Various instructions for setting up Linux OS on Clevo N950TP6

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Pekka Helenius a04df8ceb3 mkinitcpio: get kernel version directly from vmlinuz-linux kernel image file		5 years ago
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README.md	mkinitcpio: get kernel version directly from vmlinuz-linux kernel image file	5 years ago

README.md

UEFI partition scheme for Clevo N950TP6

Partitions:

UEFI (syslinux boot)
NVMe SSD (Arch Linux file system)
HDD/SSD (user files + cache files)

General overview
Getting started: backups & Arch Linux installation
Partition tables
Storage roles
Partition scheme overview
Boot loader
- Boot partition structure
- Boot partition permissions
Filesystem structure
Mount points overview
/mnt location overview
fstab configuration file
syslinux configuration file
mkinitcpio preset file
mkinitcpio configuration file
Additional hints
- Retrieving UUIDs
- Kernel updates may break the setup. How to avoid?
RewriteFS
- RewriteFS - installation
- RewriteFS - fstab example

General overview

3 partitions used in this scheme
Various parts of the file system, such as /var, exists in HDD/SSD in order to reduce redundant write operations on NVMe.
RAM used as a mounting point for /tmp
Swap is stored in a seperate file for modularity. It is located at /swap/swapfile (Yes, this is against FHS)
UEFI partition size is 256 MiB in this installation, rest of the SSD (~250 GiB) is reserved for the Arch Linux OS
This installation method takes advantage of bind mounting feature
Only Arch Linux installed
No Windows or any other OSes installed
Uses syslinux bootloader.
- NOTE: When you create UEFI-based boot partition, you don't need to run extlinux --install command (unlike on BIOS-based boot partition). Just put necessary boot files, set boot flags for the boot partition and you're good to go.
- NOTE: You don't need to run efibootmgr, as referred on some websites.

NOTE: In general, you can have EFI partition on HDD mass storage, too. I mean: NVMe is not mandatory requirement here. However, slightly different /etc/fstab configuration is required than presented in fstab configuration file section. I have tested this custom setup on my spare HDD.

Getting started: backups & Arch Linux installation

1) Get an external mass storage & a Linux live USB & boot it

NOTE: If you intend to use Linux desktop and can't access it, use additional kernel boot parameters acpi_osi="!Windows 2015" acpi_osi=Linux

2) Mount your mass storage to /mnt/backupstorage

mkdir -p /mnt/backupstorage
mount /dev/<backupstorage> /mnt/backupstorage

2) Backup your original NVMe partitions to another mass storage as a .gz archive (greatly reduces backup file size). Command:

dd if=/dev/nvme0n1 conv=sync,noerror status=progress | gzip -c  > /mnt/backupstorage/clevo-nvme.img.gz

NOTE: You can restore the backed up partitions with command:

gunzip -c /mnt/backupstorage/clevo-nvme.img.gz | dd of=/dev/nvme0n1 conv=sync,noerror status=progress

3) Format NVMe drive (this follows partition scheme defined below):

WARNING: Ensure you have proper partition backups before proceeding.

fdisk /dev/nvme0n1
d 1                     delete partition 1
d ..                    delete partition N (all partitions must be deleted)
g                       create a new GPT partition table
n                       create a new partition 1 (boot partition)
p                           primary partition
<default>                   default first sector
+256M                       last sector: 256M
n                       create a new partition 2 (filesystem partition)
p                           primary partition
<default>                   default first sector
<default>                   default last sector (the whole disk. You can adjust this for your needs!)
w
mkfs.vfat /dev/nvme0n1p1    format NVMe boot partition to FAT32
mkfs.ext4 /dev/nvme0n1p2    format NVMe file system partition to Ext4
parted /dev/nvme0n1
toggle 1 boot           toggle boot flag on boot partition
toggle 1 esp            toggle esp flag (EFI) on boot partition (unless already exists!)

4) Install Arch Linux:

4.1) Mount /dev/nvme0n1p2 to /mnt/archsystem (mkdir -p /mnt/archsystem && mount /dev/nvme0n1p2 /mnt/archsystem)

4.2) Deploy Arch Linux system into /mnt/archsystem:

A) If you use non-Arch Linux live USB distribution, use arch-bootstrap shell script.

B) On Arch Linux based live USB distribution, use pacstrap command which is supplied with arch-install-scripts package.

5) Mount /dev/nvme0n1p1 to /mnt/archsystem/boot_efi (mkdir -p /mnt/archsystem/boot_efi && mount /dev/nvme0n1p1 /mnt/archsystem/boot_efi)

6) Access the Arch Linux system with arch-chroot command.

7) In chrooted environment, install syslinux & intel-ucode. Follow file system scheme defined in the following sections:

Boot partition structure
Filesystem structure
fstab configuration file
syslinux configuration file
mkinitcpio preset files
mkinitcpio configuration file

NOTE: Use default $HOME locations for all users (root's home should point to /root and other users to /home/<user>). Nothing special here, just use defaults.

