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Joe Molnar
Asked: 2018-03-21 18:27:19 +0800 CST

Separating OS and user data to different disks [duplicate]

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I would like to move all my user files, programs, everything that is not the OS.

I'd like to keep Ubuntu on an SSD and put everything I've done on a separate 1TB drive. This includes everything in $HOME, but I'd like to also move /usr to move all my user-installed software.

My thinking is to keep the 180GB SSD as pristine as possible with only the OS in case I need to re-install Ubuntu at any time.

First question: Is this a bad idea?

Second question: Can I follow the same instructions which I used to move my /home to a different disk? As in this post: Move home folder to second drive, or the wiki page about moving /home

filesystem home-directory partitioning mount installed-programs

1 Answers

  1. First question: is this a bad idea?

    The goal is good, and the plan is mostly good...

    Moving /home to a different partition is an excellent (in fact, recommended) idea for the very "I need to re-install Ubuntu at any time" reason. I can think why Ubuntu insists on putting /home in the / partition, but it might offend delicate sensibilities.

    but I'd like to also move /usr also to move all my user installed software.

    Locally installed s/w lives in /usr/local and /opt. Everything else in /usr is (should be) controlled by Ubuntu.

    Thus, I'd create a:

    • small partition on the 1TB drive to mount /usr/local,
    • another small partition for /opt, and
    • a "rest of the disk" partition for /home.
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