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I need to dual boot Windows and Ubuntu, but 256GB is really a small space to partition. Moreover, I have heard that partitioning SSD is not a good choice, tell me if I am wrong. I have read this on askubuntu.com.

I want to know that, is there a better way to get off with it? Like using some USB 3.0 removeable media/hard drive. How do you do it? I do not want to run out of space after partitioning. I use both ubuntu and windows heavily.

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Ankit Singhaniya
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    "but 256GB is really a small space to partition"? Since when? A mere 50Gb is more than enough to have a good functioning system with plenty of space, more is just extra fluff. – Rinzwind May 13 '16 at 13:24
  • A base model macbook pro comes with 128GB. I can't tell you how to use your space, but if you are concerned with 256GB being really small, you should consider an external drive for your data. –  May 13 '16 at 13:39
  • As Rinzwind says Linux is no problem, and Windows including 10 will work on a 128 GB disk just fine! Maybe squishing it a bit more , and you can have a 60+ GB shared partition for documents and media files. Worked for me until I replaced windows with Suse! Now I have only Ubuntu - - - And VirtualBox with warying other distros, works like a charm! – Ken Mollerup May 13 '16 at 13:47

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SSD is just like HDD , partitioning is not a problem other than it might result in too small disk space. I managed to dual both on a 120GB but then i barely used windows.

The linked post suggests its not a great idea to put swap on your SSD, it doesnt' say partitioning is bad. Swap on SSD is fine , makes suspend/hibernate super fast. It might wear it out a little quicker but SSD isn't designed for long term storage anyway and you should have backups.

USB 3 is almost the same speed as sata so if your usage is uneven then i'd suggest putting the lesser used OS on the external disk.

It really depends on your workload and how much RAM you have , if you are editing big media files and really need the raw speed then nothing will be better than a full SSD install. Likewise if you have less than 4GB of ram then fast disk is essential as you will be swappign in and out of memory a lot.

If you have your OS on the SSD and your Data on the HDD then you will notice when you touch the HD as the system will slow. If its possible to get one system and its working data set on the SSD then it might be the way to go if your really really need performance.

Amias
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I installed ubuntu mint on a USB 3 32GB flash drive, and it works fine. If you install the bootloader to the USB drive and leave the bootloader on your internal drive in tact then when your USB key is not insterted it will boot windows, and when it is you can choose between linux and windows.

I use this option myself.

allebone
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