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I am looking for advice on partitioning my HDD which currently has Windows 7 Ultimate loaded. After wiping out the MBR the first time around, I reinstalled Win and Ubuntu and everything was working properly. I did notice some lagging, etc. Also saw that Windows was taking up ~300 GB of space, although there was only ~20 GB of data. I tried to shrink the partition based on all of the suggestions online, but I couldn't get it much smaller. I ended up wiping the drive, and setting up a partition for Windows to install into. Now, before I install Ubuntu again, I want to make sure I have a plan in mind.

I have 365 GB to work with for Linux MATE, another distro for development, the ISO's, a data partition for common files...ex. photos, media, etc., and whatever else is necessary.

Moving forward, I would like to be able to:

  • Install more than one distro (possibly 2-3 on the disk...daily driver, developer, etc.)

  • Create a partition to store ISO's that I want to check out, which I'm hoping to load using grub/ISO Multiboot

  • Create a partition for data/media to be shared among installations

  • Not sure what to do with /, /home, /boot, /usr or /usr/local, /var and swap file

System:

  • Dell Studio XPS

  • Windows 7 Ultimate 64-bit

  • Intel Core 2 Duo / 2.40 GHz / 4.00 GB RAM

  • 500 GB HDD / BIOS / MBR

Here's what the disk/partitions look like right now

/dev/sda1  ntfs      System Reserved (not mounted) 
/dev/sda2  ntfs      Windows 7       (not mounted)
/dev/sr0   iso9660   sardu           /cdrom        
/dev/loop0 squashfs                  /rofs

So, I'm a bit confused as to the best approach after reading through the forums and articles. What should be shared, and what should be kept in each partition. Also, what are the advantages/disadvantages or chainbooting? I've also seen some people put a small, empty partition at the end of the Windows OS. What is that for?

Thanks in advance for any suggestions.

This post and reply sounds pretty close to what I am looking for:

  • 6 x distro partions of 60GB each (/home, /boot, etc all on one partition for ease and in case I replace it with another)

  • 1x 8GB of Swap (shared)

    and

  • 1x /data partition of (roughly) 100GB (shared, hopefully accessible by all distros)

But should only one or more than one be Primary? Which?

Which should be logicals, inside an extended?

Should I do it all at the very start before any installations of distros (with a GParted LiveCD) or bit by bit as I install various systems?

Are there any distros that should be installed first, due to the way they install themselves/deal with partitions?

And lastly, should I install GRUB seperately, or let one of the distros installation procedure take care of it?

A reply further down in thread:

Instead of a separate /boot consider a separate /grub. You can have one permanent chainboot menu.

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monkeymynd
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1 Answers1

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Please note that this answer was originally intended for this question. However, since I don't have the stats required to post a decent answer there, I have decided to leave this post here instead.

Firstly, I would highly suggest 2-3 dedicated for each distro - especially if you plan to switch between them on a regular basis without doing a complete shutdown of the OS.

Also, you should setup Ubuntu to install so that your /home folder has its own dedicated partition, for what's mentioned later. Without further ado...

As others have stated, you are in a good position for attempting this operation. Since you had Ubuntu make a separate partition for your /home directory, it should be somewhat easier to access the files from outside of Ubuntu (using another OS). Go on and grab the UID/GUID for your User Account on Ubuntu - write it down for later. For info on working with an encrypted /home partition, go here - good catch on Orion's part. The next step would be to install Arch Linux in its own partition, alongside Ubuntu. However, this is where this answer will begin to splinter off - there are multiple guides for this process.

A) Continuing with a guide from Go2Linux:

  • You may need to make sure that your Ubuntu installation has GRUB on MBR. In addition to this, you may also need to have Arch Linux install GRUB on its root partition.
  • During the setup, you will need to edit some of the configuration manually - be sure not to select any of the 'express' options while installing Arch (if there are any), since those params need to be changed in order to symlink to your /home directory later.
  • If you intend to be able to suspend one OS and switch to another at a moment's notice, you now must make sure to give each OS (Arch, Ubuntu, etc.) a dedicated swap partition. Otherwise, you are free to use on swap partition for all (which I would still advise against).
  • In the original guide, the mount point for the data (/home) partition was set to home - I do not know if this applies to you, but I would check this to be on the safe side.
  • Once you have set these parameters, you will then need to edit GRUB config/menu data. You will need to add the Arch Linux installation to the list - which should have its own GRUB installation. Point it to that.

  • If all went well, boot into the second OS (Arch Linux) and enter the Ubuntu UID/GUID values for your new user during the initial installation. If this is not possible, complete the installation. Then, proceed to the Terminal and perform the following:

    1) Change your current (Arch Linux) UID/GUID to match your previous Ubuntu UID/GUID values.

    2) Symlink to your all of your /home folders from the Ubuntu partition.

    3) Nuke Arch Linux's local /home folders - you will not be needing them anymore.

Please note that a slightly-easier process (or a modified version?) may be found here. The author of this source used the same guide, but supposedly found that not all of the steps/configurations were required in their attempt.

B) Continuing with solutions listed here and here:

  • Perform the Arch Linux installation as normal - giving it a separate partition and making sure that GRUB recognizes both operating systems.
  • Side-note :: When I dual-booted Elementary Freeya next to my already-existing Windows 10 partition (a few years ago), it was nice enough to slip GRUB onto my HDD as well, making my dual-boot experience much easier. I don't know how vanilla Ubuntu handles being the first OS on the disk, so I would double-check that you have GRUB ready and config'd first.
  • Proceed to use a different swap partition for each distro you install - for safety reasons.
  • This time, when you're setting up Arch Linux, you don't nuke the /home folder - instead, make sure to keep it minimally intact to preserve "necessary configuration files" (.gnome2, .kde4, .compiz, .themes, etc.). This will act as your "light-weight home folder". You may be able to share some config data - but that will require some experimentation on your part.
  • Kill the data folders (Documents, Pictures, Downloads, etc.) - these are getting symlinked to the Ubuntu /home partition you had from the very beginning.
  • Avoid sharing any distro-specific data - that could frag the whole experiment :(

In both cases, you will be symlinking to your /home (data) partition to access your folders - which isn't that bad. There may be other ways of doing this, but these are the most-suggested routes. In addition to this, it's also been done between MacOS, Windows, and Linux (side-by-side, on the same disk). I of course, would call that experiment "The Unholy Union" - but, it still holds valuable info. Check it out here.

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