What to do next with my new HDD and installing linux

[frldyz]

I wiped and erased a 500gb hdd with parted magic.
The disk prevously had win 10 on it.

I want to install it in a completely seperate build and install linux onto it.
I connected the HDD via USB and HD enclosure.
But it does not show up on my computer.
When I go to disc mangement it is there but unallocated.

What do I do next? This OS will have linux only on it.
1. Can I install it in the build and try to install linux to it via USB?
2. Do I have to partition it with my other computer via win 10?
3. does it need to be partitioned?

 

[frldyz]

Do I have to do this on a seperate computer?
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sPDrrkIh-d0

 

[AMD_man]

The drive can be unallocated before installing. That's the best option actually. Mint's installer (as any other OS available) can partition drives (manually or automatically).

Just leave it unallocated.

If you do partition manually, you'll want to do this:

1. Create a "root" folder (/) of about 20Gb.
2. Create a swap partition (double the size of your RAM, so if you have 8Gb, create a 16000Mb "swap partition". This partition does not have a mount point. Create at the beggining or end of your drive, so it's faster.
3. A "home" partition (/home) of at least 100Gb (the reason to do this, is for updates or distro change, all your data and app data will be saved).

For file system you should use Ext4 of Brtfs. Ext4 is more stable, but Btrfs is better.

Install the bootloader in "dev/sda", do not choose a specific partition.

PS: Just in case it's not clear, the manual partitioning will happen when installing Linux.

Sources:

• https://www.howtogeek.com/howto/35676/how-to-choose-a-partition-scheme-for-your-linux-pc/
• https://www.howtogeek.com/howto/33552/htg-explains-which-linux-file-system-should-you-choose/