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> Then there was something mentioned about namespaces, which should |
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> be allocated smaller than the physical drive |
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> Is this really needed - just to boot from this SSD? |
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|
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NVMe namespaces are an abstraction layer that allows a controller to |
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present its connected storage as a number of independent volumes. |
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Think LVM LVs, or the way a hardware RAID card presents volumes as |
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multiple SCSI LUNs. |
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|
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Your run-of-the-mill NVMe "gumstick" SSD by default will expose all of |
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its capacity in a single namespace (and I don't even think it can be |
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configured any other way), so you don't have to worry. |
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|
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Just remember that NVMe storage is always accessed through a namespace, |
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so the equivalent of good old /dev/sda is not /dev/nvme0 (the |
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controller) but /dev/nvme0n1 (the first namespace on the controller) |
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|
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> Or is it sufficient (and harmless for the SSD) to just |
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> partitioning and format the drive? |
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|
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It's not only harmless, it's the way it's supposed to be used. |
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|
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Remember that you will need to boot in UEFI mode, so you will need a |
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system partition (and you really, really want to use GPT). The gentoo |
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handbook has a good section on UEFI booting. |
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|
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> I found some hints regarding page sizes and erase block sizes |
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> when partitioning the drive. |
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|
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I wouldn't bother with that, but you're free to experiment :) |
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|
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andrea |