Question about partitioning SDD after OS is installed

Jeffrey Lapinski

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I am planning to add a few distros to my laptop and I need some guidance on partitioning my SSD. Here is a picture of my current partitioning set up.

Thanks in advance!

Screenshot from 2018-09-12 00-57-04.png
 

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Hello @Jeffrey Lapinski

It looks like that you installed your distro without creating any partition so
by default have been created two main partitions: root filesystem and a swap partition.

Use Gparted for modify your drives, but Gparted cannot modify mounted drives.
So you will have to open the live cd and do your edits from there.

Back up your data before fiddling with partitions, just in case.
  1. You will need to boot from the live cd
  2. Open up gparted and choose to resize the current Linux partition
  3. Shrink it from the end
  4. Now that you have shrunk your partition, there will be some empty space at the end of the drive. Right click on it and pick format. Choose the filesystem and label for it
  5. Press edit > apply all operations
 
Hello @Jeffrey Lapinski

It looks like that you installed your distro without creating any partition so
by default have been created two main partitions: root filesystem and a swap partition.

Use Gparted for modify your drives, but Gparted cannot modify mounted drives.
So you will have to open the live cd and do your edits from there.

Back up your data before fiddling with partitions, just in case.
  1. You will need to boot from the live cd
  2. Open up gparted and choose to resize the current Linux partition
  3. Shrink it from the end
  4. Now that you have shrunk your partition, there will be some empty space at the end of the drive. Right click on it and pick format. Choose the filesystem and label for it
  5. Press edit > apply all operations
You’re right, I just let the installer set the partitions (I know, newbie mistake). This is a relatively new install and I haven’t saved much, would it be easier to do a fresh jnstall
Hello @Jeffrey Lapinski

It looks like that you installed your distro without creating any partition so
by default have been created two main partitions: root filesystem and a swap partition.

Use Gparted for modify your drives, but Gparted cannot modify mounted drives.
So you will have to open the live cd and do your edits from there.

Back up your data before fiddling with partitions, just in case.
  1. You will need to boot from the live cd
  2. Open up gparted and choose to resize the current Linux partition
  3. Shrink it from the end
  4. Now that you have shrunk your partition, there will be some empty space at the end of the drive. Right click on it and pick format. Choose the filesystem and label for it
  5. Press edit > apply all operations
Thanks - that is what I thought. I only did a manual partition once for an install and have typically just been lazy and let the installer to do. I am going to try this on another laptop first w/ a 128 GB SSD. Can you tell me if these partition settings will work?

/boot (fat32) 300 mb
/ (ext4) 30 gb
/home (ext4) 85 gb
swap 10 gb

My next question, if I wanted to install more than 1 OS with this set up would I decrease the size of "/" in order to install additional distros?
 
With each new install you can do manual partitioning, so there was no harm in letting your first distro use the entire disk. But with each new install you'll usually want to re-use your /boot/efi as shown in your image above (if your other laptop is also UEFI based) so that all your bootloaders are stored together. If your other laptop is not UEFI based, you may have trouble with multi-multi-boot anyway. If you create a /home as a separate partition, you'll also want to re-use that usually between all of the distros. So your / folder might be able to be be a bit less than 30 GB if /home is separate.

But another school of thought says to let each distro have a / folder and let everything, including /home, be contained within that. In that case, 30 GB may not be enough. I just installed Mint Cinnamon as a fresh install along with a few of my favorite apps and I'm already up to about 50 GB of disk space. The reasoning for not using /home among multiple distros is that the apps that each distro runs may be of different versions... all competing for the same config files which may have differences between the app versions. But this is speculation... I have no idea what apps you may decide to run, or which may present conflicts with configuration differences.

You're at a great point though... experiment! If you want to start over and do a manual install/partitioning.... go for it. But follow up and jump in fairly soon with your next distro and set it up too. Follow up again with a third distro. You will be proficient more quickly, and you may have a mistake or two along the way. That's okay, mistakes are great teachers! @wizardfromoz is the Master of multi-boot, and no doubt he will have excellent advice for you.

Cheers
 
Hello, my ears are burning, someone called on the Master of Multiboot

b_Zo_Rud6_-_Imgur.gif


But seriously, if I could just stop that little critter laughing ...

(I know, newbie mistake)

... if you ever stop making mistakes ... can you show me how it is done??? :D:D

Give us an up-to-date output from\

Code:
inxi -Fxs

with any external devices plugged in.

From your GParted screenshot we look like we are on an SSD, refresh my memory. Is there an additional HDD as well or just the SSD.

