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I have 256GB SSD, 2TB HDD and 16GB RAM, I want to have Ubuntu and my programs on SSD and other files like music, photos, videos, etc. on HDD. I'm new to Ubuntu and want to know how I can install this right? And how I can do this that my ssd don't worn out to quickly? Thanks.

Belial
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1 Answers1

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If you're comfortable with the terminal, you can change the default locations of the documents and media directories any time after installation with the xdg-user-dirs-update command. Assuming your HDD is mounted as /mnt/bigdrive:

xdg-user-dirs-update --force --set DESKTOP /mnt/bigdrive/Desktop
xdg-user-dirs-update --force --set DOWNLOAD /mnt/bigdrive/Downloads
xdg-user-dirs-update --force --set TEMPLATES /mnt/bigdrive/Templates
xdg-user-dirs-update --force --set PUBLICSHARE /mnt/bigdrive/Public
xdg-user-dirs-update --force --set DOCUMENTS /mnt/bigdrive/Documents
xdg-user-dirs-update --force --set MUSIC /mnt/bigdrive/Music
xdg-user-dirs-update --force --set PICTURES /mnt/bigdrive/Pictures
xdg-user-dirs-update --force --set VIDEOS /mnt/bigdrive/Videos

The --force parameter will create the new directories if you haven't already created them manually.

If you already have contents in those directories, you'll need to move them manually and you'll probably want to delete the original directories in your home directory (or replace them with links to the new directories) to clear the clutter and avoid confusion.

I like to leave DESKTOP on the SSD (in this case, leave out the --set DESKTOP command above) and keep media I'm actively working with there, so you can take advantage of SSD speed while e.g. editing a video.

You can also assign the whole /home directory tree to your HDD during installation, but then it'll slow you down ever so slightly while doing common operations that read/write from/to anywhere under the home directories like $HOME/.config/.

Steven K
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