Dual Booting Windows 7 and Linux Mint [Partitions]

[Exp]

I have what I think is a quick question regarding partitions on a dual boot between Windows 7 Pro and the newest version of Linux Mint. I have a 250GB HDD and plan on allocating around 100GB to Linux and 150GB to Windows 7, so I plan to partition (using GParted) as follows:

• 150GB for Windows in the beginning of the HDD, formatted to NTFS
• 100GB for Linux Mint, formatted to EXT4

I don't know if it's better to include any other partitions (maybe a swap partition). During the install of the two operating systems, will they be able to complete the rest of any partitioning needed?

 

Any other information or advice regarding dual booting would be appreciated, too! I think I know the basics like installing Windows first, etc, but any quick tips would be great!

[manikyath]

these days 250GB isnt much, and it certainly isnt when it comes to dualbooting off 1 HDD.

 

if its possible to have 2 HDDs in your system, i'd recommend doing that, as dualbooting off 1 HDD has quite a few disadvantages.

 

also, i'm guestimating that a 175/75 split would be better, or 170/70/10 if also adding a swap partition (which isnt necessary, but recommended for many reasons)

 

what you could also do (but i cant really recommend due to extremely low hard drive space) is doing a 110/60/70/10 split as following: windows(ntfs) / linux(ext4) / shared data(ntfs) / swap

 

as for install order and partitioning tips: first install windows, but only partition the first 110-175 (whatever you end up doing) leaving the rest untouched.

then, when windows is installed, partition the remaining space (do not touch the windows partitions) using the linux mint disk, then proceed to installing linux mint.

 

MAKE SURE windows is detected by the linux mint installer, and that grub is installed to /dev/sda and not /dev/sdax (guessing that your 250GB drive will be detected as /dev/sda, as it should as only drive)

[Exp]

these days 250GB isnt much, and it certainly isnt when it comes to dualbooting off 1 HDD.

 

if its possible to have 2 HDDs in your system, i'd recommend doing that, as dualbooting off 1 HDD has quite a few disadvantages.

 

also, i'm guestimating that a 175/75 split would be better, or 170/70/10 if also adding a swap partition (which isnt necessary, but recommended for many reasons)

 

what you could also do (but i cant really recommend due to extremely low hard drive space) is doing a 110/60/70/10 split as following: windows(ntfs) / linux(ext4) / shared data(ntfs) / swap

 

as for install order and partitioning tips: first install windows, but only partition the first 110-175 (whatever you end up doing) leaving the rest untouched.

then, when windows is installed, partition the remaining space (do not touch the windows partitions) using the linux mint disk, then proceed to installing linux mint.

 

MAKE SURE windows is detected by the linux mint installer, and that grub is installed to /dev/sda and not /dev/sdax (guessing that your 250GB drive will be detected as /dev/sda, as it should as only drive)

 

Thank you for the help! I'm planning on primarily using Linux Mint for work and Windows 7 for games, so I don't think I'd need too much shared data. I didn't know Linux could read an ntfs partition and a shared drive sounds enticing. If it's not too much trouble, how would that work, exactly?

 

I'm considering buying a 1TB Seagate Barracuda or WD Blue drive. I'm hoping on building my own PC later on for primarily gaming, so if/when that happens, I could transfer the 1TB HDD (with Windows) to the new system and continue use of the old one just for Linux Mint as a workstation. If I were to dual boot with two HDDs, would I need to change the boot order every time I wanted to change the OS?

 

After reading (if I weren't to get a new 1TB HDD), I'm thinking something like 140/70/30/10 split as Windows 7/Linux Mint/Shared/Swap would be good. I'm not entirely sure how I'd use a shared partition, but probably only for small documents. I'll think about it and if I don't feel I'll get enough use out of it to justify the partition, I may just allocate the 30GB to Windows or Linux.

 

Thanks for the tips! I'll definitely keep them in mind during this project!