8) Once the system is configured, check your configuration:

Check basic settings, such as hostname, localectl, timedatectl, locale-gen`, and your user-specific configurations
Check you have properly set up boot files & configuration (EFI partition, init symbolic link, etc.)
Test that initial RAM disk images (initramfs.img, initramfs-fallback.img) & Linux kernel image are generated into /boot_efi instead of default /boot location. You can test this with mkinitcpio -p linux command.
In some rare cases, you may need to reinstall systemd. I once dropped into rootfs shell, and ultimately fixed this by reinstalling systemd

Partition tables

The following sheet represents the desired partition tables for various mass storage devides used in this setup.

Mass Storage	Partition table
Internal NVMe	gpt *
Internal HDD/SSD	gpt/dos

GPT (gpt) partition table is required for UEFI support. GPT partition table should be applied to the mass storage you will install your EFI boot partition into.

DOS (dos) partition table is compatible with BIOS only. In UEFI setup, you can use DOS partition table on any mass storage you don't directly intended to use for booting process.
If you have DOS partition table on your mass storage which contains boot partition, the mass storage can only be used for BIOS-mode booting.
You can boot this laptop using either BIOS or UEFI mode. UEFI is recommended.
You can switch between BIOS & UEFI modes in setup menu.

Storage roles

The following sheet represents a general overview of desired partition scheme.

Role	Location	Partition	Partition Size	Type	Flags
Boot files	Internal NVMe	1	256 MiB	FAT32, EFI	boot, esp *
Operating System	Internal NVMe	2	Any	Ext4	-
User files & dirs	Internal HDD/SSD (2.5")	Any	Any	Ext4 **	-

boot, esp flags are available only for GPT partitioned mass storage. For DOS, only boot flag can be used.

** If you intended to store $HOME folders of system users, you should use a partition type which supports Unix-type permission scheme. Thus, NTFS and similar solutions are invalid options for this mass storage. Keep in mind that many Unix-like partition types may be incompatible on Microsoft Windows OSes.

Partition scheme overview

Internal NVMe is referred as /dev/nvme0n1
Internal 1 TiB HDD is referred as /dev/sda

> fdisk -l
Disk /dev/nvme0n1: 232.9 GiB, 250059350016 bytes, 488397168 sectors
Units: sectors of 1 * 512 = 512 bytes
Sector size (logical/physical): 512 bytes / 512 bytes
I/O size (minimum/optimal): 512 bytes / 512 bytes
Disklabel type: gpt
Disk identifier: B4ED4BFE-7300-4B6E-8DE4-74D91681A89C
Device          Start       End   Sectors   Size Type
/dev/nvme0n1p1   2048    526335    524288   256M EFI System
/dev/nvme0n1p2 526336 488396799 487870464 232.7G Linux filesystem
Disk /dev/sda: 931.5 GiB, 1000204886016 bytes, 1953525168 sectors
Disk model: WDC WD10JPVX-75J
Units: sectors of 1 * 512 = 512 bytes
Sector size (logical/physical): 512 bytes / 4096 bytes
I/O size (minimum/optimal): 4096 bytes / 4096 bytes
Disklabel type: gpt
Disk identifier: C4C74840-056F-4C6F-9351-728CB43B2E17
Device     Start        End    Sectors   Size Type
/dev/sda1   2048 1953523711 1953521664 931.5G Linux filesystem

> parted -l
Model: ATA WDC WD10JPVX-75J (scsi)
Disk /dev/sda: 1000GB
Sector size (logical/physical): 512B/4096B
Partition Table: gpt
Disk Flags: 
Number  Start   End     Size    File system  Name  Flags
1      1049kB  1000GB  1000GB  ext4
Model: Unknown (unknown)
Disk /dev/nvme0n1: 250GB
Sector size (logical/physical): 512B/512B
Partition Table: gpt
Disk Flags: 
Number  Start   End    Size   File system  Name  Flags
1      1049kB  269MB  268MB  fat32              boot, esp
2      269MB   233GB  232GB  ext4

