installing ubuntu on a new system - questions

[bruce]

Thanks to all for replying so far.

As I mentioned, I have questions.

In researching LVM/partitions/etc as it comes to installing Ubuntu, is
it possible to "split" the location of the OS files between an
internal ssd drive, as well as an external "data" drive (usb).

Or, is issue/actions of setting up the drives handled prior to the
actual installing/downloading of the OS files by the install process.

As an example:
 If a test system has
 /
 /var
 /etc
 /tmp
 /home
 /usr
 /opt

and the test system has an internal ssd, as well as an external drive.

 How would one set this up during the install process

My goal is to have the OS on the internal ssd/drive

But at the same time, I want the external drive to have (at least)
 /home
 /var
 /tmp
 /apps

I've been looking over different sites/vids, and I'm missing something
regards how this should be setup.

For instance,
 Say I have the laptop, I connect a usb/drive to it.

I do the ubuntu/bootable usb and select "other"
  would it show
   /dev/sda -- for the internal ssd
   /dev/sdb  -- for the external ssd??

would I use the "sda" drive, to set up the partitions for
  /boot
  /root
  /swap

and would I set up the other/rest of the dirs with "sdb"

and then, how does all of this get inserted in the "fstab" file??

thanks



On Wed, Jul 16, 2025 at 7:58 AM bruce <badouglas at gmail.com> wrote:
>
> Hi,
>
> Looking to install ubuntu, have lots of questions. Most are probably basic.
>
> When installing, do you use LVM? Is there a good reason to use/not use LVM?
>
> thanks
>
> ps, I've got more things I'm trying to solve, but I didn't want to get
> bogged down. Basically, I want to have a set of steps that work, and
> I'm not doing trial/error testing without knowing if what I'm doing is
> really correct?
>
> thanks