The Swap size is seriously way too large. I would be looking at blowing it away for starters, and redeeming its gained space for /dev/sdb2 to be carved up one Linux at a time.

If we need swap we can keep an extra 2 - 4 GB at the end of the drive, or else create a swap file as needed, or else swap on the fly. I don't use swap. I am on the Dell Inspiron (new, currently populating with Linux), but on its predecessor, Toshiba Satellite, with 43 or so Linux on 1TB ... totally blew away swap, haven't noticed a difference. I am serious.

The only way you might need it on a modern machine with > 4GB RAM is if you

  • do a lot of video editing
  • likewise music creating
  • (allegedly) a lot of Google Earth work
  • other, extremely memory-focused exercises
Jeffrey let us know what sort of Linux you are looking to multiboot with or if you need guidance, and be aware of Timeshift to save your bacon.

Timeshift - https://www.linux.org/threads/timeshift-similar-solutions-safeguard-recover-your-linux.15241/

Off to hammer spammers, back tomorrow

Wiz
 
Hello, my ears are burning, someone called on the Master of Multiboot

b_Zo_Rud6_-_Imgur.gif


But seriously, if I could just stop that little critter laughing ...



... if you ever stop making mistakes ... can you show me how it is done??? :D:D

Give us an up-to-date output from\

Code:
inxi -Fxs

with any external devices plugged in.

From your GParted screenshot we look like we are on an SSD, refresh my memory. Is there an additional HDD as well or just the SSD.

The Swap size is seriously way too large. I would be looking at blowing it away for starters, and redeeming its gained space for /dev/sdb2 to be carved up one Linux at a time.

If we need swap we can keep an extra 2 - 4 GB at the end of the drive, or else create a swap file as needed, or else swap on the fly. I don't use swap. I am on the Dell Inspiron (new, currently populating with Linux), but on its predecessor, Toshiba Satellite, with 43 or so Linux on 1TB ... totally blew away swap, haven't noticed a difference. I am serious.

The only way you might need it on a modern machine with > 4GB RAM is if you

  • do a lot of video editing
  • likewise music creating
  • (allegedly) a lot of Google Earth work
  • other, extremely memory-focused exercises
Jeffrey let us know what sort of Linux you are looking to multiboot with or if you need guidance, and be aware of Timeshift to save your bacon.

Timeshift - https://www.linux.org/threads/timeshift-similar-solutions-safeguard-recover-your-linux.15241/

Off to hammer spammers, back tomorrow

Wiz
Ahhh, but mistakes are what allow us to learn! Thankfully in my day persona (medicine) I am much more competent than I am with my Linux hobby! As always, I am very grateful when the "Wizard" makes his appearance!

