SOLVED: How To Install LMDE to SSD and HHD /home

[gtsfer]

One more point of curiosity. You can see in my /etc/fstab above that I'm mounting /dev/sdb2 by its UUID. The result of mount shows it mounted as /dev/sdb2:
It's working, but... huh? I've checked mount again this morning, and it hasn't changed since I posted it. Just curious is all.

What did you expect to change? Your mount results look exactly like mine for /home. Although our fstab is just a little different (the params at the end). Mine is from a default install of LMDE to hard disk. At the time it was my only OS, but now I have KDE on hard drive too (plus C17 and Debian on external USB hard disk).

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# UNCONFIGURED FSTAB FOR BASE SYSTEM
proc	/proc	proc	defaults	0	0
# /dev/sda1
UUID=a9806a57-5c9d-4984-8eda-2f983ddea2f1	/	ext4	rw,errors=remount-ro	0	1
# /dev/sda2
UUID=9fb5f4e5-3eef-4d95-89cd-69d5238a2fcb	swap	swap	sw	0	0
# /dev/sda3
UUID=23ef2bd6-7c8d-4f6f-8328-1a2543ea8377	/home	ext4	rw,errors=remount-ro	0	0

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mount command results for my /home
/dev/sda3 on /home type ext4 (rw,relatime,errors=remount-ro,data=ordered)

This is a great install how-to addition for LMDE. As I said, I've run into several posts where people have had much trouble figuring out "target" and ended up cussing out the LMDE installer.

[aer0usa]

I expected /dev/sdb2 to be mounted by its UUID the way /dev/sda1 is, since that's what is in /etc/fstab. Like I said, it's working, so no big deal. Just curious.

[gtsfer]

I guess mount is a different animal that say "sudo blkid". I'm not sure myself what mechanism reads fstab to actually perform the mounting process at boot. Bit it's done pretty early as evidenced by the quick "no home filesystem found" or whatever happens if it's not right.

[aer0usa]

You know, here's another thing. The problem here isn't so much the use of an SSD, but how to install LMDE on two hard drives: one with / and another with /home. The issue is more about the LMDE installer.

The solution I came up with would work just fine for a system with two HDDs. Or two SSDs. It sounds daunting at first, but it sure worked a lot easier than the LMDE Installer's "/target" method.

SSD strategies are another issue, and just has to do with what options you set for the SSD in /etc/fstab. You might notice I added "noatime" and "discard", which were suggested in a page on the Arch Linux wiki. That page also influenced my decision to put swap on the HDD rather than the SSD. There is another philosophy that says newer SSDs don't need any special treatment.

[gtsfer]

I agree and I said it a few posts back. That the LMDE installer is a "throwback". All the main editions use a different partition manager at this phase and you can install to any partitions on any drive you have attached. (or create/ delete partitions right in there too). It is about more than just the SSD issue. Or even install using partitions on two hard drives.

Even trying to install it as a second OS, say next to Cinnamon 17 would be the same situation. Right? You'd have to manually define partitions, then do the pre-mount thing the installer asks for.

In my case, LMDE was the first Linux OS I ever installed on my own gear. So I didn't run into it. But any one wanting to dual boot LMDE as a second OS would.

I wonder how to ask Clem about it? Through the IRC channels maybe? They have big plans for the future of LMDE, but the installer is still an old, difficult POS in some. People newer to Linux could never figure it out.

[aer0usa]

Agreed. I started with Ubuntu 8.04, and also have installed a couple short-term-support releases of Linux Mint, but never LMDE. That's why the LMDE installer puzzled me. I'm used to a better experience.

I wonder if Clem watches these forums. I've seen responses from him to comments on Linux Mint release pages and Cinnamon release pages.

If, for some reason, they didn't want to change the LMDE installer, perhaps they could document it a little better. They could put my "Aha!" post in the User Guide. That would help a lot! I'd even be glad to re-write my post and provide screen caps.

[gtsfer]

I wonder if Clem watches these forums. I've seen responses from him to comments on Linux Mint release pages and Cinnamon release pages.

If, for some reason, they didn't want to change the LMDE installer, perhaps they could document it a little better. They could put my "Aha!" post in the User Guide. That would help a lot! I'd even be glad to re-write my post and provide screen caps.

I've seen Clem occasionally post responses to questions on the forum. Go to "The Team" at the bottom of the page, click Clem's ID and "search user's posts" and you see some not too old in there. Maybe I'll see if I can pose the question to him on the IRC or another means. I'm not going to PM him, that would be a little much I think. I'll bet there's a reason they keep LMDE that way. But maybe not, we'll see.

[aer0usa]

Cool! Let me know if I can help. Thx!

[gtsfer]

Hi! See this thread and the link that Monsta posted in there. I guess it's in the works and has been an issue others have brought up before too.
http://forums.linuxmint.com/viewtopic.p ... on#p915905

I also sent an email to the dev account asking about this but haven't heard back from them yet. That was on Saturday and before Monsta posted his reply so if I waited I could have saved myself the trouble. When it's going to get implemented, who knows. Maybe before the next LMDE release? We can only wait and see.