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I have a brand new Windows 10 laptop that has two drives, a 512 SSD and a 1 TB hard drive. I would like to use the entire 1 TB drive to install Ubuntu on. I am new to Linux (just re-purposed an old Windows laptop to be all Linux two weeks ago and love it, but it is limiting because it is a 32-bit system.) I really need a 64-bit Linux machine for graduate school, but need Windows for work. I am afraid to make a mistake and risk loosing all the Windows installations I need for work. Is there a foolproof (yes I'm a Linux nube) step-by-step process? Thank you.

Annabanana
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  • I actually found something more similar to my situation but still not the same: https://askubuntu.com/questions/1096033/ubuntu-not-detecting-windows-ssd-during-installation. – Annabanana Mar 20 '19 at 22:26
  • Make sure Windows fast start up is off. Be sure to boot in UEFI boot mode. Only use Something Else to install. Include an ESP - EFi system partition on second drive even if not immediately used. You can partition in advance or during install. UEFI/gpt partitioning in Advance: http://askubuntu.com/questions/743095/how-to-prepare-a-disk-on-an-efi-based-pc-for-ubuntu and now Ubuntu uses swap file, so no swap partition required. Often better to have smaller / of 25 to 35GB and rest as /home and/or data partition(s). https://help.ubuntu.com/community/UEFI – oldfred Mar 20 '19 at 22:38

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Please don't do VM and all. Just go for normal dual-boot installation. If someone says, dual-boot is messy, just ignore them!

Refer Dual Boot Windows 10 and Linux Ubuntu on Separate SSD wherein I have answered in great details regarding installation of dual-boot.

But the answer was given for configuration involving two separate SSDs, but it does not stop you using the same answer for a single SSD scenario as in your case.

You can divide your 512 GB SSD into two, one partition (312 GB) for Windows-10 installation and the other one (200 GB) for Ubuntu 18.04 64-bit AMD. You will be good!

Note-1: you can effectively use your 1 TB hard disk to share between Windows 10 and Ubuntu 18.04

Note-2: you may go for two or three NTFS partitions on 1 TB hard disk and later mount them on Ubuntu 18.04 so that you can use them effectively!

Note-3: @Annabanana, you voiced few concerns but it seems vague. Please clarify the following:

  1. The laptop has one 512 GB SSD and one 1 TB hard disk.
  2. You have already installed windows-10 on 512 GB SSD.
  3. You are keeping all your programs and data under 512 GB SSD.
  4. Except your unsubstantiated fear of making some mistake and loosing all data, you are really interested in dual-booting Ubuntu 18.04 64-bit AMD with Windows 10.

  5. How much of free space is left in 512 GB SSD?

  6. Are you using 1 TB hard disk? In which way?

It is seems that you have already started using 512 GB SSD not only for programs but also for data. If not, you would not be so generous to dedicate entire 1 TB hard for Ubuntu 18.04 installation! You must be a great philanthropist!

I am glad to deal with a Data analyst because I can easily reason with a data analyst.

I want you to be more rational in your decision to allocate entire 1 TB hard disk for Ubuntu 18.04 installation. If so, at some point of time later where will you keep your data? Is it in 512 GB SSD? It is a bad choice! Never keep data in SSD.

I would suggest you to go for partitioning 512 GB SSD into two, and you need to install Ubuntu 18.04 on the second partition because the first partition has a pre-installed windows-10.

You have already thrown some confusing conclusions. You said that you want a 100% all linux system for big data analysis. You sound as if it needs 1 TB hard disk Ubuntu 18.04 installation for such a huge data analysis!

For data analysis, what you really need is a powerful RDBMS software with data warehouse capabilities with enough disk space. That is it! Definitely not a huge Ubuntu 18.04 installation on a 1 TB hard disk!

Let me summarize your computer system configuration needed for a good data analysis:

  1. Change drive letter for 1 TB hard disk. If it is 'D', then assign an unused drive letter let us say 'G'.

    Refer the link to change the drive letter of 1 TB hard disk: https://www.windowscentral.com/how-assign-permanent-drive-letter-windows-10

  2. Create a partition in your 'C' drive. i.e. you can shrink 'C' drive and create a new partition with that redundant space by using Disk Management for a size of 200 GB.

    Refer the following link to carve out a new partition from an existing 'C' drive: https://www.disk-partition.com/articles/how-to-partition-c-drive-3889.html

  3. Note down the device information of the newly created partition. Is it /dev/sdb or /dev/sdc? What is the drive letter of new partition? is it 'D'?

  4. Restart your computer and log into system. If you are successful, then this implies that your Windows-10 pre-installation is safe and sound and working great, after cutting out a new partition!

  5. Install Ubuntu 18.04 on the newly created 200 GB partition.

    I have already given answer to create bootable USB stick using Rufus, you refer What does it mean to make a bootable LiveUSB?

