Score:1

Should I put Ubuntu on my SSD or HD?

in flag

I am getting a new desktop with a 500GB SSD and 1TB HD. I am wondering whether I should put the Ubuntu which will be my primary OS on the SSD or HD. On the other, I will be putting Windows as an alternative OS just in case (I found that the Virtual Machine Win emulator is not adequate in many cases). Considerations include:

  1. I want to make sure my Ubuntu drive is encrypted, and I heard that with an SSD, you can't really truly encrypt it. Is that true and will the in-built Ubuntu encryption be enough?
  2. My current Ubuntu set up takes a while to boot up (probably because it is an encrypted HD). Will having it on an SSD be significantly faster booting and running apps?
  3. I am going to be transferring the data from my current HD to the new desktop. What is the best way to do this? Will it matter if I am transferring an encrypted HD to either an SSD or HD? Do I just use an USB?
  4. how do I wipe the old HD before I sell. Later, when I try to sell this new desktop, will it matter for wiping purposes if I put it on the SSD or HD? I was told that you can never truly wipe an SSD.
  5. Is there a special process to ensure that the drive that I load the Ubuntu on is the main boot drive or to switch from the Ubuntu to Win other than just doing the usual boot menu? For example, will each OS automatically start working with the USB ports, graphics card, etc?
vanadium avatar
cn flag
I answered the question in your title. Feel free to ask specific questions in specific threads: this site has the format: one specific question at a time.
216ann avatar
in flag
@vanadium Apologize for the faux pas, I must be doing something wrong because when I tried to separate questions, I have issues. For example, people will say that I didn't state the context completely and I would repeatedly have to reiterate or link back to my prior question. And if you check, several of my questions have never been answered. In fact, I still haven't solved several of those issues. I want to avoid complaining because I know you are all volunteers but that is why I wrote the question the way that I did. Sorry.
vanadium avatar
cn flag
I did not vote to close the question, but as you see, it is a wider consensus that this does not fit in that form here. Consider this is not a user forum, it is a Q&A site primarily aimed at collecting reference information for wider applicability, i.e., not constrained to a case of a single individual. Therefore, concise questions with one clearly defined problem (e.g. should I prefer installing on HD or SSD) work here.
C.S.Cameron avatar
cn flag
I think Windows needs a fast SSD more than Ubuntu does. Ubuntu mainly runs in RAM when there is lots of RAM. RAM is lots faster than SSD. Saving data to and from disk may take a little longer for the OS on HDD.
Score:6
cn flag

You should put it on your SSD. Definitely. It will make a major difference in perceived speed of booting up and loading applications.

Score:3
it flag

From you desciption of needs, I would use the SSD for system with separated partitions, lvm, and encryptions on FS level.

  1. it's enough until you specify a real unusual need
  2. yes it can be really faster specifically with encryption
  3. sync your datas & if it's the boot disk reinstall the MBR & grub & to fix potential unstability related to hardware change, do an update & safe-upgrade after process
  4. It s always a bad idea to sell a disk if user-land data was on it, but you can SRM not just rm all files first, then delete partitions, then make partitions with new sizes twice, then finaly delete all partitions & remove partition table sectors dd if=/dev/null of=/dev/device bs=512 count=1 .... all those successive steps might be enough secured process
  5. that only depends on the boot manager/menu you generated, so yes it will be working just as a boot choice if you do so. Installing again grub to update it on the new boot SSD disk Rest is OS level so related to yours only yours skills in OS administration but if you did steps in order indicated above, (sync/reinstall boot/reboot/update/safe-upgrade/etc...) You will get again a standard boot process to full featured OS's.

I can't help on windows part, but other users here may help

216ann avatar
in flag
Thanks for the very detailed response, although as a newbie, I don't understand half of what you said (eg, like in #5). I was thinking about SRM but reading articles like (https://www.howtogeek.com/425232/how-to-securely-delete-files-on-linux/) says that we shouldn't use SRM with SSD? In your #3 answer, does this require me to have an old HD to new SSD direct connection? I don't have a cable for that. I don't have much customization on my build so I was thinking of just recreating the Ubuntu OS and then transferring the data files; redownloading my apps. Thanks again.
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