Boot loader

Pretty simple to set up
Existing syslinux installation used

Boot partition structure

. EFI partition mount point
|
└─────────────────────────────────────EFI─────────────────────────────────────
|                                  |                                      |      
BOOT                            syslinux                                   |
├── bootx64.efi *                  ├── syslinux.efi *                     ├── initramfs-linux-fallback.img (fallback initramfs image)     
├── cat.c32                        ├── cat.c32                            ├── initramfs-linux.img (initramfs image)      
├── chain.c32                      ├── chain.c32                          ├── vmlinuz-linux (kernel image)      
├── cmd.c32                        ├── cmd.c32                            └── intel-ucode.img (from package `intel-ucode`)
├── cmenu.c32                      ├── cmenu.c32
├── config.c32                     ├── config.c32
├── cptime.c32                     ├── cptime.c32
├── cpu.c32                        ├── cpu.c32
├── cpuid.c32                      ├── cpuid.c32
├── cpuidtest.c32                  ├── cpuidtest.c32
├── debug.c32                      ├── debug.c32
├── dhcp.c32                       ├── dhcp.c32
├── dir.c32                        ├── dir.c32
├── dmi.c32                        ├── dmi.c32
├── dmitest.c32                    ├── dmitest.c32
├── gfxboot.c32                    ├── gfxboot.c32
├── hdt.c32                        ├── hdt.c32
├── hexdump.c32                    ├── hexdump.c32
├── host.c32                       ├── host.c32
├── ifcpu64.c32                    ├── ifcpu64.c32
├── ifcpu.c32                      ├── ifcpu.c32
├── ldlinux.e64                    ├── ldlinux.e64
├── lfs.c32                        ├── lfs.c32
├── libcom32.c32                   ├── libcom32.c32
├── libgpl.c32                     ├── libgpl.c32
├── liblua.c32                     ├── liblua.c32
├── libmenu.c32                    ├── libmenu.c32
├── libutil.c32                    ├── libutil.c32
├── linux.c32                      ├── linux.c32
├── ls.c32                         ├── ls.c32
├── lua.c32                        ├── lua.c32
├── mboot.c32                      ├── mboot.c32
├── meminfo.c32                    ├── meminfo.c32
├── menu.c32                       ├── menu.c32
├── pci.c32                        ├── pci.c32
├── pwd.c32                        ├── pwd.c32
├── reboot.c32                     ├── reboot.c32
├── rosh.c32                       ├── rosh.c32
├── sysdump.c32                    ├── sysdump.c32
├── syslinux.c32                   ├── syslinux.c32
├── syslinux.cfg *                 ├── syslinux.cfg *
├── vesa.c32                       ├── vesa.c32
├── vesamenu.c32                   ├── vesamenu.c32
├── vpdtest.c32                    ├── vpdtest.c32
├── whichsys.c32                   ├── whichsys.c32
└── zzjson.c32                     └── zzjson.c32

Duplicate files with equivalent contents. Although all files are duplicates, you should pay attention especially to these files.

Basically, you need:

A) existing syslinux installation
B) Copy files from /usr/lib/syslinux/efi64/ to the EFI/BOOT/ and EFI/syslinux/ subfolders presented above.

Be aware: .c32 files presented here may vary depending on version of your syslinux package. It should be fine, though.

Boot partition permissions

NOTE: You don't need to set these manually if you use proper /etc/fstab entry mask values as defined in fstab configuration file. These values are here so you can just check them.

