Dual Boot Partition Issues...again.

[Richb2004v2]

After experiencing issues with wireless drivers for my Acer machine on Ubuntu a year or so ago, I have again tried a LiveCD of Ubuntu 9.04, and found everything works well. So I now want to dual boot my machine. However I do not want to make any mistakes by putting it in the wrong place and causing issues for my XP install. So I have attached a screenshot of the current situation and would like advice on what to do and where to install it for best results and performance.

Are there any disadvantages to dual booting my machine. I did it with my netbook a while ago and must have installed in the wrong place as it does not seem to work well.

Thanks.

[Dontdisturb]

Now most of the GNU/Linux know how to write an understandable /boot/grub/menu.lst. So you'll have the choice to boot Windows or Linux in the GRUB menu at boot.

Some people recommend to install GRUB on the / partition of your distrib but I've always installed it on the first sectors of the MBR (in your case it's /dev/sda). I prefer this option.

Here is some doc for your distrib: GrubHowTo Ubuntu

[thaimite]

Why 9.04 and not 9.10?

I dual boot XP and Ubuntu 9.10 with no problems. There is a boot manager down loadable from the Ubuntu package manager which makes it easily to configure the Grub dual boot options (timeout and default OS etc) which is a must get.

If you use Firefox / Thunderbird there are nmany web articles on sharing the profiles between the 2 systems. I would advise using two profiles for Firefox and using symlinks from the Ubuntu profile to the M$ one for bookmarks and browsing hsitory as many extensions either do not work or require different settings for Linux. With Thunderbird I can share the same profile with no problems

[Richb2004v2]

I'm installing 9.04 because I bought an expensive copy of 'Linux Format' whilst in the Uk recently which included an Ububtu disk packed with lots of good applications.

I finally opted to give it a try and hope for the best. As you can see from the attachment it seems I still have the remains of Ubuntu 8.04 in there from a year or so ago. I opted for the easy choice of 'install by the side' but it came back telling me not enough space.

I would ideally like to get rid of the old Ubuntu.

What are the recommendations of the experts here?

[SeanMoran]

I'm installing 9.04 because I bought an expensive copy of 'Linux Format' whilst in the Uk recently which included an Ububtu disk packed with lots of good applications.

I finally opted to give it a try and hope for the best. As you can see from the attachment it seems I still have the remains of Ubuntu 8.04 in there from a year or so ago. I opted for the easy choice of 'install by the side' but it came back telling me not enough space.

I would ideally like to get rid of the old Ubuntu.

What are the recommendations of the experts here?

When you login to 9.04, get to the Add New Software menu item or else the Synaptic Package manager and either find it in the System listings, or else quicker is to just type into the search, "gparted".

Gnome Partiton manager will allow you to resize, delete, and add new partitions from a working distro of Ubuntu Linux, and as it looks as though you have 9.04 running and happily dual-booting now, you should find gParted to be the simplest way to accomplish the old fdisk procedures from the GUI. It's there on the Live Cd system admin menu, but you will have to re-install it once you have 9.04 installed on your HDD.

Just install gParted and that will free up the space that Intrepid Ibex 8.04 was using on your HDD for use as more space for an extant data partition or else another partition, as you require.

Please keep me informed as I will be in Ban Chang in around a week from now, and would gladly help with anything at no charge if the proble4m still remains.

---o0o---

PS: In this instance, it might be best to go with the MANUAL partition option rather than the 'side-by-side' and then you can free up that space that 8.04 is using, and unclutter the space. First DELETE the 8.04 partition. Then see if you can work it back to some logical order.

Remember that you get only four primary partitions: sda1/2/3/4 and one of those should be your extended partition, from which you glean all your LOGICAL partitions.

Ideally, if you want to run M$ still for some reason or other, then that will leave at least two or maybe three primary partitions. Run /dev/sda1 as your boot drive to whatever is there, /dev/sda3 as swap if you can, and /dev/sda4 as the extended and so that allows you the EXTENDED partition to draw all your LOGICAL partitions from.

