Opinion on Inspiron 15r 7520 installation

[jvzanatta]

Hi everybody!

I just got an inspiron 15r 7520, which comes with 1TB HDD and 32GB SSD. I have a 120GB SSD which I plan to use instead of the 1TB, and put the 1TB disk on the DVD slot. So basically I will have:
120GB SSD
32GB SSD
1TB HDD

Knowing that I must use dual boot (Windows for games and Mint for work), how would you advice me to proceed? Here are a couple options, but any suggestions are welcome.
- Mint on the 120GB and Windows on the 1TB, then setting the 8GB from the 32GB to act as Linux swap and the remaining 24GB to Windows cache using IRST
- Mint on the 120GB and Windows on the 1TB, then setting the 32GB to act as Windows cache
- Both Mint and Windows sharing the 120GB space, letting the 1TB for files only and configuring the 32GB SSD as cache for the 1TB disk.

What would you do?

Thanks in advance

[Joe2Shoe]

IMHO, I would install LM19 on the 120GB SSD. On the 1TB HDD, I would create a 250GB partition for Windows, and the rest (750GB) for data/files, etc.
I would not install the 32GB SSD as it's too small, and I would probably put it inside a USB external HDD enclosure for miscellaneous backups, which would be portable.

[rui no onna]

Knowing that I must use dual boot (Windows for games and Mint for work), how would you advice me to proceed? Here are a couple options, but any suggestions are welcome.
- Mint on the 120GB and Windows on the 1TB, then setting the 8GB from the 32GB to act as Linux swap and the remaining 24GB to Windows cache using IRST
- Mint on the 120GB and Windows on the 1TB, then setting the 32GB to act as Windows cache
- Both Mint and Windows sharing the 120GB space, letting the 1TB for files only and configuring the 32GB SSD as cache for the 1TB disk.

What would you do?

The first sounds like a good way to make use of that 32GB SSD (as linux swap and cache to the 1TB HDD). For the price of an M.2 or mSATA enclosure, you can buy a 32-64GB flash drive and the form factor of the flash drive will be smaller/more handy.

Third option offers best performance for both OS but Windows uses up a lot of space and 120GB is going to be too tight if you need to share with Windows.

I just had a look on my Win7 work SSD this morning:
Windows 20GB
Program Files 20GB
ProgramData 10GB
Users 10GB (it's actually 30GB but I deducted the size of my personal files which can be offloaded to another drive)