reinstalling on SSD, adding /home (and swap???) later, was: Safest way to resize windows partition before installing

[Ralf Mardorf]

On Fri, 10 Jan 2020 13:05:34 +0100, Liam Proven wrote:
>On Fri, 10 Jan 2020 at 09:41, Ralf Mardorf via ubuntu-users
><ubuntu-users at lists.ubuntu.com> wrote:
>>
>> _Never ever_ install any Linux distro from a computer magazine's
>> image! _Don't do it!_  
>
>Disagree.
>
>Why not?
>
>If you have allegations of insecurity,  modifications, I want to see
>citations.

Let's keep it short, users could use an install media from a magazine,
but they should check it against the signed Ubuntu checksum.

"[snip]
What you'll learn

    How to use gpg tools to verify the authenticity of a file
    How to use sha256 tools to verify the integrity of a file
[snip]" -
https://tutorials.ubuntu.com/tutorial/tutorial-how-to-verify-ubuntu#0

Period! Usually magazine media aren't insecure, but they are usually
modified and cause of trouble for newbies requesting help at official
mailing lists. If you disagree, fine, the users should check the ISO
using gpg and sha256.

>> Why don't you run "sudo cp -a" all directories from the current
>> drive to the new SSD?  
>
>Because it does not preserve permissions and other metadata. This is
>*not*  the way to do it. Tar piped to untar would be better. Much
>*much* easier to use a partition copying tool, such as Gparted on the
>Ubuntu boot medium.

"sudo cp -a" does preserve permissions as well as xattr etc., so for
this purpose there's no need detouring via tar.

[weremouse at moonstudio ~]$ lsb_release -a
LSB Version:
core-9.20160110ubuntu0.2-amd64:core-9.20160110ubuntu0.2-noarch:security-9.20160110ubuntu0.2-amd64:security-9.20160110ubuntu0.2-noarch
Distributor ID:	Ubuntu Description:	Ubuntu 16.04.6 LTS
Release:	16.04
Codename:	xenial
[weremouse at moonstudio ~]$ man cp
[snip]
       -a, --archive
              same as -dR --preserve=all
[snip]
       -d     same as --no-dereference --preserve=links
[snip]
       -R, -r, --recursive
              copy directories recursively
[snip]
       --preserve[=ATTR_LIST]
              preserve the specified attributes (default:
              mode,ownership,timestamps), if possible additional
              attributes: context, links, xattr, all
[snip]"


>> This is too stupid, to waste my time with reading it. Yes, using a
>> SSD does cause wear, using a HDD does cause wear, too. While it is
>> possible to use Linux without swap, it's not recommended to do so. It
>> doesn't matter if it does or doesn't shorten lifetime. We buy SSDs to
>> use them, not to handle them with kid gloves.  
>
>Disagree.
>
>Not because of the wearing-out-your-SSD thing; I agree with that.
>
>No, I disagree because:
>[1] Swap is almost redundant today. It's mainly for hibernation.

Linux does use all available RAM, even if less is needed, but much is
available, so minimal swapping could be useful, even while it's not
needed.

>[3] If you have both an SSD and HD, then swap on HD eliminates a
>_potential_ issue with almost no penalty, so why not?

Indeed, _if_ an SSD and a HDD are installed, then using the HDD is ok.