<SOLVED> too many partitions, which can i delete?

[taker88]

hello guys,

i came from windows 11, i installed beside win11 linux mint. after all i deleted win11 (deleted partition and edited the grub menu to delete the win11 entry).
now i have many partitions and i think this does not to be like that. but im not sure, what i can delete and how i do set it up the right way.

Code: Select all

sascha@sascha-MS-7821:~$ inxi -Sz
System:
  Kernel: 5.4.0-88-generic x86_64 bits: 64 Desktop: Cinnamon 5.0.5 
  Distro: Linux Mint 20.2 Uma 

im using gparted for the partitioning stuff.

i got only 1 ssd in my pc. (1tb).

so, i need a uefi partition, a "basic" partition where is linux mint on and a partition for timeshift. am i right?

watch the screenshot please. there you can see all of my partitions.


best regards

[SMG]

so, i need a uefi partition, a "basic" partition where is linux mint on and a partition for timeshift. am i right?

The Mint partitions that you absolutely need are:
sda1 = efi partition --> you need that for booting
sda5 = root partition of Mint --> you need that to run Mint

It is a good practice to have a separate partition for Timeshift, but whether you do or not is up to you. Some people also have a separate Data partition so when they upgrade in the future they can easily reuse it.

It depends on your needs and your data backup strategy as to how many partitions to have.

[taker88]

hey,

sorry for the late response, but i was on vacation.

i want to buy a nas in the next 2 months. i want to be able to save there my "timeshifts" than.

so, than i could now disable timeshift and format sda2, 3, 4, and 6?

after that i can add the storage to sda5?


i just ask, cause im not sure anyway



thx

[AndyMH]

Looks like you just formatted all the windows partitions to ext4.

i want to buy a nas in the next 2 months. i want to be able to save there my "timeshifts" than.

That will not work. Timeshift will only save to a local drive on a partition that is formatted ext4.

[taker88]

yes, you are right.

i just formated the windows partitions to ext4. and now i ran in that problem, that i doesnt know which partition i can delete.
as i said, i only got 1 ssd in my pc which is 1tb.

at the end i want to have only 2 partitions left, one is the efi for booting up mint and the other one for the rest.


hmmm maybe i need for timeshift one extra partition. is it possible to creat a automatical process, that when timeshift finished the backup, that after that the backup is getting copied automatically on a nas?

[AndyMH]

You can delete all the partitions except for the ones identified by SMG:

The Mint partitions that you absolutely need are:
sda1 = efi partition --> you need that for booting
sda5 = root partition of Mint --> you need that to run Mint

hmmm maybe i need for timeshift one extra partition. is it possible to creat a automatical process, that when timeshift finished the backup, that after that the backup is getting copied automatically on a nas?

That has issues:

• how to detect when timeshift has finished.

• the logical utility to use to copy a lot of files to the NAS would be rsync, I don't know how it handles hard links, you would need to read the man pages.

• most people use smb or cifs to connect to their NAS, these are not native linux protocols and do not handle hardlinks. As a result every time you copy a snapshot to the NAS it will contain all the files = slow and it will use up a lot of space on the NAS very quickly. You would need to purchase a NAS that supports nfs to overcome this difficulty.

One solution would be to write your own script using rsync that maintains a single up-to-date copy of your system (and data files if required) on your NAS. I did something similar before I found timeshift & backintime, but it was copying to a local usb drive.

Alternatively, my synology NAS supports rsync:
https://linuxhint.com/use-rsync-synology-nas/
But I've not used this.

[taker88]

ok, that might be too much for me now. im too new to linux for this.

just for info...in wanna buy a synology ds720+ - could this one handle those linux related stuff?


i did now stop the timeshift operations. but i m confused now. as i deactivated timeshift i saw that the snapshots were saved in sda2. but sda2 has only 17mb?!

what is sda3 than? thats a ~500gb partition and i cant find files in there. but gparted shows me, that this is a basic data partition. but there isnt linux mint installed on, its on sda3.

now im very confused - what can i delete now? still sda2, 5, 4 and 6?


regards

[Pierre]

that is an UEFI / GPT type drive,
& as such, is much easier to work with.

you should be able to Delete both SDA4 & SDA6 as well.


you can also resize SDA3 & SDA5 as well,
but .. you should do all of that, from your LinuxMint Live Media,
as it tricker to do those, from the actual Installed system.

[taker88]

ok, but when i delete all those partitions, than my linux installation is gone?

i think i need sda1 for boot and sda3 cause there should be my linux installed?

[Pierre]

your LinuxMint Installation appears to reside upon SDA5

you should be able to Delete SDA6 at the very least,
as it's an unknown, just what SDA4 is being used for,
but you be able to Delete, that as well.

the Win-11 would have occupied SDA2 & SDA3, most likely.

[AndyMH]

just for info...in wanna buy a synology ds720+ - could this one handle those linux related stuff?

YES.
More expensive than my DS216J. It has a faster CPU and slots for two M.2 drives as well as 2 x 3.5" drives. My DS216J does not have any slots for M.2 drives.

[taker88]

haha. i crashed my system. xD deleted the wrong partition. however. i reinstalled all now. now it works like it should. all is fine.

@AndyMH ok. than i will buy that one maybe on black friday or something. thanks


thank you for helping guys!




regards

[AndyMH]

My personal opinion, I'd go for the DS218J or DS220J and save yourself money.

Be careful about what drives you buy, I've got two of these:
https://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/product/B01 ... UTF8&psc=1
Been running 24/7 since March 2017*. They get a lot of use because I am running a couple of CCTV cameras recording to them (with Synology's surveillance station software).

Specifically, do not buy an SMR drive. This is what most high capacity consumer drives are likely to be.
https://kb.synology.com/en-id/DSM/tutor ... isk_drives
Poor write performance on SMR drives.

* having said this they will promptly fail

[taker88]

thanks for the info andy!

so tell me, can you also run tvheadend, docker, emby server and so on with ur nas? and of cource cameras also. but you already said that.

i dont know if i really need all that stuff on a nas, but i like to "play around" with technicstuff...so all those features would be awesome

[AndyMH]

Don't use any of those, but the synology is running linux.