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Dualboot Partition Questions

A

Aeauvian12

Limp Gawd
Joined
Mar 11, 2006
Messages
291
Warning: Pretty long read, sorry! Just trying to get you all the info I can.

Hey all, I tried searching for partition threads but didn't find the exact answer I'm looking for.

That being said, I'm a complete noob when it comes to partitions, so please bear with me if I sound uneducated on the matter, as well, I am! ;)

Okay on to the question:
I'm interested in attempting to use a dualboot setup, with windows for gaming and a linux setup for web browsing, picture editing (GIMP), etc etc. Currently I have windows on an unpartitioned 74gb Raptor (only like 15 gigs on it atm), then a 250 GB storage drive that currently is holding ~30 gigs of backup stuff.

Both of them have no partitions, and are formatted as NTFS.

I was wondering how I would go about setting up linux (I have either Kubuntu/Ubuntu disks to install it, unless you guys recommend another Linux distro)?

So far I'm thinking of moving all the stuff off the storage hard drive, and reformatting it (Linux doesn't work on NTFS if IIRC? Or am i crazy?) with a ~100 gig linux partition (including the swap file partition, which I also need to know a good size for) then leave the other 150 gigs for storage for both windows and linux.
Or should i ghost my raptor and install both on that? I was thinking no on that since the raptor's size is severely limited.

Once decided on how to partition, I also need to know HOW to partition the hard drive so it could be used for linux but also used as storage for both, and any other info I would need to install (K)Ubuntu as a noob linux user.

Sorry for the looong post but all input is greatly appreciated! Sorry again if I don't make sense, if so just ask for clarification and I'll give it my best shot!

Thanks in advance for any help!
 
How to repartition: GParted will resize your partition into the correct size, but make sure you back up first. It's important.

How to share data between OSes: either use FAT32 read/write with horrible limitations (just the FAT32 ones: 4gb files only, etc), NTFS read-only or with captive, or use a remote machine with a SMB share (the standard Windows kind). Using a seperate file server will probably be slower, but it's the simplest in terms of compatibility and reliability.

 
Say i were to get a third hard drive to put linux on, what does it have to be formatted to to install linux there? Also, would i then still have to use one of those methods to store files on my backup HDD? Sorry again for the noobishness, something still must not be clicking ;)
 
Linux would use its own file system, most likely ext3 or reiserfs. You'd still have to use one of those methods in order to have files accessible from Windows and Linux.

Captive is fairly stable, as long as you don't try strenuous things like creating and deleting large numbers of files at once. That's the route I'd go if you don't have another machine around to be a server.

 
Oh okay makes sense. I think i'll end up breaking down and just buying a new hard drive after i finish saving up for a laptop (summer jobs during high school just aren't quite enough eh? Haha) and since most of the stuff on my storage is windows related (game backups, etc) i probably won't even bother tying them together but if i do i'll go that software route. Thanks again for the help
 
Ooh another question real quick. is there any way to format one disk into two partitions, and have one as ntfs and the other as a linux readable/writable one? I wouldnt think so but i thought i'd ask for sure
 
Partition magic would work, I think. Not sure if GParted would work, but someone linked to it in this thread.

Might want to check both out :) GL
 
Aeauvian12 said:
Ooh another question real quick. is there any way to format one disk into two partitions, and have one as ntfs and the other as a linux readable/writable one? I wouldnt think so but i thought i'd ask for sure
Click to expand...
Sure. That's what my setup is currently:
drive0diskmgmtre8.png

The "Unknown" partitions are swap and /, respectively, for my Linux install.

 
Ooooh sweet! Thanks a ton unhappy, i think what i'm going to do is just use half my storage drive for actual storage, then use the other half for a linux install. I MIGHT consider captive, but i doubt i'll even need it. Will the repartition software you linked me work for all this to do half ntfs and the rest linux?
 
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