I would argue for a single /
partition in the SSD (60GB, as you have envisioned) to keep everything Ubuntu, including the /home
folder.
A separate /home
partition is useful:
(1) when one plans to try out different distributions of Linux (also known as "distros")
or
(2) when one may want to re-install Ubuntu without destroying the personal files and settings in /home
.
The second reason is a bit less important now, as newer versions of Ubuntu installation process will detect existing Ubuntu and offer to preserve the /home folder when installing over.
On the other hand, if you keep /home
as a folder of /
you won't have to worry about how much to allocate to /
and how much to allocate to /home
. If your program files (games) take some more space, all you have to do is move your personal data to the HDD.
By now you must be thinking why not put /home
in the HDD?
The only reason I prefer /home
to be in the SDD is because /home
stores not only your personal data, but it also stores your personal settings for all programs. This includes changes you make to the desktop or any other program settings, your browser bookmarks, etc. When you load a program from SSD but the personal settings are in HDD, it slows loading that program a tiny bit. Keeping /
and /home
both in the SSD will get you the fastest load time.
Keep large data such as music, video, saved games, etc. in the HDD
The folders that contain large amount of data, such as Video, can be in the NTFS partition with symbolic links to /home
. This is explained in some detail at: Windows Ubuntu dual boot - Share files between OS
Other large sub-folders of /home
can be partitions in the HDD. For example, if you install a lot of Windows programs and games in WINE, the hidden folder .wine
will grow large. You can create an ext4
partition in the HDD and mount it at /home/[your user name]/.wine
(Unlike Windows, a partition in Linux can be mounted as a sub-folder.) Steam games take up a lot of space. Your steam games are in /home/[your user name]/.local/share/Steam
. See where are Steam games installed? You can create a separate Steam
(ext4
) partition in the HDD if you want. These will require a one-time edit of the file /etc/fstab
. See Mount a partition on login? for more on how to mount a partition at login.
The reason I recommend .wine to be an ext4
partition rather than a folder in the NTFS
partition is because NTFS
cannot preserve ownership and file permissions used by Ubuntu that is needed by the settings and other files stored in the .wine folder by WINE.
Between system linked folders in the NTFS
partition and ext4
partitions mounted as sub-folders of /home
you can keep all the large files in the HDD while keeping the system fast, taking advantage of the SSD.
If you still run out of space in the /
partition in SSD due to large games and other programs, you can create an ext4
partition and move /usr
there. However, this will require some planning, careful thoughts and execution. Ask a separate question if and when you need to go on that route.
As far as installing programs in /
versus the /home
see this excellent explanation of the process and its limitations: Software installed on root partition or on home partition In short, programs installed via the Ubuntu Software Center, or the command apt-get
will be installed in /
. Only "static-binary" compiled programs may be installed (rather copied) in sub-folders of /home
and expected to work.
More references:
Partitions for Ubuntu and Windows 7 dual boot on SSD + HDD setup
Setup for dual disk (SSD+HDD) with /home partition
Do I need Intel Smart Response when installing Ubuntu?
Move or Install Apps on HDD not SSD
Best Answer
In a hybrid SSHD all SSD access is integrated with the hard drive's firmware and should not be controlled by the OS. You will be safe to just use, partition and format your 500 GB hard drive and rely on the engineers of that drive to give you optimum performance from the integrated SSD cache.
Also see Is Seagate's new "FAST Factor Boot" technology compatible with Ubuntu? for a bit more background considerations.