Dual boot linux mint and arch

[Jovindhar]

I have linuxmint installed on my laptop right now, i have two drives a ssd and a hdd, the ssd has linux mint, and i made a partition on my hdd of about 250gigs to install arch on it, how do i use archinstall to set up the dual boot and what settings should i use on the disk configuration menu?

[code]
System:
  Kernel: 6.8.0-55-generic arch: x86_64 bits: 64 compiler: gcc v: 13.3.0 clocksource: tsc
  Desktop: Cinnamon v: 6.4.8 tk: GTK v: 3.24.41 wm: Muffin v: 6.4.1 vt: 7 dm: LightDM v: 1.30.0
    Distro: Linux Mint 22.1 Xia base: Ubuntu 24.04 noble
Machine:
  Type: Laptop System: ASUSTeK product: GL553VD v: 1.0 serial: <superuser required>
  Mobo: ASUSTeK model: GL553VD v: 1.0 serial: <superuser required> uuid: <superuser required>
    UEFI: American Megatrends v: GL553VD.308 date: 04/29/2019
Battery:
  ID-1: BAT0 charge: 3.0 Wh (15.2%) condition: 19.7/48.2 Wh (40.7%) volts: 15.1 min: 14.4
    model: Simplo SDI ICR18650 type: Li-ion serial: <filter> status: charging cycles: 33
  Device-1: hidpp_battery_0 model: Logitech G304 Lightspeed Wireless Gaming Mouse
    serial: <filter> charge: 100% (should be ignored) rechargeable: yes status: discharging
CPU:
  Info: quad core model: Intel Core i7-7700HQ bits: 64 type: MT MCP smt: enabled arch: Kaby Lake
    rev: 9 cache: L1: 256 KiB L2: 1024 KiB L3: 6 MiB
  Speed (MHz): avg: 1950 high: 3102 min/max: 800/3800 cores: 1: 3102 2: 800 3: 3100 4: 800 5: 800
    6: 3100 7: 800 8: 3100 bogomips: 44798
  Flags: avx avx2 ht lm nx pae sse sse2 sse3 sse4_1 sse4_2 ssse3 vmx
Graphics:
  Device-1: Intel HD Graphics 630 vendor: ASUSTeK driver: i915 v: kernel arch: Gen-9.5 ports:
    active: eDP-1 empty: HDMI-A-1 bus-ID: 00:02.0 chip-ID: 8086:591b class-ID: 0300
  Device-2: NVIDIA GP107M [GeForce GTX 1050 Mobile] vendor: ASUSTeK driver: nvidia v: 550.120
    arch: Pascal pcie: speed: 8 GT/s lanes: 16 bus-ID: 01:00.0 chip-ID: 10de:1c8d class-ID: 0302
  Device-3: Realtek USB2.0 HD UVC WebCam driver: uvcvideo type: USB rev: 2.0 speed: 480 Mb/s
    lanes: 1 bus-ID: 1-6:3 chip-ID: 0bda:57f5 class-ID: 0e02 serial: <filter>
  Display: x11 server: X.Org v: 21.1.11 with: Xwayland v: 23.2.6 driver: X:
    loaded: modesetting,nvidia unloaded: fbdev,nouveau,vesa dri: iris gpu: i915 display-ID: :0
    screens: 1
  Screen-1: 0 s-res: 1920x1080 s-dpi: 102 s-size: 480x270mm (18.90x10.63") s-diag: 551mm (21.68")
  Monitor-1: eDP-1 mapped: eDP-1-1 model: AU Optronics 0xe997 res: 1920x1080 hz: 60 dpi: 142
    size: 344x194mm (13.54x7.64") diag: 395mm (15.5") modes: 1920x1080
  API: EGL v: 1.5 hw: drv: intel iris drv: nvidia platforms: device: 0 drv: nvidia device: 1
    drv: iris device: 3 drv: swrast gbm: drv: iris surfaceless: drv: nvidia x11: drv: nvidia
    inactive: wayland,device-2
  API: OpenGL v: 4.6.0 compat-v: 4.5 vendor: nvidia mesa v: 550.120 glx-v: 1.4 direct-render: yes
    renderer: NVIDIA GeForce GTX 1050/PCIe/SSE2
Audio:
  Device-1: Intel CM238 HD Audio vendor: ASUSTeK driver: snd_hda_intel v: kernel bus-ID: 00:1f.3
    chip-ID: 8086:a171 class-ID: 0403
  API: ALSA v: k6.8.0-55-generic status: kernel-api
  Server-1: PipeWire v: 1.0.5 status: active with: 1: pipewire-pulse status: active
    2: wireplumber status: active
  Server-2: PulseAudio v: 16.1 status: off (using pipewire-pulse)
Network:
  Device-1: Intel Wireless 7265 driver: iwlwifi v: kernel pcie: speed: 2.5 GT/s lanes: 1
    bus-ID: 02:00.0 chip-ID: 8086:095a class-ID: 0280
  IF: wlp2s0 state: up mac: <filter>
  Device-2: Realtek RTL8111/8168/8211/8411 PCI Express Gigabit Ethernet
    vendor: ASUSTeK RTL8111/8168/8411 driver: r8169 v: kernel pcie: speed: 2.5 GT/s lanes: 1
    port: d000 bus-ID: 03:00.0 chip-ID: 10ec:8168 class-ID: 0200
  IF: enp3s0 state: down mac: <filter>
  Device-3: Lite-On Dell Wireless Device driver: hid-generic,usbhid type: USB rev: 2.0