Permissions	Owner (user:group)	Type	Item Name
rwxr-xr-x (0755)	root:root	Directory	./EFI
rwxr-xr-x (0755)	root:root	Directory	./EFI/BOOT
rwxr-xr-x (0755)	root:root	Directory	./EFI/syslinux
rw-r--r-- (0644)	root:root	File	./EFI/initramfs-linux-fallback.img
rw-r--r-- (0644)	root:root	File	./EFI/initramfs-linux.img
rw-r--r-- (0644)	root:root	File	./EFI/vmlinuz-linux
rw-r--r-- (0644)	root:root	File	./EFI/intel-ucode.img
----------------	---------	---------	----------------------------------
rw-r--r-- (0644)	root:root	File	./EFI/BOOT/bootx64.efi
rw-r--r-- (0644)	root:root	File	./EFI/BOOT/cat.c32
rw-r--r-- (0644)	root:root	File	./EFI/BOOT/chain.c32
rw-r--r-- (0644)	root:root	File	./EFI/BOOT/cmd.c32
rw-r--r-- (0644)	root:root	File	./EFI/BOOT/cmenu.c32
rw-r--r-- (0644)	root:root	File	./EFI/BOOT/config.c32
rw-r--r-- (0644)	root:root	File	./EFI/BOOT/cptime.c32
rw-r--r-- (0644)	root:root	File	./EFI/BOOT/cpu.c32
rw-r--r-- (0644)	root:root	File	./EFI/BOOT/cpuid.c32
rw-r--r-- (0644)	root:root	File	./EFI/BOOT/cpuidtest.c32
rw-r--r-- (0644)	root:root	File	./EFI/BOOT/debug.c32
rw-r--r-- (0644)	root:root	File	./EFI/BOOT/dhcp.c32
rw-r--r-- (0644)	root:root	File	./EFI/BOOT/dir.c32
rw-r--r-- (0644)	root:root	File	./EFI/BOOT/dmi.c32
rw-r--r-- (0644)	root:root	File	./EFI/BOOT/dmitest.c32
rw-r--r-- (0644)	root:root	File	./EFI/BOOT/gfxboot.c32
rw-r--r-- (0644)	root:root	File	./EFI/BOOT/hdt.c32
rw-r--r-- (0644)	root:root	File	./EFI/BOOT/hexdump.c32
rw-r--r-- (0644)	root:root	File	./EFI/BOOT/host.c32
rw-r--r-- (0644)	root:root	File	./EFI/BOOT/ifcpu64.c32
rw-r--r-- (0644)	root:root	File	./EFI/BOOT/ifcpu.c32
rw-r--r-- (0644)	root:root	File	./EFI/BOOT/ldlinux.e64
rw-r--r-- (0644)	root:root	File	./EFI/BOOT/lfs.c32
rw-r--r-- (0644)	root:root	File	./EFI/BOOT/libcom32.c32
rw-r--r-- (0644)	root:root	File	./EFI/BOOT/libgpl.c32
rw-r--r-- (0644)	root:root	File	./EFI/BOOT/liblua.c32
rw-r--r-- (0644)	root:root	File	./EFI/BOOT/libmenu.c32
rw-r--r-- (0644)	root:root	File	./EFI/BOOT/libutil.c32
rw-r--r-- (0644)	root:root	File	./EFI/BOOT/linux.c32
rw-r--r-- (0644)	root:root	File	./EFI/BOOT/ls.c32
rw-r--r-- (0644)	root:root	File	./EFI/BOOT/lua.c32
rw-r--r-- (0644)	root:root	File	./EFI/BOOT/mboot.c32
rw-r--r-- (0644)	root:root	File	./EFI/BOOT/meminfo.c32
rw-r--r-- (0644)	root:root	File	./EFI/BOOT/menu.c32
rw-r--r-- (0644)	root:root	File	./EFI/BOOT/pci.c32
rw-r--r-- (0644)	root:root	File	./EFI/BOOT/pwd.c32
rw-r--r-- (0644)	root:root	File	./EFI/BOOT/reboot.c32
rw-r--r-- (0644)	root:root	File	./EFI/BOOT/rosh.c32
rw-r--r-- (0644)	root:root	File	./EFI/BOOT/sysdump.c32
rw-r--r-- (0644)	root:root	File	./EFI/BOOT/syslinux.c32
rw-r--r-- (0644)	root:root	File	./EFI/BOOT/syslinux.cfg
rw-r--r-- (0644)	root:root	File	./EFI/BOOT/vesa.c32
rw-r--r-- (0644)	root:root	File	./EFI/BOOT/vesamenu.c32
rw-r--r-- (0644)	root:root	File	./EFI/BOOT/vpdtest.c32
rw-r--r-- (0644)	root:root	File	./EFI/BOOT/whichsys.c32
rw-r--r-- (0644)	root:root	File	./EFI/BOOT/zzjson.c32
----------------	---------	---------	----------------------------------
rw-r--r-- (0644)	root:root	File	./EFI/syslinux/cat.c32
rw-r--r-- (0644)	root:root	File	./EFI/syslinux/chain.c32
rw-r--r-- (0644)	root:root	File	./EFI/syslinux/cmd.c32
rw-r--r-- (0644)	root:root	File	./EFI/syslinux/cmenu.c32
rw-r--r-- (0644)	root:root	File	./EFI/syslinux/config.c32
rw-r--r-- (0644)	root:root	File	./EFI/syslinux/cptime.c32
rw-r--r-- (0644)	root:root	File	./EFI/syslinux/cpu.c32
rw-r--r-- (0644)	root:root	File	./EFI/syslinux/cpuid.c32
rw-r--r-- (0644)	root:root	File	./EFI/syslinux/cpuidtest.c32
rw-r--r-- (0644)	root:root	File	./EFI/syslinux/debug.c32
rw-r--r-- (0644)	root:root	File	./EFI/syslinux/dhcp.c32
rw-r--r-- (0644)	root:root	File	./EFI/syslinux/dir.c32
rw-r--r-- (0644)	root:root	File	./EFI/syslinux/dmi.c32
rw-r--r-- (0644)	root:root	File	./EFI/syslinux/dmitest.c32
rw-r--r-- (0644)	root:root	File	./EFI/syslinux/gfxboot.c32
rw-r--r-- (0644)	root:root	File	./EFI/syslinux/hdt.c32
rw-r--r-- (0644)	root:root	File	./EFI/syslinux/hexdump.c32
rw-r--r-- (0644)	root:root	File	./EFI/syslinux/host.c32
rw-r--r-- (0644)	root:root	File	./EFI/syslinux/ifcpu64.c32
rw-r--r-- (0644)	root:root	File	./EFI/syslinux/ifcpu.c32
rw-r--r-- (0644)	root:root	File	./EFI/syslinux/ldlinux.e64
rw-r--r-- (0644)	root:root	File	./EFI/syslinux/lfs.c32
rw-r--r-- (0644)	root:root	File	./EFI/syslinux/libcom32.c32
rw-r--r-- (0644)	root:root	File	./EFI/syslinux/libgpl.c32
rw-r--r-- (0644)	root:root	File	./EFI/syslinux/liblua.c32
rw-r--r-- (0644)	root:root	File	./EFI/syslinux/libmenu.c32
rw-r--r-- (0644)	root:root	File	./EFI/syslinux/libutil.c32
rw-r--r-- (0644)	root:root	File	./EFI/syslinux/linux.c32
rw-r--r-- (0644)	root:root	File	./EFI/syslinux/ls.c32
rw-r--r-- (0644)	root:root	File	./EFI/syslinux/lua.c32
rw-r--r-- (0644)	root:root	File	./EFI/syslinux/mboot.c32
rw-r--r-- (0644)	root:root	File	./EFI/syslinux/meminfo.c32
rw-r--r-- (0644)	root:root	File	./EFI/syslinux/menu.c32
rw-r--r-- (0644)	root:root	File	./EFI/syslinux/pci.c32
rw-r--r-- (0644)	root:root	File	./EFI/syslinux/pwd.c32
rw-r--r-- (0644)	root:root	File	./EFI/syslinux/reboot.c32
rw-r--r-- (0644)	root:root	File	./EFI/syslinux/rosh.c32
rw-r--r-- (0644)	root:root	File	./EFI/syslinux/sysdump.c32
rw-r--r-- (0644)	root:root	File	./EFI/syslinux/syslinux.c32
rw-r--r-- (0644)	root:root	File	./EFI/syslinux/syslinux.cfg
rw-r--r-- (0644)	root:root	File	./EFI/syslinux/syslinux.efi
rw-r--r-- (0644)	root:root	File	./EFI/syslinux/vesa.c32
rw-r--r-- (0644)	root:root	File	./EFI/syslinux/vesamenu.c32
rw-r--r-- (0644)	root:root	File	./EFI/syslinux/vpdtest.c32
rw-r--r-- (0644)	root:root	File	./EFI/syslinux/whichsys.c32
rw-r--r-- (0644)	root:root	File	./EFI/syslinux/zzjson.c32

