How to move /home directory from HDD to SSD (without reinstalling Linux Mint)?
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I'm a beginner to Linux and using **Linux Mint**.
When I first installed Mint, I placed the **root
/
directory on my SSD**, and the **/home
directory on a small partition of my HDD**. Now that I have more space available on the SSD, I’d **like to move /home
to the SSD**, for better performance and a fresh start.
I don't have any important data in my current /home, so I’m okay with starting fresh — but I don’t want to reinstall Mint, since I’ve already customized it perfectly for my needs.
I tried to follow a suggestion from ChatGPT that said to comment out the /home
entry in /etc/fstab
. But when I rebooted, I got stuck in a login screen loop. I had to go back and fix it manually.
Here’s a snippet from my current /etc/fstab
:
#
# / was on /dev/nvme0n1p5 during installation
UUID=4db22b84-da3c-4101-9bf5-e58e4ade3681 / ext4 errors=remount-ro 0 1
# /boot/efi was on /dev/nvme0n1p1 during installation
UUID=AEBC-B055 /boot/efi vfat umask=0077 0 1
# /home was on /dev/sda2 during installation
UUID=6397f416-fe69-4a90-9336-7497d42df184 /home ext4 defaults 0 2
# this was the HDD - DATA
UUID=1A863C6A863C4891 /media/data ntfs defaults 0 0
**Could someone kindly guide me:**
How to move /home
to the SSD and clean the /home
in the HDD?
Do I need to remove the /home
mount from fstab
or move/copy anything manually?
What are the exact steps, assuming I’m a beginner and want a smooth experience?
**More details:**
alexmatt@NodeX:~$ lsblk -o NAME,SIZE,FSTYPE,UUID,MOUNTPOINT,TYPE,MODEL
NAME SIZE FSTYPE UUID MOUNTPOINT TYPE MODEL
sda 931.5G disk ST100
├─sda1 881.5G ntfs 1A863C6A863C4891 /media/dat part
└─sda2 50G ext4 6397f416-fe69-4a90-9336-7497d42df184 /home part
nvme0n1 931.5G disk CT100
├─nvme0n1p1
│ 100M vfat AEBC-B055 /boot/efi part
├─nvme0n1p2
│ 16M part
├─nvme0n1p3
│ 680.8G ntfs E2D2BE88D2BE6089 part
├─nvme0n1p4
│ 650M ntfs 1454D66754D64ADE part
└─nvme0n1p5
250G ext4 4db22b84-da3c-4101-9bf5-e58e4ade3681 / part
alexmatt@NodeX:~$
*Thank you in advance for any clear explanation and help!*
Asked by Alex Matthew
(11 rep)
Apr 24, 2025, 01:12 AM
Last activity: Apr 26, 2025, 09:01 PM
Last activity: Apr 26, 2025, 09:01 PM