Here is the inxi data:
Code:
[jlap4@jlap4-vbp-gn ~]$ sudo inxi -Fxs
[sudo] password for jlap4:
System:
  Host: jlap4-vbp-gn Kernel: 4.17.19-1-MANJARO x86_64 bits: 64 compiler: gcc
  v: 8.2.0 Console: tty 0 Distro: Manjaro Linux
Machine:
  Type: Laptop System: ASUSTeK product: X705UDR v: 1.0
  serial: J5N0CV04B73419H
  Mobo: ASUSTeK model: X705UDR v: 1.0 serial: N0CV1819MB0033265
  UEFI: American Megatrends v: X705UDR.306 date: 11/27/2017
Battery:
  ID-1: BAT0 charge: 36.8 Wh condition: 39.5/42.1 Wh (94%)
  model: ASUSTeK ASUS Battery status: Charging
CPU:
  Topology: Quad Core model: Intel Core i7-8550U bits: 64 type: MT MCP
  arch: Kaby Lake rev: A L2 cache: 8192 KiB
  flags: lm nx pae sse sse2 sse3 sse4_1 sse4_2 ssse3 vmx bogomips: 31880
  Speed: 800 MHz min/max: 400/4000 MHz Core speeds (MHz): 1: 800 2: 800
  3: 800 4: 800 5: 800 6: 800 7: 800 8: 800
Graphics:
  Device-1: Intel UHD Graphics 620 driver: i915 v: kernel bus ID: 00:02.0
  Device-2: NVIDIA GP107M [GeForce GTX 1050 Mobile] driver: N/A
  bus ID: 01:00.0
  Display: server: X.org 1.20.1 driver: N/A resolution: <xdpyinfo missing>
  OpenGL: renderer: Mesa DRI Intel UHD Graphics 620 (Kabylake GT2)
  v: 4.5 Mesa 18.1.8 direct render: Yes
Audio:
  Device-1: Intel Sunrise Point-LP HD Audio driver: snd_hda_intel v: kernel
  bus ID: 00:1f.3
  Sound Server: ALSA v: k4.17.19-1-MANJARO
Network:
  Device-1: Realtek RTL8111/8168/8411 PCI Express Gigabit Ethernet
  driver: r8168 v: 8.045.08-NAPI port: d000 bus ID: 02:00
  IF: enp2s0 state: down mac: 4c:ed:fb:01:fa:f1
  Device-2: Realtek RTL8822BE 802.11a/b/g/n/ac WiFi adapter driver: r8822be
  v: kernel port: c000 bus ID: 03:00
  IF: wlp3s0 state: up mac: 80:c5:f2:05:e9:31
Drives:
  Local Storage: total: 1.14 TiB used: 21.78 GiB (1.9%)
  ID-1: /dev/sda vendor: Seagate model: ST1000LM035-1RK172 size: 931.51 GiB
  ID-2: /dev/sdb vendor: Micron model: 1100 MTFDDAV256TBN size: 238.47 GiB
Partition:
  ID-1: / size: 216.59 GiB used: 21.78 GiB (10.1%) fs: ext4 dev: /dev/sdb2
  ID-2: swap-1 size: 17.11 GiB used: 0 KiB (0.0%) fs: swap dev: /dev/sdb3
Sensors:
  System Temperatures: cpu: 37.0 C mobo: N/A
  Fan Speeds (RPM): N/A
Info:
  Processes: 277 Uptime: 3m Memory: 15.55 GiB used: 2.08 GiB (13.3%)
  Init: systemd Compilers: gcc: 8.2.1 Shell: bash v: 4.4.23 inxi: 3.0.21

This is from the machine that I intend to make my primary, daily use laptop. My hope would be to have 2 - 4 distros ultimately w/ Manjaro (either Gnome or KDE) as my first distro and I'd like to have (if possible) 1 distro as Mint, 1 as something like Solus, and one solid distro with a an up to date KDE - depending on which Manjaro I successfully install. I may swap out the Mint w/ a Deepin but I am unsure at the moment as I haven't played with Deepin very much. In regard to your question on my usage, I do NOT do video or movie editing and I am not a heavy Google Earth user. My primary use (non - experimental, tinkering) is Citrix ICA client for work, spread sheets, basic web browsing, etc. I also am beginning some basic data science type activities but I will address those once I get everything up and running.

Looking forward to your input (pun intended)!
 
With each new install you can do manual partitioning, so there was no harm in letting your first distro use the entire disk. But with each new install you'll usually want to re-use your /boot/efi as shown in your image above (if your other laptop is also UEFI based) so that all your bootloaders are stored together. If your other laptop is not UEFI based, you may have trouble with multi-multi-boot anyway. If you create a /home as a separate partition, you'll also want to re-use that usually between all of the distros. So your / folder might be able to be be a bit less than 30 GB if /home is separate.

But another school of thought says to let each distro have a / folder and let everything, including /home, be contained within that. In that case, 30 GB may not be enough. I just installed Mint Cinnamon as a fresh install along with a few of my favorite apps and I'm already up to about 50 GB of disk space. The reasoning for not using /home among multiple distros is that the apps that each distro runs may be of different versions... all competing for the same config files which may have differences between the app versions. But this is speculation... I have no idea what apps you may decide to run, or which may present conflicts with configuration differences.

You're at a great point though... experiment! If you want to start over and do a manual install/partitioning.... go for it. But follow up and jump in fairly soon with your next distro and set it up too. Follow up again with a third distro. You will be proficient more quickly, and you may have a mistake or two along the way. That's okay, mistakes are great teachers! @wizardfromoz is the Master of multi-boot, and no doubt he will have excellent advice for you.

Cheers
Thank you, and the "Wizard" has chimed in as you can see! Both laptops that I am currently attempting to configure are UEFI based. My only experience with dual booting is a few years ago I successfully set up a laptop to dual boot Mint and Windows 7. I have no use for Windows now and do not plan to install it. I am using 2 ASUS machines, both from 2018, both have 8th generation intel i7 processors, one is 8 gb ram, the other (the Nvidia machine) is 16 gb. I want the 16 gb laptop to be my daily use machine and in my response to the @wizardfromoz I roughly laid out what I hope to do. I am going to use the 8 gb machine to test out manually partitioning the SSD on install (since the other machine is currently up and running albeit without the best disk partitioning). Once I successfully get a few distros installed and running on my test machine I will start in on my main laptop. As an aside, I have a few online Linux courses set up that I will hopefully start working on soon!

