help with partitions on dual boot

psd99

psd99

psd99

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I'm going to get ubuntu installed on my laptop that already has xp

I've created a new partition which is about 11GB. I wish to install ubuntu on this.

I'm thinking

/
and
/home

but anyway I'm not sure what I should do. I might install some programs and use it sometimes so what partitions and how much should I assign?
 
IF it's for a initial dabble and depending on your lappy's HDD size I would make the partition about 20 - 25Gb in size and just let Ubuntu do a standard install in that partition. It's loads of space for Ubuntu but gives you that little bit extra to transfer files from your XP partition and play with loads of extra programs as well.

That's what I did initially and then did a custom partition job when I went for the full Ubuntu install. ie /boot, swap, / and /home :)
 
okay thanks for that

ive now got 22 gb for linux

okay say i wanted to do it manually because the installer doesn't do what i want automatically

say i wanted to manually partition the 22gb what partitions should i make and how big?

i would have though i'd need
/
/boot
/home

but what sizes and which ones should i make logical or primary?

thanks
 
I'd rely on an automated installer if this is your first go at linux.

I wouldn't bother putting /home on a separate partition yet.

My /boot partition is about 100 MB preferably the first partition you make on a drive . Don't forget to make it bootable / active.

the swap file needs its own partition, the size depends on your memory / programs you run. I'd use the windows setting.

So a typical simple setup could be:

/boot 100 MB
/swap 2 GB
/ the rest

Have at least a linux livecd and the cd of whatever windows it is you're using so your can fix your master boot record in case of emergency. (fdisk /mbr i think). (won't boot at all)

Don't worry if you can't boot into XP anymore. As long as you boot into grub bootloader (which will be your /boot partition obviously) all that is easily fixed.
 
thanks I'll give that a bash

normally I let the installer make the change automatically but this time that isn't feasible.


yer should be okay to get into windows
will edit the /etc/menu.lst file or whatever it is
 
Personally i've always just created 2 partitions one for swap and one set to "/"

I'm sure there are very good reasons to separate out /boot and /home but I don't know what they are. Maybe someone can enlighten me?
 
masterluke said:
Personally i've always just created 2 partitions one for swap and one set to "/"

I'm sure there are very good reasons to separate out /boot and /home but I don't know what they are. Maybe someone can enlighten me?
Click to expand...

afaik I know /boot would be for the boot loader i/e grub /boot/grub/grub.conf
which should give you list of os's

as for /home mmmm not sure
would have thought it would be for user files or a user directory.
 
Usually /boot is created in an older filesystem type so it is supported by GRUB. GRUB probably supports ext4 now so it may not be necessary.

Other separations are good for a few reasons. If using LVM you can later expand your /home area if you want additional space. It's also good as if you fill up your home area with a large download for example, your computer will still be able to function properly ;)
 
/ - 22GB, job done.

GRUB will support whatever filesystem you use, and GRUB 2 will support any form of encrypted root, compressed root, raid root or lvm root.

If you separate /home and / on such a small system you'll either fill home and have loads of space left on /, or visa versa, then have to go and shuffle them in gparted offline because ext4 won't shrink live.

If you seperate /boot and only make it 100MB; one day your updates will fail installing a new kernel.

Just put it all in one partition, we're not in the days where the outside of the disk performs noticeably better than the centre any more, this is the 21st century.
 
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