Hard Disk Partitioning & Setup

[valiantgenomics]

Hello,

Beginner's beginner here.

I noticed that only my SSD drive is recognised/partitioned correctly (it's where Mint's installation files are).

But my HDD drive, albeit being recognised, isn't partitioned. That's probably because during the Mint OS installation, I didn't select the DIY partitioning method.

So I'm being shown that I have only ~198 GB Free Space, when I should have an additional 1 TB of space coming from my HDD disk. Check screenshot below.



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I installed GParted as it seemed the best tool for setting up and managing the partitions.

But I'm not sure how to actually set it up correctly. There are SO many options and details, each with who knows what consequences (subtle or major).

I scoured the internet and youtube for tutorials but most are outdated from 2-3 even 6-9 years ago.

Could someone explain what is the correct set up shown in the screenshots below? Am I even along the right tracks?

I created a GPT partition because my Linux Mint installation is UEFI, not legacy.



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But then the next step shown below is where I'm getting confused:



Any input is highly appreciated! Thanks!

[Cosmo.]

That is 50 KB too much.

To your screenshots: #2 looks good, you can apply.

#3 shows, that you have set (first option) to precede a space before that partition with the size of nearly the whole drive, so only 1 MB (near to nothing) is left.
How many partitions do you want to create? If only one simply set the preceding space to 0.

Besides that: Use only short names and labels without spaces.

[valiantgenomics]

That is 50 KB too much.

To your screenshots: #2 looks good, you can apply.

#3 shows, that you have set (first option) to precede a space before that partition with the size of nearly the whole drive, so only 1 MB (near to nothing) is left.
How many partitions do you want to create? If only one simply set the preceding space to 0.

Besides that: Use only short names and labels without spaces.

Thank you so much for the reply! Yes, I would like to create just 1 partition an use it as "main storage".

Okay, so is this looking better?

[Cosmo.]

No, the partition is still set to be only 1 MB in size. Now all the not allocated space is behind the micro-partition.

Hint: Enter in the field for free space following the value 0. Now you should find in the new Size field the same value as for maximum size.

[valiantgenomics]

No, the partition is still set to be only 1 MB in size. Now all the not allocated space is behind the micro-partition.

Hint: Enter in the field for free space following the value 0. Now you should find in the new Size field the same value as for maximum size.

Honestly, I re-read your comment 15 times and I'm totally lost. Could you just please simply specify the 3 required values:

• Free space preceding : (?)

• New size: (?)

• Free space following: (?)

Or maybe I got it below? Thanks a lot, I really appreciate your time

[Cosmo.]

Yes, you got it now.

[valiantgenomics]

Yes, you got it now.

Thanks a lot for that! I just created the partition but the hard disk is still not recognised

Any ideas?

[Cosmo.]

Now the new partition must be mounted in your system. Where does not matter.

Use for it the preinstalled tool Disks. Mark the partition, click the gear icon and select the mount options.

[valiantgenomics]

Now the new partition must be mounted in your system. Where does not matter.
Use for it the preinstalled tool Disks. Mark the partition, click the gear icon and select the mount options.

Thanks a ton for that!!! Yeah, I did it and it worked.

The only problem now is that the hard disk is mounted as a "separate device".



Even though I "took ownership" which removed the root access requirement, and later assigned a custom folder/path. i.e. the /home/user folder to mount the drive --> it still stays as a "separate device". And when I click the home folder, it still says that there are only 198 GB of free storage, not 1,198 GB.

[MiZoG]

Your /home is mounted on your /dev/nvmeX <- I suppose. The disk you used to install your system.
Your newly formatted disk no matter what name you gave to its mount point is still a different disk, /dev/sda1.
So when you open a folder on your original home partition, you'll be informed for the actual free size of the disk the folder belongs to.
That's accurate, sensible, useful: if you copy 300GB of data into this folder, any folder in /home/sagatus, you'll find out you can't.
You'll exceed the capacity of your disk.
And that's exactly the information you need to get by your file manager.
Why you want to trick the system into showing a continuous disk space when physically there is not such continuous space?

[Cosmo.]

An additional drive does not make an existing drive / partition bigger. But you can do this:

For example:
Create in the new drive a folder named pictures.
Create in your home a link to this folder.
If you now click this link, you are in the folder pictures in new drive.
So you store your pictures in the drive with the greater space.

[valiantgenomics]

[/quote]

Your /home is mounted on your /dev/nvmeX <- I suppose. The disk you used to install your system.
Your newly formatted disk no matter what name you gave to its mount point is still a different disk, /dev/sda1.
So when you open a folder on your original home partition, you'll be informed for the actual free size of the disk the folder belongs to.
That's accurate, sensible, useful: if you copy 300GB of data into this folder, any folder in /home/sagatus, you'll find out you can't.
You'll exceed the capacity of your disk.
And that's exactly the information you need to get by your file manager.
Why you want to trick the system into showing a continuous disk space when physically there is not such continuous space?

Thanks a lot for explaining! I'm not trying to trick the system, I actually got confused because I installed Mint on my older machine which has only 1 large hard disk and it was showing a lot of space under the home folder.

But since my new laptop has 2 hard disks, I realise now it will obviously show separate storage limits.

The other thing that confused me was that the 2nd hard disk is listed under "My Devices" almost as if it's an external/removable hard drive.

An additional drive does not make an existing drive / partition bigger. But you can do this:

For example:
Create in the new drive a folder named pictures.
Create in your home a link to this folder.
If you now click this link, you are in the folder pictures in new drive.
So you store your pictures in the drive with the greater space.

That's another fantastic suggestion! Thanks a ton, you guys are awesome!