The extended partition is the one you should make the very biggest, but this is beyond the scope of this thread and this forum.

If I'm getting too obscure, then just remember to go to the Advanced link on the partitioning stage of the installation, or else download that gParted system utility to get rid of the old 8.04 system, or else just delete it from within a Linux session and it probablyh won't show up as anymore than an ext2 or ext3 partition once it's just empty space.

Edited November 24, 2009 by SeanMoran

[Richb2004v2]

I haven't managed to actually perform the dual boot yet unfortunately.

I have Partition editor on this LiveCD, but in the past I've not had much luck with altering partitions. Deleting them always seems to leave empty spaces. I am also afraid to do too much since I have my XP install spread between the various partitions I think.

I have attached a shot of the resulting message from trying to install by the side of the current OS. I don't understand the error message as it says partition '/' needs altering. AS far as I can see they all have the prefix '/'. Plus the size requested seems very very big.

I may take you up on the offer of help when you are in the area.

[SeanMoran]

I haven't managed to actually perform the dual boot yet unfortunately.

I have Partition editor on this LiveCD, but in the past I've not had much luck with altering partitions. Deleting them always seems to leave empty spaces. I am also afraid to do too much since I have my XP install spread between the various partitions I think.

I have attached a shot of the resulting message from trying to install by the side of the current OS. I don't understand the error message as it says partition '/' needs altering. AS far as I can see they all have the prefix '/'. Plus the size requested seems very very big.

I may take you up on the offer of help when you are in the area.

I am sorry to have jumped the gun in my edition earlier. I see that I had assumed that you already had 9.04 running. Sorry.

Your /dev/sda1 (device Scuzzi hard disk partition #1) is your first and main M$ partition, but I cannot see the placement of the recovery partition (if there is one), but you should be able to, (if you have that installation cd handy) go into the Advanced option for the partitioning of your disk, and if there is nothing you need to save on any of the Linux partitions, then delete the lot. Be careful if there is that 'recovery' partition for windows.

Once you have freed up all of that extra space beyond the 75Gb for windows, you can then create the partitions you require for the installation on the remaining disk space.

You will need a mimimum of two partitions available for Linux - root and swap.

swap is like the old winswap.386 file of yesteryear and is said to be ideally around twice the capacity of your computer's RAM. Somewhere between 1 and 2 Gb should work with added splendour and background music.

To simplify, there should be plenty of room left on your HDD (hard disk) for the root partition (aka /) and that is where the install will proceed. It should then finish with the GRUB bootloader allowing you to dual-boot both Windows or Linux.

If I was you, I'd set that root partition to around 8Gb size to allow plenty of space, and then create another partition with the extra data space,

It's fine to run Linux and a swap partition also on all logical drives, but I hope that nxt week sometime we might meet at the Camel Pub and I can try to elaborate on the virtues of primary partitions over logical ones. Sometimes, logic isn't all it's made out to be.

[Richb2004v2]

I haven't managed to actually perform the dual boot yet unfortunately.

I have Partition editor on this LiveCD, but in the past I've not had much luck with altering partitions. Deleting them always seems to leave empty spaces. I am also afraid to do too much since I have my XP install spread between the various partitions I think.

I have attached a shot of the resulting message from trying to install by the side of the current OS. I don't understand the error message as it says partition '/' needs altering. AS far as I can see they all have the prefix '/'. Plus the size requested seems very very big.

I may take you up on the offer of help when you are in the area.

I am sorry to have jumped the gun in my edition earlier. I see that I had assumed that you already had 9.04 running. Sorry.

Your /dev/sda1 (device Scuzzi hard disk partition #1) is your first and main M$ partition, but I cannot see the placement of the recovery partition (if there is one), but you should be able to, (if you have that installation cd handy) go into the Advanced option for the partitioning of your disk, and if there is nothing you need to save on any of the Linux partitions, then delete the lot. Be careful if there is that 'recovery' partition for windows.

