Setting up folders on HDD

[KieranFitzgerald]

I have just reinstalled UBUNTU 16.04 64 bit on my system. I have an SSD which I used for the install including Home but I want to have the files Pictures, Downloads etc on my 1Tb hard drive. How do I do this? I have tried setting up a simlink but can't get it to work. The HDD has a single partition /dev/sdb1 ext4 mounted as /media/kieran/Data1. I have made a directory "Downloads" on it. Can someone help with setting this up.
Thanks

[oldfred]

This is how it do it. And now since I do multiple installs, I have a small script that deletes folders & adds the links.

You have to have it mounted in fstab, so reboot always sees the data partition. And you have to give yourself ownership & permissions to use the data.

But it does not check for data in a partition as I only run it on a new install where I am sure folders like Documents are empty.
First time or two I did it totally manually, deleting one folder & linking that folder.

http://ubuntuforums.org/showthread.php?t=2315714
Splitting home directory discussion and details:
http://ubuntuforums.org/showthread.php?t=1811198
http://ubuntuforums.org/showthread.php?t=1901437
http://ubuntuforums.org/showthread.p...hlight=%2Fdata

[DuckHook]

At the risk of digressing from your main issue, you state:

I have just reinstalled UBUNTU 16.04 64 bit on my system.

If reinstalling anyway, why 16.04? Xenial will run out of support in April, 2021. If going to the trouble of customizing fstab, symlinking, etc, perhaps best to do all this work on a version that won't be obsolete in five months.

[KieranFitzgerald]

Should I go to 18.04 or 20.04?

[oldfred]

I typically do a new install of the latest LTS - long term support version when it comes out.
So I suggest 20.04.

But I still have install of 18.04 as I use the linking into my data partition in all installs. And then only have 30GB for / (root). But I also move Firefox & Thunderbird folders into my data partition, remove all snaps & regularly houseclean older log files & whatever cruft I can find. My 20.04 is using about 8.5GB of my 30GB / partition which includes /home but not any of the data.

[DuckHook]

So I suggest 20.04.

↑

…but try it with a LiveUSB first. If no problems, then it should work well for you installed to bare metal.

[KieranFitzgerald]

Just upgraded to 18.04 all appears to be stable. I will try 20.04. Will upgrading change the way the HDD folders are set up?

[DuckHook]

Just upgraded to 18.04 all appears to be stable. I will try 20.04. Will upgrading change the way the HDD folders are set up?

Not your /home folders if that's what you mean. Installing from scratch would wipe them. Always remember to backup before proceeding. It would still be a good idea to try Focal out on a LiveUSB first, but you make that call.

[KieranFitzgerald]

Just tried it from LiveUSB. I meant the subject of the thread, does the procedure oldfred suggests apply to 20.04.

[DuckHook]

The short answer is yes. Many of us use the same file layout.

The long answer is: when installing, you must make sure that you are only formatting the partition on which you will be installing the OS. Leave your data partition alone and the data on it won't be touched (back all of it up anyway, just to be safe). You then use oldfred's procedures as per post #2 above.