New SSD only laptop. How do I use removable USB disk drives? [SOLVED]

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momist
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New SSD only laptop. How do I use removable USB disk drives? [SOLVED]

Post by momist »

Hi everyone.
I'm not exactly a newbie, I've been using Linux for a long time, and exclusively Linux Mint for at least the last 10 years. However, I'm giving up my homebrewed desktop PC. This machine currently has a 120GB SSD with /, /boot, /home on it. I also have 2 x 2TB HDDs. One with two 1TB partitions for HomeData and GeneralData. The other is half full and used only for daily backups.

I'm buying a Dell XPS15 with 256GB SSD and Windows 10 pre installed. I need Windows only for a couple of things that my Linux can't deal with (hardware problems). My intention is to shrink the Windows partition to 100GB, and fit in a new clean install of Mint 19 Cinnamon, with the partitions listed as on my 120GB SSD above.

My question relates to using the old 2 x 2TB HDDs in external caddies. Currently, the /home partition includes symlinks to ~/Downloads, ~/Videos, ~/Documents, ~/Music and ~/Pictures; all situated on the /HomeData HDD. [Why aren't those tildes showing correctly?] i.e. all the large data items are off the SSD. I want these directories accessible when I plug the caddy in, but is the system going to complain that there isn't a directory dedicated to those items when it's not? I don't mind if I download something, and it goes straight into /home to be moved later into /Downloads or /Pictures next time I plug it in.

I could, of course, make suitable directories in /home on the SSD, and call the ones on the HDD something like /ExtMusic. But, can Mint just cope with those normal sub directories being sometimes there and sometimes not? Or rather, can it cope with intermittently broken symlinks?

I've not used Windows since WinXP days, so that is going to be a whole new adventure. I'm approaching 70, and they say it's good to learn something new to keep the grey cells working . . .
Last edited by LockBot on Wed Dec 28, 2022 7:16 am, edited 2 times in total.
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momist : a follower of the Greek god Momer.
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catweazel
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Re: New SSD only laptop. How do I use removable USB disk drives?

Post by catweazel »

momist wrote: Tue Sep 18, 2018 6:14 pm I could, of course, make suitable directories in /home on the SSD, and call the ones on the HDD something like /ExtMusic. But, can Mint just cope with those normal sub directories being sometimes there and sometimes not?
It'll be a clean install so Mint won't care. All you'll need do is plug the drive in and mount it in the file manager.
momist wrote:I've not used Windows since WinXP days, so that is going to be a whole new adventure. I'm approaching 70, and they say it's good to learn something new to keep the grey cells working . . .
You're only a spring chicken. I'm 15 years your senior :)
"There is, ultimately, only one truth -- cogito, ergo sum -- everything else is an assumption." - Me, my swansong.
momist
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Re: New SSD only laptop. How do I use removable USB disk drives?

Post by momist »

Thank you CatWeazel. Respect! :D
momist : a follower of the Greek god Momer.
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