Once you have freed up all of that extra space beyond the 75Gb for windows, you can then create the partitions you require for the installation on the remaining disk space.

You will need a mimimum of two partitions available for Linux - root and swap.

swap is like the old winswap.386 file of yesteryear and is said to be ideally around twice the capacity of your computer's RAM. Somewhere between 1 and 2 Gb should work with added splendour and background music.

To simplify, there should be plenty of room left on your HDD (hard disk) for the root partition (aka /) and that is where the install will proceed. It should then finish with the GRUB bootloader allowing you to dual-boot both Windows or Linux.

If I was you, I'd set that root partition to around 8Gb size to allow plenty of space, and then create another partition with the extra data space,

It's fine to run Linux and a swap partition also on all logical drives, but I hope that nxt week sometime we might meet at the Camel Pub and I can try to elaborate on the virtues of primary partitions over logical ones. Sometimes, logic isn't all it's made out to be.

If I delete the partition housing the remains of the old Linux I am afraid I will affect my XP as I am sure there are Windows files on there. I think that chances are I will screw something up here which will set me back as I am no expert at reinstalling Windows either. I think that if you don't mind I might wait until I can see you and maybe you could guide me down the correct path of installing without any hassle. When are you in Ban Chang?

I have another netbook with XP and Mint dual booted. It works but seems to stutter in its performance. I think I will play with that as I have less to loose with it.

[thaimite]

If you cannot see the old Linux partition from Windows (it would show up as another Drive D or E etc, then you should be safe deleting it.

Gparted is included in the Ubuntu Live CD, and is easy to use.

It should be a matter of deleting the spare partitions and then letting Ubuntu install itself as needed.

However I will admit that the Ubuntu is not as clear as it could be when it comes to knowing what partitions are going to be affected and I never install Ubuntu or do any work invloving changing partitions without a drive image from Acronis. (especially if it is not my machine)

When using Using Gparted to resize NTFS partitions I have had problems with it crashing, but so far no damage has been done........

[SeanMoran]

If I delete the partition housing the remains of the old Linux I am afraid I will affect my XP as I am sure there are Windows files on there. I think that chances are I will screw something up here which will set me back as I am no expert at reinstalling Windows either. I think that if you don't mind I might wait until I can see you and maybe you could guide me down the correct path of installing without any hassle. When are you in Ban Chang?

I have another netbook with XP and Mint dual booted. It works but seems to stutter in its performance. I think I will play with that as I have less to loose with it.

My friend, with God and Weather permitting, I will be spending next Tuesday night in Mabkha, just up Thanon 3191 from Mapthaput, and I will not have been able to buy a new second-hand mosai by then, but will hopefully have a friend or two still living around that village who might drop me off in Ban Chang, and I'm rather staunch about my lamb roasts from the Camel Pub in Ban Chang, so if it is possible to let things be for another week, then I can bring this Compaq laptop with me to demonstrate the various maneuvoures with running Linux and other systems on the same physical HDD so that you can manage the transition painlessly after watching it work on someone else's PC.

Thanksfor your patience Rich, and it's just a matter of good timing I guess, but it seems I'm only gonna be around 20km from Ban Chang next week, and I hope to get the opportunity to discuss this conundrum in person, using this here Compaq, rather than risk advice taken the wrong way messing up your data.

Thanks for the added inspiration to carry on with this crazy idea of mine. It is a great refreshing bonus to actually have something to bloody-well do with my time once I make it back home from Suvarnabhumi. Thank you and I hope to help get the dual booting system operational by HM the King's birthday if not before.

[Crushdepth]

Good idea to make an image of your whole drive with something like Acronis. Then if the Ubuntu installation doesn't work out, you can restore your computer to its previous state.