    speed: 12 Mb/s lanes: 1 bus-ID: 1-2:2 chip-ID: 04ca:00bd class-ID: 0301
Bluetooth:
  Device-1: Intel Bluetooth wireless interface driver: btusb v: 0.8 type: USB rev: 2.0
    speed: 12 Mb/s lanes: 1 bus-ID: 1-8:4 chip-ID: 8087:0a2a class-ID: e001
  Report: hciconfig ID: hci0 rfk-id: 0 state: down bt-service: enabled,running rfk-block:
    hardware: no software: yes address: <filter>
Drives:
  Local Storage: total: 1.14 TiB used: 61.53 GiB (5.3%)
  ID-1: /dev/nvme0n1 vendor: SK Hynix model: HFM256GDJTNG-8310A size: 238.47 GiB speed: 15.8 Gb/s
    lanes: 2 tech: SSD serial: <filter> fw-rev: 80001C00 temp: 45.9 C scheme: GPT
  ID-2: /dev/sda vendor: Seagate model: ST1000LM035-1RK172 size: 931.51 GiB speed: 6.0 Gb/s
    tech: HDD rpm: 5400 serial: <filter> fw-rev: SDM4 scheme: GPT
Partition:
  ID-1: / size: 233.18 GiB used: 61.53 GiB (26.4%) fs: ext4 dev: /dev/nvme0n1p2
  ID-2: /boot/efi size: 511 MiB used: 6.1 MiB (1.2%) fs: vfat dev: /dev/nvme0n1p1
Swap:
  ID-1: swap-1 type: file size: 2 GiB used: 0 KiB (0.0%) priority: -2 file: /swapfile
USB:
  Hub-1: 1-0:1 info: hi-speed hub with single TT ports: 16 rev: 2.0 speed: 480 Mb/s lanes: 1
    chip-ID: 1d6b:0002 class-ID: 0900
  Device-1: 1-1:6 info: Logitech USB Receiver type: keyboard,mouse,HID
    driver: logitech-djreceiver,usbhid interfaces: 3 rev: 2.0 speed: 12 Mb/s lanes: 1 power: 98mA
    chip-ID: 046d:c53f class-ID: 0300
  Device-2: 1-2:2 info: Lite-On Dell Wireless Device type: keyboard,mouse
    driver: hid-generic,usbhid interfaces: 2 rev: 2.0 speed: 12 Mb/s lanes: 1 power: 100mA
    chip-ID: 04ca:00bd class-ID: 0301
  Device-3: 1-6:3 info: Realtek USB2.0 HD UVC WebCam type: video driver: uvcvideo interfaces: 2
    rev: 2.0 speed: 480 Mb/s lanes: 1 power: 500mA chip-ID: 0bda:57f5 class-ID: 0e02 serial: <filter>
  Device-4: 1-8:4 info: Intel Bluetooth wireless interface type: bluetooth driver: btusb
    interfaces: 2 rev: 2.0 speed: 12 Mb/s lanes: 1 power: 100mA chip-ID: 8087:0a2a class-ID: e001
  Device-5: 1-11:5 info: ASUSTek ITE Device(8910) type: keyboard driver: asus,usbhid
    interfaces: 1 rev: 2.0 speed: 12 Mb/s lanes: 1 power: 100mA chip-ID: 0b05:1854 class-ID: 0301
  Hub-2: 2-0:1 info: super-speed hub ports: 8 rev: 3.0 speed: 5 Gb/s lanes: 1 chip-ID: 1d6b:0003
    class-ID: 0900
Sensors:
  System Temperatures: cpu: 79.0 C pch: 59.5 C mobo: N/A gpu: nvidia temp: 63 C
  Fan Speeds (rpm): cpu: 4200
Repos:
  Packages: 3133 pm: dpkg pkgs: 3101 pm: flatpak pkgs: 14 pm: snap pkgs: 18
  No active apt repos in: /etc/apt/sources.list
  No active apt repos in: /etc/apt/sources.list.d/additional-repositories.list
  Active apt repos in: /etc/apt/sources.list.d/cairo-dock-team-ppa-noble.list
    1: deb [signed-by=/etc/apt/keyrings/cairo-dock-team-ppa-noble.gpg] https: //ppa.launchpadcontent.net/cairo-dock-team/ppa/ubuntu noble main
  Active apt repos in: /etc/apt/sources.list.d/official-package-repositories.list
    1: deb http: //packages.linuxmint.com xia main upstream import backport
    2: deb http: //archive.ubuntu.com/ubuntu noble main restricted universe multiverse
    3: deb http: //archive.ubuntu.com/ubuntu noble-updates main restricted universe multiverse
    4: deb http: //archive.ubuntu.com/ubuntu noble-backports main restricted universe multiverse
    5: deb http: //security.ubuntu.com/ubuntu/ noble-security main restricted universe multiverse
  Active apt repos in: /etc/apt/sources.list.d/warpdotdev.list
    1: deb [arch=amd64 signed-by=/etc/apt/trusted.gpg.d/warpdotdev.gpg] https: //releases.warp.dev/linux/deb stable main
Info:
  Memory: total: 16 GiB available: 15.5 GiB used: 2.42 GiB (15.6%)
  Processes: 292 Power: uptime: 11m states: freeze,mem,disk suspend: deep wakeups: 0
    hibernate: platform Init: systemd v: 255 target: graphical (5) default: graphical
  Compilers: clang: 18.1.3 gcc: 13.3.0 Client: Unknown python3.12 client inxi: 3.3.34