Filesystem structure

Mount points overview

Item Name	Item Type	Partition	Partition format
/bin	Symbolic link (to usr/bin)	NVMe, 2 (OS)	Ext4
/boot *****	Directory	NVMe, 2 (OS)	Ext4
/boot_efi *	Directory	NVMe, 1 (Boot)	FAT32/EFI
/dev	Directory	NVMe, 2 (OS)	Ext4
/etc	Directory	NVMe, 2 (OS)	Ext4
/home	Directory (bind) **	HDD/SSD (User files)	Ext4
/init	Symbolic link (to `usr/lib/systemd/systemd`)	NVMe, 2 (OS)	Ext4
/lib	Symbolic link (to `usr/lib`)	NVMe, 2 (OS)	Ext4
/lib64	Symbolic link (to `usr/lib`)	NVMe, 2 (OS)	Ext4
/lost+found	Directory	NVMe, 2 (OS)	Ext4
/mnt ***	Directory	NVMe, 2 (OS)	Ext4
/opt	Directory	NVMe, 2 (OS)	Ext4
/proc	Directory	NVMe, 2 (OS)	Ext4
/root	Directory (bind) **	HDD/SSD (User files)	Ext4
/run	Directory	NVMe, 2 (OS)	Ext4
/sbin	Symbolic link (to `usr/bin`)	NVMe, 2 (OS)	Ext4
/swap ****	Directory (bind) **	HDD/SSD (Cache files)	Ext4
/srv	Directory	NVMe, 2 (OS)	Ext4
/sys	Directory	NVMe, 2 (OS)	Ext4
/tmp	Directory	RAM	tmpfs
/usr	Directory	NVMe, 2 (OS)	Ext4
/var	Directory (bind) **	HDD/SSD (Cache files)	Ext4

Mount point /boot_efi for UEFI boot partition is defined in /etc/fstab. Please see [fstab configuration file](#fstab-configuration file) for additional information.

** bind option is defined in /etc/fstab. Please see the following diagram.

*** Directory /mnt contains directories existing on HDD/SSD (User files). Please see the following diagram.

**** Optional: non-standard location for a SWAP file. Please see Arch Wiki - Swap file for additional information.

***** /boot folder contains only intel-ucode.img file, provided by Arch Linux package intel-ucode. Otherwise, /boot folder is empty and all necessary boot files are in /boot_efi

`/mnt` location overview

Item Name	Item Type	Partition	Partition format
/mnt/hdd	Directory	HDD/SSD	Ext4
/mnt/hdd/home	Directory (binded to `/home`)	HDD/SSD	Ext4
/mnt/hdd/home/	Directory	HDD/SSD	Ext4
/mnt/hdd/home/root	Directory (binded to `/root`)	HDD/SSD	Ext4
/mnt/hdd/var	Directory (binded to `/var`)	HDD/SSD	Ext4
/mnt/hdd/lost+found	Directory	HDD/SSD	Ext4
/mnt/hdd/swap	Directory (binded to `/swap`)	HDD/SSD	Ext4

<user> refers to your Linux file system user account(s).

fstab configuration file

The following /etc/fstab configuration corresponds to the file system structure explained above.

