Btrfs ontop of DM-Crypt with LUKS queries

Burning_aces · 2014-08-10 20:37:00

Hey guys, just had a few questions before I take the plunge.

On my laptop, I'm going to set it up with DM-Crypt with LUKS and the following for the file system on the 2 hdd's

256GB SSD
EFI and /boot - VFAT 512MB
/ - BTRFS - was going to use the rest of the disk unless informed otherwise
/home as a subvolume
/opt as a subvolume
1500GB HDD
Swap partition to suspend to disk - 32GB
/var - EXT4 - 10GB
/Data - The large folders eg videos, music, virtual images etc will be symlinked to the SSD to save on space on the main drive.

What I'm curious about is

Does this work and am I using BTRFS correctly?
Will I need 2 separate passwords for the 2 fully encrypted drives? Or is it when I create them they will basically become one volume? I've only seen things regarding encrypting devices as raids etc, and I wasn't going to create a raid with a SSD and a HDD...
In regards to a BTRFS storage pool, would they be wise to use in this setup, or would it be a waste of drive space? If I was to create one I was only going to create it on the SSD

Sorry for the noob questions, I have done an awful lot of reading how ever those are a few of the things I don't completely understand just yet and hoped it would be fine to ask about.
There are a few other questions I have, but they can wait until I have a grasp of this stuff.
Thanks

Last edited by Burning_aces (2014-08-11 10:33:54)

Slithery · 2014-08-10 21:27:40

Burning_aces wrote:

1500GB HDD
Swap partition to suspend to disk - I have 32GB of RAM, the swap partition will only be used to suspend to disk, would 2GB be fine for this?
/var - EXT4 - 10GB

If you have 32GB of RAM then you'll need a 32GB swap partition to be able to hibernate in all circumstances.

Why have /var on a separate partition on your slow drive?
Just have it as part of the root partition on your SSD.

256GB SSD
EFI and /boot - VFAT 150mb - Not sure if these should be separate with EFI as VFAT and /boot as EXT4?

No need for a separate /boot and EFI, it only complicates matters. Just use the same VFAT partition for both.
I'd probably give it a bit more room, say 512MB incase you want to install more thatn one kernel.

Last edited by Slithery (2014-08-10 21:27:59)

Burning_aces · 2014-08-10 21:43:40

slithery wrote:

Burning_aces wrote:
1500GB HDD
Swap partition to suspend to disk - I have 32GB of RAM, the swap partition will only be used to suspend to disk, would 2GB be fine for this?
/var - EXT4 - 10GB
If you have 32GB of RAM then you'll need a 32GB swap partition to be able to hibernate in all circumstances.
Why have /var on a separate partition on your slow drive?
Just have it as part of the root partition on your SSD.
256GB SSD
EFI and /boot - VFAT 150mb - Not sure if these should be separate with EFI as VFAT and /boot as EXT4?
No need for a separate /boot and EFI, it only complicates matters. Just use the same VFAT partition for both.
I'd probably give it a bit more room, say 512MB incase you want to install more thatn one kernel.

I've edited my original post in regards to the EFI and /boot, and the SWAP file.

The reason for a separate /var was that given the large amount of writes to it, I read it was a good idea to store it on a HDD rather than a SSD?
I'll change this so it's another subvolume under / or can just set up the partion as
/ and /home
especially if this is the better option?

Also should I be putting the swap on the SSD as well then?

Last edited by Burning_aces (2014-08-10 21:52:01)

Slithery · 2014-08-10 21:51:01

Burning_aces wrote:

The reason for a separate /var was that given the large amount of writes to it, I read it was a good idea to store it on a HDD rather than a SSD?63

That was the case when SSD's first came on the scene, but the lifespan of modern SSD's means it's no longer relevant.

Burning_aces · 2014-08-10 21:55:19

slithery wrote:

Burning_aces wrote:
The reason for a separate /var was that given the large amount of writes to it, I read it was a good idea to store it on a HDD rather than a SSD?63
That was the case when SSD's first came on the scene, but the lifespan of modern SSD's means it's no longer relevant.

Okay, should I be putting the SWAP on the same drive?
Alright, I should still be creating subvolumes for them all right?

Looking forward to making the jump back to archlinux ASAP

Last edited by Burning_aces (2014-08-10 23:00:33)

Arch Linux

#1 2014-08-10 20:37:00

Btrfs ontop of DM-Crypt with LUKS queries

#2 2014-08-10 21:27:40

Re: Btrfs ontop of DM-Crypt with LUKS queries

#3 2014-08-10 21:43:40

Re: Btrfs ontop of DM-Crypt with LUKS queries

#4 2014-08-10 21:51:01

Re: Btrfs ontop of DM-Crypt with LUKS queries

#5 2014-08-10 21:55:19

Re: Btrfs ontop of DM-Crypt with LUKS queries

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