[/CODE]

here's more info about my system, any help on this would be much appreciated

 

[CaffeineAddict]

If you want to install Arch then you should get your hands dirty by trial and error, this way you'll learn the best way how.

i made a partition on my hdd of about 250gigs to install arch on it

Not smart idea, if you have SSD and HDD then SSD should be used for 1 OS and HDD as data drive.
OS on HDD will perform poorly.

If you want to have 2 or more OS's then it's better in your case to create VM image on SSD in your OS on SSD.
Or dual boot Linux on SSD if VM is not an option.

 

[Jovindhar]

If you want to install Arch then you should get your hands dirty by trial and error, this way you'll learn the best way how.


Not smart idea, if you have SSD and HDD then SSD should be used for 1 OS and HDD as data drive.
OS on HDD will perform poorly.

If you want to have 2 or more OS's then it's better in your case to create VM image on SSD in your OS on SSD.
Or dual boot Linux on SSD if VM is not an option.

Ah okay, how do I dual boot from my ssd?

 

[CaffeineAddict]

Ah okay, how do I dual boot from my ssd?

OS installer should handle that while installing GRUB.

When you install new distro to a SSD the installer will guide you trough steps, including formatting or making space on existing SSD, you should pay attention not to overwrite your current OS.
Installer should also prompt you to probe other OS's prior installing GRUB, and it should install GRUB so that both OS's are bootable.

 

[Jovindhar]

OS installer should handle that while installing GRUB.

When you install new distro to a SSD the installer will guide you trough steps, including formatting or making space on existing SSD, you should pay attention not to overwrite your current OS.
Installer should also prompt you to probe other OS's prior installing GRUB, and it should install GRUB so that both OS's are bootable.

Yea I’ve played around installing arch but it doesn’t have any installer that does that, from what I can see it seems like my best option is installing arch first and then installing Linux mint cause I know mint installer has an option which detects other OS’s

 

[CaffeineAddict]

Yea I’ve played around installing arch but it doesn’t have any installer that does that, from what I can see it seems like my best option is installing arch first and then installing Linux mint cause I know mint installer has an option which detects other OS’s

That's good idea, I never dealt with Arch so can't tell.

@f33dm3bits was (or is) arch user, maybe he can give some hints.

 

[f33dm3bits]

@f33dm3bits was (or is) arch user, maybe he can give some hints.

I don't have recent experience with dual-booting. But it's probably best to use Grub if you are going to dual-boot, then you can use os-prober to detect your other installation.

 

[KGIII]

OS on HDD will perform poorly.

If you'll indulge me, I'll nitpick - but just a little...

Poorly? Sure, comparatively speaking. But, we lived with that for a long time - on HDDs that were slower (lower speeds and less cache).

I wouldn't personally want to use an HDD but it'd work well enough. Loading data from the drive and writing data to the drive would be slower, of course. So, booting would take longer and it'd be an extra couple of seconds to open your browser or email client. Once things are loaded into RAM, there's not a ton of data being written to disk (or being read from disk).

It won't be ideal but it'd work.

I guess I'm not sure about 'poorly', just 'less performant' would be my description (or similar to that). In my head, 'poorly' would mean 'close to unusable'.

Like I said, it's just a trivial nitpick.

I was a very early SSD adopter. In fact, my first one only had a small SSD attached to an HDD and functioned more like a cache than anything else. I definitely appreciate the increased speed. An NVMe M.2 SSD is even faster still, but I digress.

 

[CaffeineAddict]

If you'll indulge me, I'll nitpick - but just a little...

Yes it will work, but real question is what the OP plans to do with an OS on HDD?
If he plans to only discover OS and not actively use it for heavy tasks then no problem, but in all other cases it's a pain.

 

[KGIII]

but in all other cases it's a pain.

Yeah, it'll be pretty slow. Once things are in RAM they'll be getting similar performance to what they'd get with an SSD.

But, yes, it'll be pretty slow loading. Boot times could be a couple of minutes and opening a browser could be about 30 seconds - maybe longer if you have a bunch of tabs. We lived like that longer than we've had reasonably SSD.

Off-topic: I left the room and came back in less than 15 minutes. When I returned, my N key had stopped working. So, I had to swap in a spare keyboard.