I've been using Linux Mint for quite some time and I'm keen on trying out different distributions like CachyOS to see if they improve my gaming experience and allow me to work with desktop environments like KDE Plasma and Wayland. Currently, I have a 2TB SSD with Mint 22.3 installed on a single large partition. It includes a 537MB EFI System partition, and the rest is filled with Mint's files, mostly containing Steam games that I'm fine with reinstalling.
The Disks tool in Mint indicates that I can resize my partition to free up about 900GB of space. I'm considering shrinking it by around 100GB for CachyOS. Is it safe to use the Resize tool while Mint is running, or should I manage the partition from a CachyOS live USB instead? After resizing, will I be able to dual boot between Mint and CachyOS seamlessly? I'm also curious whether CachyOS will recognize my existing drives, including NTFS windows partitions, and interact with my Mint installation.
Lastly, can I configure my Mint Home folder for use across different distributions? I know this is possible but I'm wondering if it's feasible to set up now rather than during the initial installation.
2 Answers
It’s great that you want to try out CachyOS! You should definitely use the Resize tool in Mint to shrink your partition, but I recommend backing up any important files just in case. Generally, partitioning software works better when the OS isn't running on the partition being modified, so using a live USB session of CachyOS would be a safer approach for resizing. After you create the new partition for CachyOS, it should automatically detect and let you dual boot with Mint without any extra effort. As for drive visibility, CachyOS should handle NTFS drives just like Mint does, allowing you to access your files without issues.
Your update is interesting! It sounds like you've already made good progress. For your issue with mounting the NTFS drive in CachyOS, check if the `ntfs-3g` package is installed. This usually resolves those kinds of problems. If it’s missing, that might be why you can't access your NTFS files. It's also a bit tricky with the Steam library; sometimes, Steam's library path needs to be manually added.
When it comes to your Home folder setup, it’s totally doable even now. Set up a new partition for Home, copy your existing data over, and tweak the fstab file as you're planning. ext4 is a solid choice for the new partition format. When adding it to fstab, you’ll just include the new partition’s UUID and set it to mount at /home. Do remember that you’ll have to repeat a similar process for CachyOS if you want it to share that Home partition too!
Yes, checking the `ntfs-3g` package is a must! That should help with your mounting issues. As for your Home folder, making it ext4 is great. When you create the partition, you can name it whatever you like, and yes, for fstab, you'll add a line with the new partition's UUID to point it to /home. It sounds like you've got a solid plan!