Please configure UUID values for your setup. You must use proper UUID values instead of the ones presented below (see Retrieving UUIDs). Additionally, use proper username string for <user>.

> cat /etc/fstab
# 
# /etc/fstab: static file system information
#
# <file system>                                 <dir>       <type>      <options>                                   <dump>  <pass>
#
#########################################
# NVMe: M.2 - FILE SYSTEM PARTITION
# Root system
UUID=9148225b-d661-4e4a-801c-f5bdc48f509e       /           ext4        defaults,noatime,discard                    0       1
#########################################
# Boot files - FAT32 partition, needs mask values
UUID=927D-38E4                                  /boot_efi   vfat        defaults,dmask=0022,fmask=0133              0       0
#########################################
# RAM & SWAP
# temporary folders
tmpfs                                           /tmp        tmpfs       nodev,nosuid,size=20480M,nr_inodes=500k     0       0
# Swap memory file (optional)
/mnt/hdd/swap                                   /swap       none        bind                                        0       0
/swap/swapfile                                  none        swap        defaults                                    0       0
#########################################
# HDD: SATA - USER FILES PARTITION
UUID=fba31569-c25c-4e30-b117-9ea83c41a8bd       /mnt/hdd     ext4       defaults,discard                            0       2
#########################################
# Bind folders
# /var folder
/mnt/hdd/var                                    /var        none        bind                                        0       0
# Home folders
/mnt/hdd/home/root                              /root       none        bind                                        0       0
/root                                           /home/root  none        bind                                        0       0
#########################################
# Optional: mount your cache folders to RAM
#tmpfs                                           /home/<user>/.cache tmpfs size=15%,mode=0777,uid=1000,gid=1000     0       0

syslinux configuration file

This configuration applies to the files EFI/BOOT/syslinux.cfg & EFI/syslinux/syslinux.cfg on NVMe partition 1 (Boot). Please configure APPEND kernel parameters properly for your setup. At least, you must use proper UUID values instead of the ones presented below (see Retrieving UUIDs).

# Config file for Syslinux -
# /boot/syslinux/syslinux.cfg
#
# Comboot modules:
#   * menu.c32 - provides a text menu
#   * vesamenu.c32 - provides a graphical menu
#   * chain.c32 - chainload MBRs, partition boot sectors, Windows bootloaders
#   * hdt.c32 - hardware detection tool
#   * reboot.c32 - reboots the system
#
# To Use: Copy the respective files from /usr/lib/syslinux to /boot/syslinux.
# If /usr and /boot are on the same file system, symlink the files instead
# of copying them.
#
# If you do not use a menu, a 'boot:' prompt will be shown and the system
# will boot automatically after 5 seconds.
#
# Please review the wiki: https://wiki.archlinux.org/index.php/Syslinux
# The wiki provides further configuration examples
DEFAULT arch
PROMPT 0        # Set to 1 if you always want to display the boot: prompt 
TIMEOUT 5
# You can create syslinux keymaps with the keytab-lilo tool
#KBDMAP de.ktl
# Menu Configuration
# Either menu.c32 or vesamenu32.c32 must be copied to /boot/syslinux 
UI menu.c32
#UI vesamenu.c32
# Refer to http://syslinux.zytor.com/wiki/index.php/Doc/menu
MENU TITLE Boot Menu
#MENU BACKGROUND splash.jpg
MENU COLOR border       30;44   #40ffffff #a0000000 std
MENU COLOR title        1;36;44 #9033ccff #a0000000 std
MENU COLOR sel          7;37;40 #e0ffffff #20ffffff all
MENU COLOR unsel        37;44   #50ffffff #a0000000 std
MENU COLOR help         37;40   #c0ffffff #a0000000 std
MENU COLOR timeout_msg  37;40   #80ffffff #00000000 std
MENU COLOR timeout      1;37;40 #c0ffffff #00000000 std
MENU COLOR msg07        37;40   #90ffffff #a0000000 std
MENU COLOR tabmsg       31;40   #30ffffff #00000000 std
#MENU RESOLUTION 1920 1080
#Clear the screen when exiting the menu
MENU CLEAR
# boot sections follow
#
# TIP: If you want a 1024x768 framebuffer, add "vga=773" to your kernel line.
#  895 = 1920x1080x32 framebuffer
#
LABEL arch
MENU LABEL Arch Linux
LINUX ../vmlinuz-linux
INITRD ../initramfs-linux.img
APPEND root=UUID=9148225b-d661-4e4a-801c-f5bdc48f509e rw vga=895 acpi_osi="!Windows 2015" acpi_osi=Linux nowatchdog nogpumanager rd.udev.log-priority=3 vm.swappiness=10 net.ifnames=0 biosdevname=0 cgroup_no_v1=all
LABEL archshell
MENU LABEL Arch Linux (shell)
LINUX ../vmlinuz-linux
INITRD ../initramfs-linux.img
APPEND root=UUID=9148225b-d661-4e4a-801c-f5bdc48f509e rw vga=895 systemd.unit=multi-user.target nowatchdog vm.swappiness=10 net.ifnames=0 biosdevname=0 cgroup_no_v1=all
LABEL archfallback
MENU LABEL Arch Linux Fallback
LINUX ../vmlinuz-linux
INITRD ../initramfs-linux-fallback.img
APPEND root=UUID=9148225b-d661-4e4a-801c-f5bdc48f509e rw vga=895 acpi_osi="!Windows 2015" acpi_osi=Linux nowatchdog vm.swappiness=10 net.ifnames=0 biosdevname=0
LABEL archfallback-rescue
MENU LABEL Arch Linux Fallback (rescue mode)
LINUX ../vmlinuz-linux
INITRD ../initramfs-linux-fallback.img
APPEND root=UUID=9148225b-d661-4e4a-801c-f5bdc48f509e vga=895 systemd.unit=multi-user.target nowatchdog vm.swappiness=10 net.ifnames=0 biosdevname=0
#LABEL windows
#        MENU LABEL Windows
#        COM32 chain.c32
#        APPEND hd0 1
## These do not work with UEFI
#LABEL hdt
#        MENU LABEL HDT (Hardware Detection Tool)
#        COM32 hdt.c32
#LABEL reboot
#        MENU LABEL Reboot
#        COM32 reboot.c32
#LABEL poweroff
#        MENU LABEL Poweroff
#        COM32 poweroff.c32

