[solved] Frequent Freezes - Boot Problems

[MyM]

I suspect my old SSD is failing. It runs the OS with a small /home partition pointing to "symlinked" data on an HDD. I now have a new 480GB SSD to install that will take over. I'm thinking to run a simple LM 21.3 install on the new drive, but wonder if it is still best to create a separate /home partition. If I don't, will I still be able to symlink to the data folders on the HDD?

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donner@desktop:~$ inxi -Fxxxzr
System:
  Kernel: 5.4.0-170-generic x86_64 bits: 64 compiler: gcc v: 9.4.0 
  Desktop: Cinnamon 5.0.7 wm: muffin 5.0.2 dm: LightDM 1.30.0 
  Distro: Linux Mint 20.2 Uma base: Ubuntu 20.04 focal 
Machine:
  Type: Desktop System: Gigabyte product: N/A v: N/A serial: <filter> 
  Chassis: type: 3 serial: <filter> 
  Mobo: Gigabyte model: 970A-DS3P serial: <filter> UEFI: American Megatrends 
  v: FB date: 10/31/2014 
CPU:
  Topology: Quad Core model: AMD FX-4100 bits: 64 type: MCP arch: Bulldozer 
  rev: 2 L2 cache: 2048 KiB 
  flags: avx lm nx pae sse sse2 sse3 sse4_1 sse4_2 sse4a ssse3 svm 
  bogomips: 28935 
  Speed: 1424 MHz min/max: 1400/3600 MHz boost: enabled Core speeds (MHz): 
  1: 1416 2: 1462 3: 1412 4: 1414 
Graphics:
  Device-1: NVIDIA GM107 [GeForce GTX 750 Ti] vendor: Micro-Star MSI 
  driver: nouveau v: kernel bus ID: 01:00.0 chip ID: 10de:1380 
  Display: x11 server: X.Org 1.20.13 driver: modesetting 
  unloaded: fbdev,vesa resolution: 1920x1080~60Hz 
  OpenGL: renderer: NV117 v: 4.3 Mesa 21.2.6 direct render: Yes 
Audio:
  Device-1: AMD SBx00 Azalia vendor: Gigabyte driver: snd_hda_intel 
  v: kernel bus ID: 00:14.2 chip ID: 1002:4383 
  Device-2: NVIDIA GM107 High Definition Audio [GeForce 940MX] 
  vendor: Micro-Star MSI driver: snd_hda_intel v: kernel bus ID: 01:00.1 
  chip ID: 10de:0fbc 
  Sound Server: ALSA v: k5.4.0-170-generic 
Network:
  Device-1: Realtek RTL8111/8168/8411 PCI Express Gigabit Ethernet 
  vendor: Gigabyte driver: r8169 v: kernel port: d000 bus ID: 03:00.0 
  chip ID: 10ec:8168 
  IF: enp3s0 state: down mac: <filter> 
  IF-ID-1: usb0 state: unknown speed: N/A duplex: N/A mac: <filter> 
Drives:
  Local Storage: total: 991.14 GiB used: 173.13 GiB (17.5%) 
  ID-1: /dev/sda vendor: Western Digital model: WD10EZEX-21WN4A0 
  size: 931.51 GiB speed: 3.0 Gb/s rotation: 7200 rpm serial: <filter> 
  rev: 1A01 scheme: MBR 
  ID-2: /dev/sdb vendor: Kingston model: SV100S264G size: 59.63 GiB 
  speed: 3.0 Gb/s serial: <filter> rev: 811a scheme: GPT 
Partition:
  ID-1: / size: 38.15 GiB used: 12.11 GiB (31.7%) fs: ext4 dev: /dev/sdb2 
  ID-2: /home size: 19.98 GiB used: 2.27 GiB (11.3%) fs: ext4 dev: /dev/sdb3 
Sensors:
  System Temperatures: cpu: 24.8 C mobo: N/A gpu: nouveau temp: 39 C 
  Fan Speeds (RPM): N/A gpu: nouveau fan: 870 
Repos:
  No active apt repos in: /etc/apt/sources.list 
  Active apt repos in: /etc/apt/sources.list.d/official-package-repositories.list 
  1: deb http://packages.linuxmint.com uma main upstream import backport
  2: deb http://archive.ubuntu.com/ubuntu focal main restricted universe multiverse
  3: deb http://archive.ubuntu.com/ubuntu focal-updates main restricted universe multiverse
  4: deb http://archive.ubuntu.com/ubuntu focal-backports main restricted universe multiverse
  5: deb http://security.ubuntu.com/ubuntu/ focal-security main restricted universe multiverse
  6: deb http://archive.canonical.com/ubuntu/ focal partner
  Active apt repos in: /etc/apt/sources.list.d/protonvpn-stable.list 
  1: deb [arch="all", signed-by=/usr/share/keyrings/protonvpn-stable-archive-keyring.gpg] https://repo.protonvpn.com/debian stable main
  Active apt repos in: /etc/apt/sources.list.d/skype-stable.list 
  1: deb [arch=amd64] https://repo.skype.com/deb stable main
Info:
  Processes: 219 Uptime: 1h 14m Memory: 7.73 GiB used: 3.00 GiB (38.8%) 
  Init: systemd v: 245 runlevel: 5 Compilers: gcc: 9.4.0 alt: 9 Shell: bash 
  v: 5.0.17 running in: gnome-terminal inxi: 3.0.38 
donner@desktop:~$ 