Thanks again!
 
if only I could stop that little critter laughing ........
 

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Hello, my ears are burning, someone called on the Master of Multiboot

b_Zo_Rud6_-_Imgur.gif


But seriously, if I could just stop that little critter laughing ...



... if you ever stop making mistakes ... can you show me how it is done??? :D:D

Give us an up-to-date output from\

Code:
inxi -Fxs

with any external devices plugged in.

From your GParted screenshot we look like we are on an SSD, refresh my memory. Is there an additional HDD as well or just the SSD.

The Swap size is seriously way too large. I would be looking at blowing it away for starters, and redeeming its gained space for /dev/sdb2 to be carved up one Linux at a time.

If we need swap we can keep an extra 2 - 4 GB at the end of the drive, or else create a swap file as needed, or else swap on the fly. I don't use swap. I am on the Dell Inspiron (new, currently populating with Linux), but on its predecessor, Toshiba Satellite, with 43 or so Linux on 1TB ... totally blew away swap, haven't noticed a difference. I am serious.

The only way you might need it on a modern machine with > 4GB RAM is if you

  • do a lot of video editing
  • likewise music creating
  • (allegedly) a lot of Google Earth work
  • other, extremely memory-focused exercises
Jeffrey let us know what sort of Linux you are looking to multiboot with or if you need guidance, and be aware of Timeshift to save your bacon.

Timeshift - https://www.linux.org/threads/timeshift-similar-solutions-safeguard-recover-your-linux.15241/

Off to hammer spammers, back tomorrow

Wiz
Ok, I did a fresh install of Manjaro 17.1 KDE on my test laptop, here is what I did...
Code:
Disk /dev/sda: 931.5 GiB, 1000204886016 bytes, 1953525168 sectors
Units: sectors of 1 * 512 = 512 bytes
Sector size (logical/physical): 512 bytes / 4096 bytes
I/O size (minimum/optimal): 4096 bytes / 4096 bytes
Disklabel type: dos
Disk identifier: 0x1eae0b38

Device     Boot Start        End    Sectors   Size Id Type
/dev/sda1        2048 1953523711 1953521664 931.5G 83 Linux


Disk /dev/sdb: 119.2 GiB, 128035676160 bytes, 250069680 sectors
Units: sectors of 1 * 512 = 512 bytes
Sector size (logical/physical): 512 bytes / 4096 bytes
I/O size (minimum/optimal): 4096 bytes / 4096 bytes
Disklabel type: dos
Disk identifier: 0xd4296781

Device     Boot    Start       End   Sectors  Size Id Type
/dev/sdb1         616448  41576447  40960000 19.5G 83 Linux
/dev/sdb2       57960448 242280447 184320000 87.9G 83 Linux
/dev/sdb3           2048    616447    614400  300M  b W95 FAT32
/dev/sdb4       41576448  57960447  16384000  7.8G 82 Linux swap / Solaris

Partition table entries are not in disk order.

and here is the ixni -fxs output
Code:
[jlap4@jlap4-VBsMJKDE ~]$ inxi -fxs
CPU:
  Topology: Quad Core model: Intel Core i7-8550U bits: 64 type: MT MCP
  arch: Kaby Lake rev: A L2 cache: 8192 KiB bogomips: 31880
  Speed: 798 MHz min/max: 400/4000 MHz Core speeds (MHz): 1: 800 2: 800
  3: 800 4: 800 5: 800 6: 800 7: 800 8: 800
  Flags: 3dnowprefetch abm acpi adx aes aperfmperf apic arat arch_perfmon
  art avx avx2 bmi1 bmi2 bts clflush clflushopt cmov constant_tsc cpuid
  cpuid_fault cx16 cx8 de ds_cpl dtes64 dtherm dts epb ept erms est f16c
  flexpriority flush_l1d fma fpu fsgsbase fxsr ht hwp hwp_act_window
  hwp_epp hwp_notify ibpb ibrs ida intel_pt invpcid invpcid_single
  lahf_lm lm mca mce mmx monitor movbe mpx msr mtrr nonstop_tsc nopl nx
  pae pat pbe pcid pclmulqdq pdcm pdpe1gb pebs pge pln pni popcnt pse
  pse36 pti pts rdrand rdseed rdtscp rep_good sdbg sep smap smep ss ssbd
  sse sse2 sse4_1 sse4_2 ssse3 stibp syscall tm tm2 tpr_shadow tsc
  tsc_adjust tsc_deadline_timer tsc_known_freq vme vmx vnmi vpid x2apic
  xgetbv1 xsave xsavec xsaveopt xsaves xtopology xtpr
Sensors:
  System Temperatures: cpu: 50.0 C mobo: N/A
  Fan Speeds (RPM): N/A
 
Hello, my ears are burning, someone called on the Master of Multiboot

b_Zo_Rud6_-_Imgur.gif


But seriously, if I could just stop that little critter laughing ...