[manikyath]

before i give you detailed information on the 1TB drive, does your system have space for two hard drives?

[Exp]

before i give you detailed information on the 1TB drive, does your system have space for two hard drives?

 

Yea, it has physical space, enough power in the PSU, and I should have all the connectors.

 

If I go ahead and buy a 1TB drive, I'm thinking I'll leave the 250GB drive for Linux (240GB for the OS and everything, with 10GB for the swap partition) and the 1TB for Windows, with 150-200GB shared between the two, if possible.

[ohJey]

You need a swap and a root (/) for Linux.  Windows will create all necessary partitions when installed.  I suggest installing windows first, since grub will later automatically detect the windows boot loader.

@Exp

[Exp]

You're not running multiple distros that can share a swap partition so I suggest using a swapfile instead to simplify the matter.

 

That's an interesting option. Is there a difference between a swap partition and a swap file in terms of performance? I'm fairly comfortable making the swap partition, if that's the case.

[Exp]

You need a swap and a root (/) for Linux.  Windows will create all necessary partitions when installed.  I suggest installing windows first, since grub will later automatically detect the windows boot loader.

@Exp

 

Thanks for the advice! It makes sense and I'll definitely be installing Windows first.

[manikyath]

Yea, it has physical space, enough power in the PSU, and I should have all the connectors.

 

If I go ahead and buy a 1TB drive, I'm thinking I'll leave the 250GB drive for Linux (240GB for the OS and everything, with 10GB for the swap partition) and the 1TB for Windows, with 150-200GB shared between the two, if possible.

i'm gonna suggest something odd: use the 1TB for windows, and use all of it, aside from maybe.. the last 100GB or so, use that as shared storage.

install windows as normal on the 1TB drive, dont forget to make the 100GB partition during installation. (leave the 250GB unplugged)

 

then plug the 250GB drive in (WHILE PC IS POWERED DOWN!) boot up using the linux mint install media and do the following (very carefully)

 

somewhere between 10 and 25GB swap (more swap is better, diminishing returns hit hard here...) a good practisce is to keep the amount of swap between (at least) the amount of ram you have and (max) twice the amount of ram you have.

 

have ALL else on the 250GB drive as ext4 under your root, for most people making multiple partitions under linux isnt really a necessity.

 

install linux mint, installing the bootloader >>ON THE 250GB DRIVE<<

 

--

a setup like this will have both OSes work just fine together, and also allows them to be seperate entities (eg not relying on each other's bootloaders)

 

PS: you dont *need* swap on linux, you *want* it.

[Exp]

Any performance difference would be unnoticeable. The advantage is like Windows' paging file where you can adjust the size without repartitioning the whole drive.

 

Alright that makes sense. I have a few questions though, if you have the time.

• I have 4GB of RAM, so I'm thinking a 8-10GB swap file?
• When/where would I set up the swap file? If I set it up after the install of Linux Mint, would I have to do something during the install to prevent Linux Mint from making its own swap partition?
• Is there any tutorial you'd recommend following?

[Exp]

i'm gonna suggest something odd: use the 1TB for windows, and use all of it, aside from maybe.. the last 100GB or so, use that as shared storage.

install windows as normal on the 1TB drive, dont forget to make the 100GB partition during installation. (leave the 250GB unplugged)

 

then plug the 250GB drive in (WHILE PC IS POWERED DOWN!) boot up using the linux mint install media and do the following (very carefully)

 

somewhere between 10 and 25GB swap (more swap is better, diminishing returns hit hard here...) a good practisce is to keep the amount of swap between (at least) the amount of ram you have and (max) twice the amount of ram you have.

 

have ALL else on the 250GB drive as ext4 under your root, for most people making multiple partitions under linux isnt really a necessity.