mkinitcpio preset files

Custom /etc/mkinitcpio.d/linux.preset file is recommended for this setup. Each time you run mkinitcpio -p linux or update Linux kernel or systemd configuration, proper initrd and kernel files are automatically generated in proper location (/boot_efi/ in this setup) without additional hassle.

> cat /etc/mkinitcpio.d/linux.preset
# mkinitcpio preset file for the 'linux' package
ESP_DIR="/boot_efi/EFI"
# Get kernel version directly from the generated kernel image file
# Avoid misleading detection from the running kernel
#
KERNELIMG="/boot/vmlinuz-linux"
ALL_config="/etc/mkinitcpio.conf"
ALL_kver="${ESP_DIR}/vmlinuz-linux"
PRESETS=('default' 'fallback')
#default_config="/etc/mkinitcpio.conf"
default_image="${ESP_DIR}/initramfs-linux.img"
default_options="-A esp-update-linux -k ${KERNELIMG}"
#fallback_config="/etc/mkinitcpio.conf"
fallback_image="${ESP_DIR}/initramfs-linux-fallback.img"
fallback_options="-S autodetect -k ${KERNELIMG}"

Additionally, add the following file which ensures that Linux kernel image & intel-ucode files are correctly installed when issuing mkinitcpio -p linux command.

> cat /etc/initcpio/install/esp-update-linux
ESP_DIR="/boot_efi/EFI"
build() {
cp -af /boot/intel-ucode.img "${ESP_DIR}"/
cp -af /boot/vmlinuz-linux "${ESP_DIR}"/
}

mkinitcpio configuration file

The following /etc/mkinitcpio.conf file works in this setup. The file is used to configure initial RAM disk files (initramfs.img, initramfs-fallback.img). Not all modules listed in MODULES array are required, but they have been left for Optimus/Intel GPU passthrough setup I once had.

# vim:set ft=sh
# MODULES
# The following modules are loaded before any boot hooks are
# run.  Advanced users may wish to specify all system modules
# in this array.  For instance:
#     MODULES=(piix ide_disk reiserfs)
MODULES=(vfio vfio_iommu_type1 vfio_pci vfio_virqfd vhost-net pci-stub)
# BINARIES
# This setting includes any additional binaries a given user may
# wish into the CPIO image.  This is run last, so it may be used to
# override the actual binaries included by a given hook
# BINARIES are dependency parsed, so you may safely ignore libraries
BINARIES=()
# FILES
# This setting is similar to BINARIES above, however, files are added
# as-is and are not parsed in any way.  This is useful for config files.
FILES=()
# HOOKS
# This is the most important setting in this file.  The HOOKS control the
# modules and scripts added to the image, and what happens at boot time.
# Order is important, and it is recommended that you do not change the
# order in which HOOKS are added.  Run 'mkinitcpio -H <hook name>' for
# help on a given hook.
# 'base' is _required_ unless you know precisely what you are doing.
# 'udev' is _required_ in order to automatically load modules
# 'filesystems' is _required_ unless you specify your fs modules in MODULES
# Examples:
##   This setup specifies all modules in the MODULES setting above.
##   No raid, lvm2, or encrypted root is needed.
#    HOOKS=(base)
#
##   This setup will autodetect all modules for your system and should
##   work as a sane default
#    HOOKS=(base udev autodetect block filesystems)
#
##   This setup will generate a 'full' image which supports most systems.
##   No autodetection is done.
#    HOOKS=(base udev block filesystems)
#
##   This setup assembles a pata mdadm array with an encrypted root FS.
##   Note: See 'mkinitcpio -H mdadm' for more information on raid devices.
#    HOOKS=(base udev block mdadm encrypt filesystems)
#
##   This setup loads an lvm2 volume group on a usb device.
#    HOOKS=(base udev block lvm2 filesystems)
#
##   NOTE: If you have /usr on a separate partition, you MUST include the
#    usr, fsck and shutdown hooks.
HOOKS=(base udev autodetect modconf block filesystems keyboard fsck)
# COMPRESSION
# Use this to compress the initramfs image. By default, gzip compression
# is used. Use 'cat' to create an uncompressed image.
#COMPRESSION="gzip"
#COMPRESSION="bzip2"
#COMPRESSION="lzma"
#COMPRESSION="xz"
#COMPRESSION="lzop"
#COMPRESSION="lz4"
# COMPRESSION_OPTIONS
# Additional options for the compressor
#COMPRESSION_OPTIONS=()