... if you ever stop making mistakes ... can you show me how it is done??? :D:D

Give us an up-to-date output from\

Code:
inxi -Fxs

with any external devices plugged in.

From your GParted screenshot we look like we are on an SSD, refresh my memory. Is there an additional HDD as well or just the SSD.

The Swap size is seriously way too large. I would be looking at blowing it away for starters, and redeeming its gained space for /dev/sdb2 to be carved up one Linux at a time.

If we need swap we can keep an extra 2 - 4 GB at the end of the drive, or else create a swap file as needed, or else swap on the fly. I don't use swap. I am on the Dell Inspiron (new, currently populating with Linux), but on its predecessor, Toshiba Satellite, with 43 or so Linux on 1TB ... totally blew away swap, haven't noticed a difference. I am serious.

The only way you might need it on a modern machine with > 4GB RAM is if you

  • do a lot of video editing
  • likewise music creating
  • (allegedly) a lot of Google Earth work
  • other, extremely memory-focused exercises
Jeffrey let us know what sort of Linux you are looking to multiboot with or if you need guidance, and be aware of Timeshift to save your bacon.

Timeshift - https://www.linux.org/threads/timeshift-similar-solutions-safeguard-recover-your-linux.15241/

Off to hammer spammers, back tomorrow

Wiz
Sorry, forgot to answer... yes both machines have a SSD my test machine has a 128 SSD and my main (nvidia machine) has a 256 SSD (I am considering upgrading it to a larger capacity drive). Both machines have 1 TB HDD storage drives internally (/dev/sda1)
 
The test machine appears to be functioning well. For my next trick I want to install another distro or 2 and have a multi boot linux set up. Now soliciting recommendations for partitioning!
 
Time for me to bow out to watch and learn from the Master! :D I'm aware already though that Arch-based distros, like Manjaro, have some special issues with multi-booting, but Wizard will make these issues more clear.

Follow along with his tute on Timeshift too... it will definitely make it easier to get out of a jam later.

Cheers
 
Time for me to bow out to watch and learn from the Master! :D I'm aware already though that Arch-based distros, like Manjaro, have some special issues with multi-booting, but Wizard will make these issues more clear.

Follow along with his tute on Timeshift too... it will definitely make it easier to get out of a jam later.

Cheers
Thank you!
 
Time for me to bow out to watch and learn from the Master! :D I'm aware already though that Arch-based distros, like Manjaro, have some special issues with multi-booting, but Wizard will make these issues more clear.

Follow along with his tute on Timeshift too... it will definitely make it easier to get out of a jam later.

Cheers
Do you know if the problems occur only when mixing arch and non - arch based systems or is it any multi-boot system when one is Arch based?
 
Do you know if the problems occur only when mixing arch and non - arch based systems or is it any multi-boot system when one is Arch based?
@wizardfromoz will correct me if I screw this up... but I think the issue is trying to install any new distro after an Arch-based distro (causing a kernel panic). So if Manjaro is the last distro installed, it may be okay (providing no other Arch-based).

But being fully trained in magic (and older than the pyramids), Wizard has a workaround for this issue. You'll need 3 salamanders, two frogs.... no, no, just kidding! :eek::D

Cheers
 
That makes sense (I think). I could leave the laptop as an all Arch derivative system or, as you suggest install Manjaro as the last distro. I want to be able to have a GNOME, a KDE, and maybe Solus or Deepin as a distro.

I can round up the lizards and the frogs, I just don't want to have to squeeze the chicken's testicles!!
 
I'm here (Brian will laugh at this) had to put a lawnmower together, haven't figured out a spell to get all the pieces together.