[motoryzen]

I'm thinking to run a simple LM 21.3 install on the new drive, but wonder if it is still best to create a separate /home partition

Good and to answer your question... it is a good idea ..IF you ensure your / ( aka root ) directory has plenty of space..

The Mint dev team recommends at least 80GB. I say 100+ if you know you'll be installing and running some or many flatpak applications, but given your system info you posted...I'd say even 65GB will hold you for a good while if you don't deal with flatpak applications.

I suspect my old SSD is failing. It runs the OS with a small /home partition pointing to "symlinked" data on an HDD

Well one way you can test that is , if you can still access and completely deal with/interact with all your data and applications from your regular /home folder on your old ssd.....remove the hdd after properly powering down the system, power it back on and test the applications and data. open document files, picture files..etc..etc..

If they work as they should this way..BUT..lag , stutter, or take far longer to launch with the hdd...then the hdd is obviously the bottleneck ( the only reason this day n age to have a hdd is for mass storage such as for many movies imo.. but i digress )

Do you already know how to separate out partitions via the LInux Mint installation gui wizard from being booted into a Mint installation thumb drive?

[MyM]

Good and to answer your question... it is a good idea ..IF you ensure your / ( aka root ) directory has plenty of space..

The Mint dev team recommends at least 80GB. I say 100+ if you know you'll be installing and running some or many flatpak applications, but given your system info you posted...I'd say even 65GB will hold you for a good while if you don't deal with flatpak applications.

I'm not loading a lot of extraneous software, so will not likely need much room for /. Flatpak is non essential to my needs. I like the idea of keeping /home and configs separated so as to facilitate re-installation and minor upgrades to OS. A data partition on another bigger drive (the 1TB HDD) was the solution to running the LM on the very old 64GB ssd.

Well one way you can test that is , if you can still access and completely deal with/interact with all your data and applications from your regular /home folder on your old ssd.....remove the hdd after properly powering down the system, power it back on and test the applications and data. open document files, picture files..etc..etc..

If they work as they should this way..BUT..lag , stutter, or take far longer to launch with the hdd...then the hdd is obviously the bottleneck ( the only reason this day n age to have a hdd is for mass storage such as for many movies imo.. but i digress )

I've had the other drives disconnected and reconnected over the past week or so, and all appears to be working fine as of now. Still, it's only a matter of time before either the original ssd or the HDD fails -- I've been coaxing this system to stay alive for quite some time now... mobos, cpu's, memory, drives etc.

Currently, my thinking is to put the emphasis on the new 480GB ssd, and to keep all essential data written to a dedicated partition on that drive. To that end, I'd like to utilize 3-4 partitions: / , /home, /media/data, and possibly one for Timeshift (though it seem more prudent that that should be on a different drive). Most of the critical data on the current storage drive (the 1TB HDD) is usually backed up on an external drive. I gather it's easy enough to create symbolic links to any drive mounted within the system, i.e. documents to new sdd; photos and music to HDD; ... allocation of available space comes into play since the new sdd is only 480GB. The "waste not, want not" part of me wants to incorporate the resources as best as possible. Yet, given that the older ssd and HDD are not long for this world, I don't want to trust them with anything that really matters.

Do you already know how to separate out partitions via the LInux Mint installation gui wizard from being booted into a Mint installation thumb drive?

I'm reasonably comfortable using Gparted for partitions, but stumble on how to direct the LM installation to utilize the intended partitions. I need to unclutter my perspective on all the nuances of EFI esp, gpt, mbr, fat32, flags, names, labels, linux-swap (?), etc.

As it turns out on my first attempt, I used gparted from a live session and created two partitions on the new ssd: 100GB for / and the rest for /home. Whatever misstep I made resulted in the entire LM being installed on the first partition. I don't know if I can fix that or whether is now best to wipe it clean and start with another installation. (The other bothersome thing of note, is the brief indication at top left naming the computer as "myname-to-be-filled-by-OEM" or something to that effect.) Anyway, I guess I'll fumble my way through this until I get what I want or until some wizard can come to my aid.