    To install Ubuntu 18.04 refer my answer Dual Boot Windows 10 and Linux Ubuntu on Separate SSD

  6. Change drive letter for 1 TB hard disk, back to 'D'

    Refer https://www.windowscentral.com/how-assign-permanent-drive-letter-windows-10

  7. Divide your 1 TB hard disk into two or three NTFS partitions and name/label the partitions sensibly (names/labels should be contiguous and no gaps)

  8. Mount all the NTFS partitions of 1 TB hard disk on Ubuntu 18.04 which are needed for your data analysis tasks.

    If you need my help in setting up mounting and so on, please feel free to contact me.

  9. You need to install Oracle 18c (Enterpise Edition) for your data warehouse activities such as mining, drilling and so on.

    I have already answered in great details about installation of Oracle 18c (Enterprise Edition) on Ubuntu 18.04 How to install Oracle 18c (Enterprise Edition) on Ubuntu 18.04?

Good Luck!

Marmayogi
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  • Thank you for your answer. I actually have two drives. A 512 GB SSD (C drive) and a 1 TB Hard Drive (D drive). I want to use my ENTIRE 1 TB hard drive for Linux and my ENTIRE SSD for Windows. Do I still need to partition if they are already separate drives? – Annabanana Mar 21 '19 at 12:36
  • Just re-read what you wrote. Yes, I have two drives 512 SSD and 1 TB HDD. My laptop is two weeks old and came with Windows 10 pre-installed. Currently, the SSD is configured as a C drive and stores programs. D is configured for data and is empty. I'm a data analyst. Therefore, I have little knowledge of software/hardware. I'm getting into big data and its very difficult to use windows with Apache products. I would ideally want a 100% all Linux system for big data analysis. However, I only have one 64-bit laptop. It has more space than I need and I was wondering if I could use my 1TB for Linux. – Annabanana Mar 21 '19 at 13:01
  • I am adding my reply along with answer because it is long. BTW, @Annabanana, is your windows-10 product key in-built? – Marmayogi Mar 21 '19 at 15:37
  • it is built-in. Would it cause issues? – Annabanana Mar 22 '19 at 01:21
  • Don't worry @Annabanana. Not at all a problem! As a matter of fact, I just wanted to confirm this info. For some reasons, you may want to re-install Windows-10 and you need product-key. If it is in-built, then no issues! – Marmayogi Mar 22 '19 at 01:45
  • 1+ Very well written answer – Liso Mar 22 '19 at 02:03
  • @Marmayogi thank you. I trust your expertise so forgive my ignorance. Why is it better to partition both of my drives instead of allocating one of them to Linux and one to Windows? It seems like an existing partition of two drives would make for a cleaner system separation. – Annabanana Mar 22 '19 at 13:37
  • @Annabanana, the basic approach to the problem would be SSD which will carry always Programs both systems and application packages. That is why SSD is divided into two, one half (320 GB) windows-10 and other half (200 GB) for Ubuntu 18.04. SSG will never carry data. The hard disk 1 TB size is like a joker in a card game sharable between windows-10 and Ubuntu 18.04. This is where all of your data reside. From windows-10 you can easily access 1 TB hard disk because it is formated in NTFS file system. Whereas to access from Ubuntu 18.04, you have mount this hard disk. – Marmayogi Mar 22 '19 at 19:44
  • You never commit the mistake of installing Ubuntu 18.04 on 1 TB hard disk. But, of course, it is your machine and you are the final authority to decide how to use your computer systems. I tried to explain rationally. Finally it is up to you! You please decide! Good Luck! – Marmayogi Mar 22 '19 at 19:48
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A virtual box linux guest is a good option on Windows hosts. https://www.virtualbox.org/

xUbuntu uses the lighter xfce desktop and you can even have multiple linux enviroments. . . and those enviroment are portable.

You really don't need to do a messy dual boot, but if you do allocating a whole drive is defiantly the best approach.

I find this very effective, you can allocate all the system resources and run in full screen. Also the VM can be backed up, cloned and migrated even between Windows and linux hosts. When creating virtual disks using LVM is worth the effort too.

Maybe make this your first option not your last one. All your eggs are in one basket when you commit to bare metal.

Windows is still available for compatibility, but equally you could (and probably should) run it in a VM under linux.

Kickaha
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  • Thank you. I have a Ubuntu shell on my Windows desktop by I ran into issues with transferring large files between the two. I suppose I could use a cloud for that. It is not easy to only have a shell without any visual file structure and can be time consuming to switch between directories and search through their content. I really like my Linux laptop and wanted to have the same full experience but on a 64-bit system. I am considering a virtual machine if all fails. – Annabanana Mar 20 '19 at 22:21
  • Yes, the file system incompatability between windows and linux is very frustrating. VirtualBox lets you configure a shared folder with the host. That can be the same shared folder between the host and all your guest OSs if you have more than one (but be careful about persisting changes between guest os reboots). It also connects networking and is very good about all the other hardware. It's a very full linux open source experience. WSL,the windows subsystem for linux is a gimmic in a walled garden. – Kickaha Mar 21 '19 at 01:40