Let me know if you have run all your updates able to be run or notified (could be Octopi or Pamac as GUI-style updaters). If you want to get the hang of Terminal in Manjaro (possibly called Konsole in KDE):

Code:
sudo pacman -Syy

#updates your repositories

sudo pacman-mirrors -i

# will generate a list of your best download mirrors, interactive, choose 3 or 4 and it will update /etc/pacman.d/mirrorlist. Then

sudo pacman -Syu

# will perform your updates.

I'll grab a beer and swing over to a Manjaro, mine will be Cinnamon, but close enough.

Wiz
 
I'm here (Brian will laugh at this) had to put a lawnmower together, haven't figured out a spell to get all the pieces together.

Let me know if you have run all your updates able to be run or notified (could be Octopi or Pamac as GUI-style updaters). If you want to get the hang of Terminal in Manjaro (possibly called Konsole in KDE):

Code:
sudo pacman -Syy

#updates your repositories

sudo pacman-mirrors -i

# will generate a list of your best download mirrors, interactive, choose 3 or 4 and it will update /etc/pacman.d/mirrorlist. Then

sudo pacman -Syu

# will perform your updates.

I'll grab a beer and swing over to a Manjaro, mine will be Cinnamon, but close enough.

Wiz
Thanks for getting back to me and sorry, I had gone to bed already! I am going to do a fresh install on my primary laptop before we get started similar to the way I partitioned my back up machine. Do you recommend doing a Debian based OS vs Manjaro as the initial OS?
 
I'm here (Brian will laugh at this) had to put a lawnmower together, haven't figured out a spell to get all the pieces together.

Let me know if you have run all your updates able to be run or notified (could be Octopi or Pamac as GUI-style updaters). If you want to get the hang of Terminal in Manjaro (possibly called Konsole in KDE):

Code:
sudo pacman -Syy

#updates your repositories

sudo pacman-mirrors -i

# will generate a list of your best download mirrors, interactive, choose 3 or 4 and it will update /etc/pacman.d/mirrorlist. Then

sudo pacman -Syu

# will perform your updates.

I'll grab a beer and swing over to a Manjaro, mine will be Cinnamon, but close enough.

Wiz
Oh wise wizard could I do a multi boot system w/ or 4 OS: 1. Manjaro Gnome, KaOS or openSUSE, Solus, & Mint 19 Cinnamon? I would be doing this on my i7 w/ a 256 SSD & 1 TB HDD storage drive (also the Nvidia card). I am going to reinstall Manjaro tonight and partition as I did with my backup system. Our clocks will be better meshed tonight as I’m on call at my hospital and will be up all night (I’m on NYC time in the US). I hope the lawnmower is working!
 
I'm back, sipping morning coffee :)

First up: It's

Code:
inxi -Fxs

#not

inxi -fxs

... I was looking for, there is a substantial difference, if you can run that by me that would be cool.

Second up:

With your 1st lot of output at #9 - always try to include the command - looks like

Code:
sudo fdisk -l

#that's a lowercase L for The Viewers

... is that so?

In that case we need to take a step back.

You can go ahead with the plan you have currently, or you can do a whole lot better.

Your partitioning is currently MSDOS/MBR.

You would be better with GPT on both the SSD and the HDD, and that applies to both computers.

Currently you are under what is known as the "Four (4) Partition Limit" - Linux did not invent this, some OS that starts with MS and ends with DOS did :)

Google up "linux mbr four partition limit"

Have a look at

https://superuser.com/questions/370016/why-can-i-only-have-four-partitions

and

https://unix.stackexchange.com/questions/33555/what-is-the-max-partition-supported-in-linux

... and any others near the top there.

As things stand at the moment, you will not be able to multi-multiboot, unless you have eg

/dev/sdb1 - Primary
/dev/sdb2 - Primary
/dev/sdb3 - Primary
/dev/sdb4 - Extended Partition, acts as nothing more than an umbrella for Logical Partitions
/dev/sdb5 - Logical

/dev/sdb6 - Logical, &c

I'll expand more on this but what you want is to use GParted Live (which will fit on a CD or small USB stick) or GParted withing an install disk using other than KDE - to rewite the Partition Table for both SSD and HDD on each computer.

KDE have their own Partition Editor called ... wait for it ... Partition Editor but I don't use it often enough and always install GParted.

Also good reading is

https://www.linux.org/threads/quest...g-sdd-after-os-is-installed.19701/#post-58550

In that and exploring other sources, we will find that your most efficient setup is using UEFI-GPT.

Back when I can

Wizard

Edited - added BTW

BTW Jeffrey also take a look at this one, it's what we can be doing

http://akabaila.pcug.org.au/gpt/gpt_gparted.html
 

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