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I have an old Dell Optiplex 745 SFF that I want to use as a Plex server. It has USB 2.0 ports, one available SATA connection, and one PCIe slot (x16). I'd like to use the SATA connection for a 2 TB HDD to hold my media.
I could run Ubuntu from a flash drive in one of the USB 2.0 ports, but that's slow. I can install an NVME SSD, on a PCIe adapter, in the PCIe slot, but that's not bootable.

Is there a way to install and run Ubuntu on the NVME, but use the USB stick to boot it?

Rishon_JR
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Macfast
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  • Why not install parts of the system on the HDD (*so it boots from that HDD the system was designed to use*) and other parts from the SSD (*for speed*). 745SFF's tended to run rather *warm* and weren't designed for constant use (esp. now given they're rather old) so it may not have a long life in your intended usage anyway. – guiverc Dec 30 '22 at 04:38
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    Ubuntu will run in RAM if there is enough of it. RAM is much faster than SSD. Reading and writing to USB is what will be slow. I answered a similar question yesterday about booting from USB, see: https://askubuntu.com/a/1447779/43926 – C.S.Cameron Dec 30 '22 at 08:01

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