour we’re here to lend a helping hand. But please be descriptive and provide enough details so we can help you out.
That’s what I tend to do, I would use ext4 because I know it, I know how to use it and it involves a lot less problems. But all friends tell me about this btrfs and objectively it has its charm, but maybe I’m not ready to use it yet … in the sense that I have to study a little and maybe get familiar with the arch system.
I see you have your external hdd mounted on / run / media /; mine is an internal hdd … where should it be mounted? In the same path or under / mnt? Thank you, thank you very much
Don’t use the path I’ve used /run/... is temp mount path used by the system to mount removable drives. You can create your own mount point even under your /home folder. If you’re going to use these to store your own data best place is to create mount points under your /home directory (less trouble with user rights).
Nope. It was some what of a mistake I did. I’m too lazy to change them . But you can create a mount point any where and point the system to mount the drive to mount in to that mount point. Mount points are basically folders that system maps the drive to.
. But you can create a mount point any where and point the system to mount the drive to mount in to that mount point. Mount points are basically folders that system maps the drive to.