I have an existing Windows 10 machine and I want to cut myself free from the windows cord this weekend. I have installed Ubuntu on quite a few machines already, however, this box has a 6TB hard-drive that has all of my Plex Server stuff (movies, music, etc). Obviously I don't want to lose this. Also, it has (2) additional hard drives. (1) 500GB SSD that I want to use for system files and another 1TB HDD that I want to use for documents, VM backups etc. My question is 2 fold 1 - Should I remove the larger 6TB HDD to ensure I don't lose all of my stuff and if so, any concerns about reconnecting it after Ubuntu is up 2 - Can anyone chime in on suggested partitioning for this set up. I would think the 500GB SSD is sda, the 1TB is sdb with a couple partitions and then 6TB I can leave as sdc Currently windows 10 is installed on the 500GB SSD. Also, this will NOT be a dual boot Thanks

1 Answer

Q 1: Should I remove the larger 6TB HDD?

Answer: You don't need to, if you are very very careful

I assume the drive you want to install Ubuntu is /dev/sda, and the other two drives are /dev/sdb and /dev/sdc. Specifically the larger 6TB HDD is /dev/sdc.

As you know the Ubuntu installation process shows you a dialog regarding which drive and partition(s) will be modified when you press the Install Now button:

In the image above the drive sdb will be used to install Ubuntu.

Your installation should say sda, assuming that is the right drive where you want to install Ubuntu. If it says sdb or sdc, then use the Go Back button.

Q:2 Suggested partitioning

I suggest you use the Erase Disk and Install Ubuntu option to erase /dev/sda. This will delete everything in this drive. If you have any data or files of music or pictures back them up and copy them in a different drive.

It is not clear if you want suggestions for partitioning the other two drives. In any case, without knowing your specific needs I can't tell you how to partition these, other than the minimum of creating a single partition covering the whole drive for each drives.

Assuming you are the only user you can mount the Documents partition, probably /dev/sdb1, at /home/$USER/Documents.

Hope this helps