 

install linux mint, installing the bootloader >>ON THE 250GB DRIVE<<

 

--

a setup like this will have both OSes work just fine together, and also allows them to be seperate entities (eg not relying on each other's bootloaders)

 

PS: you dont *need* swap on linux, you *want* it.

 

So you're saying to use 900GB for Windows itself and 100GB for the shared partition? That makes sense, so I'm leaning towards "pulling the trigger" on the 1TB disk.

 

I think I understand most of the process of setting everything up. I wouldn't have to unplug the 1TB drive before plugging in the 250GB drive and installing Linux Mint, would I? Also when you say "install linux mint, installing the bootloader >>ON THE 250GB DRIVE<<" will that be done automatically during the install, or is there something that I have to do to get that to happen? And in this setup, would it ask me to select the OS I want to boot to, without having to manually change the boot order in the BIOS every time I want to change the OS?

 

Please forgive me for being so clueless when it comes to this sort of stuff.

[Exp]

Selecting manual install will not auto create a swap parition. You can start off with whatever size you want then readjust accordingly. As for a tutorial, all you need to do is

fallocate -l 4G /swapfilechmod 600 /swapfilemkswap /swapfileecho -e "/swapfile\tnone\tswap\tdefaults\t0 0" >> /etc/fstabswapon -a

 

Alright, thanks a bunch! I think I'll try that. Of course, if I order a 1TB HDD, I'll have to wait for it to be shipped to start the project.

[manikyath]

So you're saying to use 900GB for Windows itself and 100GB for the shared partition? That makes sense, so I'm leaning towards "pulling the trigger" on the 1TB disk.

 

I think I understand most of the process of setting everything up. I wouldn't have to unplug the 1TB drive before plugging in the 250GB drive and installing Linux Mint, would I? Also when you say "install linux mint, installing the bootloader >>ON THE 250GB DRIVE<<" will that be done automatically during the install, or is there something that I have to do to get that to happen? And in this setup, would it ask me to select the OS I want to boot to, without having to manually change the boot order in the BIOS every time I want to change the OS?

 

Please forgive me for being so clueless when it comes to this sort of stuff.

if you unplug the 1TB drive while installing linux mint, it ensures you wont install the bootloader in the wrong location, but it also brings with it that linux mint cant automaticly add windows to its bootloader selection screen (which you want to happen) hence, you leave it plugged in.

 

it should automaticly be on the right spot, but you want to make sure during the installation process, the linux mint installer is quite self-explanatory.

 

basicly, in the partitioning screen it'll show a dropdown "bootloader install location" or something along those lines.

 

as for the choice for OSes, thats where the 1TB drive being plugged in mess comes into play.

 

what you will do is set your BIOS to boot from the 250GB drive, there it'll find GRUB (linux's bootloader).

 

GRUB was told (on installation) that the 250GB drive its installed on contains linux mint, and that there is a different drive with windows 7 present in the system.

 

therefore grub will show the following options on startup:

 

- linux mint

- linux lint (recovery)

- memtest

- windows 7

 

the last one will point to the 1TB drive, off which a normal windows 7 boot can happen.

choosing is done with the keyboard (up/down and enter) and theres a way to set defaults, but dont ask me how to do that, it's been too long since i did that myself.

 

EDIT: if you want, i'll toss a VM together to make some screenshots explaining it step by step

[Exp]

-snip-

 

I really appreciate all the help! I think I'll be ordering a 1TB HDD tonight or tomorrow, so I'll have to wait until that arrives before starting. The process seems to make sense right now, but would you mind if I PM you if something goes wrong (or if I get stuck on something)?

[manikyath]

I really appreciate all the help! I think I'll be ordering a 1TB HDD tonight or tomorrow, so I'll have to wait until that arrives before starting. The process seems to make sense right now, but would you mind if I PM you if something goes wrong (or if I get stuck on something)?

sure, as long as people dont snap at me like a 14 year old with an attention problem (which i had happen on the forums...) i'm happy to help in any way possible, its what i'm here for.