I want to do the Dual-Boot Thing (1 Viewer)

[Phil]

My second hard drive started having errors, so I'm getting it replaced by Western Digital...............
So with a spanking new hard drive coming, I thought it would be a perfect time to try Ubuntu.
I have a live disk, 9.10, and it seems to work just fine.
I aleady have windows XP on my C: drive and want to put Ubuntu on the second drive ---- 750 gb. I still want to use the second drive for things like games and working on my website.
So here's my questions:
--Will having Ubuntu on my second drive effect the boot-up process?

--Should I set up the drive in Windows first, then do the partitioning with Ubuntu or just use Ubuntu all the way?

--Will data be accessible to both Windows and Linux? Say I create an .htm file with Dreamweaver in Windows, can I open it while in linux and edit it, then switch back to Windows and continue working with it?

I could probably come up with more, but I think that's enough for now.

 

[Charlie Brizzown]

1) Dual booting Ubuntu should only slightly change your boot up process. You'll be presented with the bootloader where you can choose to boot WinXP or Ubuntu, after you make your choice of which operating system to boot you'll see the boot process of that operating system.

2) You could partition the second drive anyway you choose. Create a partition for your Windows stuff, just be sure to leave enough free space for your Ubuntu install. When you're going through the Ubuntu setup you can create the file system for Ubuntu on the free space. I'm not sure if this applies anymore, but in the past you had to create the Linux partition within a certian number of sectors of the beginning of the drive. So you might want to create a free partition for Ubuntu first, and then create a partition for your Windows stuff.

3) I remember it was definitely possible to access files from both operating systems. What I used to do was just write anything that I might use in both operating systems to a spare partition that was NTFS or was it FAT32. I don't remember, it's been awhile.

Let us know how it goes.

 

[eaux-yeah]

Will having Ubuntu on my second drive effect the boot-up process?

No. In fact, it is an excellent move to keep seperate OSes on individual drives.
What you WILL want to do is to install grub on the first drive (MBR), when prompted (usually /dev/sda). Ubuntu will (should?) find your Windows partitions and setup grub automatically for you.

Should I set up the drive in Windows first, then do the partitioning with Ubuntu or just use Ubuntu all the way?

Keep the new drive unformatted and let Ubuntu format it.
It is up to you if you want all of the new drive dedicated to Linux or not.
You can always go back with Windows and carve out an NTFS partition or Ubuntu can do that, too. Just need to plan ahead.

Will data be accessible to both Windows and Linux? Say I create an .htm file with Dreamweaver in Windows, can I open it while in
linux and edit it, then switch back to Windows and continue working with it?

Sorta'
It is going to be easier to access Windows partiton form Linux than it will the other way.


First,. I would not use FAT at all. It's a big ugly stinky mess. Performance is awful and it fragmentation will be huge.

From Linux, you can read/write to NTFS partitions all day long with no problems, using ntfs-3g.

The problem will come when you are in Windows and need to read/write to a Linux partition.
This can be performed easily IF the partition is formatted Ext2/Ext3.
I recommend Ext2FSD
http://www.ext2fsd.com

The default for Ubuntu is now Ext4.
Read/Write access for Ext4 could get 'interesting'!

This person claims to have read access to Ext4:
http://www.soluvas.com/read-browse-explore-open-ext2-ext3-ext4-partition-filesystem-from-windows-7
I have not tried that and cannot give you an answer if it's good or not.

There have been times that I have wiped out the Journal on Ext* partitions when mounting from another OS. Luckily, a simple fsck fixed it.

 

[Phil]

So I should format with Ubuntu, using the Ext2sd option? That option is in the installer, isn't it? And make it NTFS. Now what is ntfs-3g? How should my computer's drive be now? I'm using XP.
Now on my 750 gig drive, after I've formatted it in Ubuntu, how much of a partition should I use for ubuntu? I've read 10gb and another partition of 4-6 gig for swap. That leaves, what, 730 for data?

 

[eaux-yeah]

sorry for the confusion.

Ext2sd is what is installed in Windows to access Linux partitions. You will do that last, if you even need to do it at all.
If you want to use files between OSes, I would recommend just using files to/from the Windows NTFS partiton, for now.

NTFS-3G is in Ubuntu and is used to access the Windows NTFS partitons. I think it is installed by default, not 100% sure about that.

Boot to the Ubuntu DVD (or whatever media you use) and let Ubuntu format the second drive.

10Gb should be enough to for you. Usually, I keep root (/), /usr, /var, /tmp, and /home on separate partitions.
You can just slice off a single 10Gb root (/) and a swap and that will work. That might be your best bet till you get Ubuntu down some. Most new users will reinstall a couple/few times.

With swap partition sizing, typically you want it to be at least double the size of your system memory (RAM) unless you have more that 2Gb. You should not need more than 2Gb.

After Ubuntu is installed, boot up to both OSes, to make sure all is well. Then, from Windows, you can go and partition out the rest of the second drive for your other storage needs.

 

[Phil]

Ok.
Thanks.
My replacement drive should be in any day now.
And I might as well go ahead and ask..............
What benefits do you find using Linux over Windows?