partition drives for linux mint

[Pumbaa]

hello,

I want to install 2x linux mint OS and a separate disk partition on my PC. The second OS is only for redundancy in case something breaks. I already started the 1st installation and chose the erase disk and install new. I later read an article that recommends using the "something else" option.

 

Once installation completes, I want to install the 2nd. Then, create a new partition and link all home, documents, download, etc folders to that partition. Can I still do that with gparted or do I really need to use the "something else" option?

 

Also I am going to make a couple of costumizations that I need to do on both OS. Is there a way to configure both at the same time?

And how much disk space should I provide for the OS?

 

thank you,

 

Pumbaa

[tikker]

It's unlikely you'll massively break something in Mint, but double checking important commands (especially ones involving sudo) is useful. Just keep the OS separate from your documents (and keep backups of important data) and don't run stuff like "sudo rm -rf /* --no-preserve-root"   (really, find out what stuff does before running random commands from the internet or guides).

Anyway, you don't need to install the same OS twice to be safe from failures. Create a separate root parition where the main kernel files etc. are and you're fine. Should you majorly screw up your installation, just reinstall this and you're good to go again. I usually format my Linuxes like this:

/boot   - self explanatory

/          - root partition, ~30GB or something depending on what stuff I'll need to install.

/home - your stuff,  whatever is left after the other partitions have been made.

swap  - swap space, if you want, ~8GB. I wouldn't waste too much space on this.

[Wild Penquin]

I agree with tikker.

 

You are trying to usea a wrong solution to a vague imaginary problem.

 

Most important data is the user files. You need to back up thesein any case, especially if you plan on sharing user documents between the installations.

 

Linux is not Windows; re-installing is actually rarely needed, but if it is, your user files, documents (and settings) are already in /home (which is usually, but doesn't need to be, on a separate partition). Just preserve /home when re-installing and your "stuff" is still there!

 

In addition to user documents, other stuff to back up to speed up recovery in case of failure (say, your hard disk), is to back up any modifications you might have made into /etc, and perhaps a list of installed software (so you can just give a single apt-get command to re-install everything instead of incrementally re-installing stuff once you remember what you are missing).

 

That being said, if you'd get your Linux installation into a nonbootable state, it will most likely be the bootloader being hosed up; in which case another installation will not help you at all, since there can (usually) be just one bootloader, and if it is hosed up, you can not boot either of your distributions / installations. So, you'd need something else to boot and fix the bootloader (a Live Linux USB stick will be handy). In case it is not the bootloader, but the installation is otherwise messed up, it can be equally well (if not more reliably, say, because of a near-failed HD) fixed from a live Linux image (USB stick) rather than a full-blown installation on the HD.

 

TL;DR: Double installation is absolultely unnecessary and redundant