I plan to install Zorin OS on a 1 TB hard drive, which is separate from my SSD that has Windows 11. I will only use about 100 GB of that hard drive for the installation. My device is about 4 to 5 years old. Before I install it, I want to know how well Zorin OS works on a traditional hard drive.
I have some main concerns:
How responsive is the system overall? (This includes boot time, app opening, and updates.)
Does the default version feel slow on an HDD?
Is Zorin OS Lite a better choice for this setup?
Are there any tips for improving performance on an HDD?
I’d appreciate honest feedback from people who use Zorin OS on HDD systems.
Im assuming this HDD your are going to use is a spin up type? not an ssd ? if its a spin up style you may find zorin slow as its only as fast as the harddrive/memory will allow. also I would use min 250 GB of drive for zorin for apt and updates and such. me personelly would use an ssd drive even and old style sata type is way faster then the older spinup type 150 mb per sec vs 550 mb per sec
When it is on an HDD, it will be slower in Comparison to a SSD or m.2. When You install it only for testing the System and to check it out, it should be okay.
Zorin OS 17 and 18 do NOT work well on a mechanical hard drive. I am using a 1 TB mechanical hard drive right now with Zorin 16.3 Core. For me, Windows 10, (with updates), and Windows 11 are too slow for a mechanical hard drive, and the newer editions of Zorin are the same way. This machine was originally built on Windows 10, after installing updates the thing is just to slow. People are going to tell you to try Q4OS, however, Q4OS is a nightmare trying to get Virtualbox to work. 16.3 Lite may be a little faster, except 16.3 Core gives more.
No issues with virt-manager on Q4OS. Left VB behind in 2020. Never looked back.
@theamangupta we don't have the rest of your spec in respect of RAM, and CPU.
I am using WD Black 1 Tb 7200 rpm spin speed (but I don't use Zorin any more, my main driver is PCLOS Debian).
I recently had to have a new motherboard with 12th Gen Intel Processor on family member's PC.
It is a DDR 4 motherboard, and so used original 8 Gb Corsair Vengeance.
Windows 11 took 7 minutes to get to Desktop with everything running. Linux Mint Debian Edition just under 2 minutes 30 seconds.
Upgraded HDD that had Windows 11 on it to 1 Tb SSD and additional 32 Gb RAM and now Windows 11 almost matches 2 minutes 30 seconds that LMDE 7 takes to boot.
I am impressed with the speed of Zorin in a VM when it comes to boot time.
I have Zorin on 3 different machines with 3 different HDDs, a Seagate Barracuda, a Seagate FireCuda and WD Green. Yes I am a fan of clicking and spinning
The FireCuda is an SSHD with an 8GB flash memory and it runs like a Rolls-Royce with Zorin 18. Very fast performance, almost SSD like once booted. The Barracuda is absolutely fine also, booting naturally takes longer than an SSD but it isn't cripplingly long and the nostalgia is worth it for me
The WD Green is naturally in last place as it's a 5,400 RPM drive. This is in an old Dell Optiplex so it's period correct.
I have tried SSDs and they just bore me to death. I have to disagree with some of the comments about HDDs being too slow with Zorin: with Windows they are for sure unusable due to the poor file system and defragmentation. Ext4 is naturally immune to that. All you have to do is wait a bit longer at boot and you can more than happily run a mechanical HDD with Zorin as a daily driver.
I also undertook a few tweaks such as adjusting swappiness and changing how the HDD heads park (particularly on the Caviar Green drive) to optimise performance and longevity.