Additional hints

Retrieving UUIDs

Run blkid command as root or with sudo.

RewriteFS

RewriteFS is a solution to force writing of all hidden dot files into $HOME/.config location. Of course, this is just a default setup and can be configured further.

RewriteFS is available in AUR as rewritefs-git package.

WARNING: Using rewritefs may increase your HDD usage in heavy file operations.

RewriteFS - installation

1) Install RewriteFS (AUR: rewritefs-git)

2) Move all your dotfiles and dotfolders from $HOME to $HOME/.config/ folder (excluding .config, .cache & .local folders). Remove the dot prefix from the names of those moved dotfiles/folders. You should end up of having only three dotfolders in your $HOME directory: .cache, .config and .local (and no dotfiles at all). All your previous dotfiles/folders are now in $HOME/.config, without the dot prefix in their name. Right? Good. Go ahead.

3) Add file /etc/rewritefs.conf with the following contents:

m#^(?!\.)# .
m#^\.(cache|config|local)# .
m#^\.# .config/

4) Uncomment user_allow_other in /etc/fuse.conf. According to the rewritefs author, you must do it:

The files are owned by the user of the process that create them, which is rewritefs, not your applications. You have to run rewritefs as [user], not root.

5) Configure your fstab. Use /etc/fstab example below as a configuration reference.

NOTE: It is important to set <user> UID and <user> GID bits in /etc/fstab. Otherwise you may end up creating new files which belong to group root instead of your actual primary group in $HOME.

6) Log out, switch to another TTY and login as another user or alternatively unmount the partition where your $HOME locates at.

7) Reboot the system

RewriteFS - fstab example

> cat /etc/fstab
# 
# /etc/fstab: static file system information
#
# <file system>                                 <dir>       <type>      <options>                                   <dump>  <pass>
#
#########################################
# NVMe: M.2 - FILE SYSTEM PARTITION
# Root system
UUID=9148225b-d661-4e4a-801c-f5bdc48f509e       /           ext4        defaults,noatime,discard                    0       1
#########################################
# Boot files - FAT32 partition, needs mask values
UUID=927D-38E4                                  /boot_efi   vfat        defaults,dmask=0022,fmask=0133              0       0
#########################################
# RAM & SWAP
# temporary folders
tmpfs                                           /tmp        tmpfs       nodev,nosuid,size=20480M,nr_inodes=500k     0       0
# Swap memory file (optional)
/mnt/hdd/swap                                   /swap       none        bind                                        0       0
/swap/swapfile                                  none        swap        defaults                                    0       0
#########################################
# HDD: SATA - USER FILES PARTITION
UUID=fba31569-c25c-4e30-b117-9ea83c41a8bd       /mnt/hdd     ext4       defaults,discard                            0       2
#########################################
# Bind folders
# /var folder
/mnt/hdd/var                                    /var        none        bind                                        0       0
# Home folders
/mnt/hdd/home/root                              /root       none        bind                                        0       0
/root                                           /home/root  none        bind                                        0       0
/mnt/hdd/home/<user>                            /home/<user>     rewritefs       config=/etc/rewritefs.conf,allow_other,uid=1000,gid=1000      0       0
#########################################
# Optional: mount your cache folders to RAM
NOTE: When rewritefs is being used, mount order must be /tmp and then /home folders. This is because contents of user's .cache folder is written to /tmp/user_cache folder
#tmpfs                                           /home/<user>/.cache tmpfs size=15%,mode=0777,uid=1000,gid=1000     0       0

> stat -c "%A %G:%U %n" /etc/rewritefs.conf
-rw-r--r-- root:root /etc/rewritefs.conf

Common syntax for RewriteFS fstab entry is as follows (not related to this setup):

/mnt/home/<user> /home/<user> rewritefs config=/etc/rewritefs.conf,allow_other,uid=<user UID>,gid=<user GID> 0 0