A question before I install 13.04 Ubuntu alongside Windows 8...

thecynicalmonk

Honorable
Feb 18, 2013
271
0
10,810
Hey Everyone! I have a system currently running Windows 8 x64...

---Current Partition Setup---

Drive -120GB Samsung 840 SSD

-System Reserved- 350 MB NTFS (Syste, Active, Primary Partition)
-Partition C: (Windows 8 x64)- 100.35 GB NTFS(Boot,Page File, Crash Dump,Primary Partition) <<<40.04 GB FREE>>>
-Over-Provisioning- 11.10 GB (Unallocated)


Drive - Seagate Barracuda 1TB

- Partition E: (Games and Media)- 931.51 GB NTFS (Primary Partition) <<<831.76 GB FREE>>>

------------------------------

Here's How I'd Like To Set Up My Partitions

Windows 8 on my SSD (untouched)
Ubuntu system files, etc. on my SSD
Swap on ?? (whatever is faster and better while keeping in mind SSD free space)
Windows Games and Media Partition (untouched) on HDD
/home partition on HDD
Possible shared partition between windows and Ubuntu (??)

I hope you guys see what I'm getting at...I want both Windows 8 and Ubuntu 13.04 to run as optimally as possible without messing up my current windows 8 installation.

I'm fairly new to Ubuntu, I've ran it for years off and on, I'm very proficient in Windows and computer hardware, oc'ing, tweaking....... but I barely understand linux...Enough to follow instructions on youtube, forums, blogs, etc. Basically I understand enough to follow tutorials, even when it gets into semi-complex things.

I just don't feel very confident installing Windows 8 and 13.04 on my SSD, having /home on a partition on my HDD as well as a partition for Windows Game/Program Installations and Media AND a shared partition between windows and Ubuntu....

I feel like my wants will put me in over my head. :-/

Can anyone put my worries to rest and help me configure my dream dual-boot system?? :) :)

**Also, it would be nice to have something more GUI centric to greet me instead of drab GRUB -.-, lol**

Thanks!!!
the ever-so CynicalMonk
 
Solution
Personally, I wouldn't put swap on the ssd. On my system with 8Gb ram, swap is rarely used... and even then it's only on the order of a few hundred kb. Seldom has it gone above 2Mb (but I don't watch it very closely). If you really want to separate root and /home, /home should have its own partition using ext3 or ext4 IMHO. The storage shared partition should also be solitary using vfat or ntfs (use ntfs if you will have any huge single files).

spankmon

Distinguished
Dec 31, 2011
477
0
18,860
The article linked below may have some info that interests you... but it doesn't quite match your desired installation scheme.

http://spankmon.wordpress.com/2012/05/08/windows7-on-ssd-plus-xubuntu-on-hdd/
 

c3h8

Distinguished
Aug 8, 2008
185
0
18,710
UEFI or BIOS?
===
Grub (Ubuntu's Bootloader) was designed prior to UFI/UEFI and thus can have some trouble working when Windows installs natively to take advantage of such (fast boot...).

As with any partitioning Ubuntu will want it's own dedicated disk space. You'll most likely have to shrink your current Windows partition to allow for linux, but Ubuntu should allow you to resize the partition(s) associated with your SSD for installing linux, you'll want an Ext4 file system for Ubuntu. These partitions will create the primary distinction between your windows installation and your installation of Linux.

"/home" without any specific mapping will be indexed to your SSD partition where you installed linux, it isn't a separate partition unless you designate it to be. IFF you use a dedicated HD for data storage (preferably formatted to FAT32 or ExFAT, but NTFS works) you can index "/home" there for the most convenient integration between the OS(es).

Additionally, if you look-up GRUB configuration you should be able to add a graphical background to it and specify the visual configuration of the boot loader... YouTube and StackOverflow are good for that kind of thing.

Lastly, It can be a pain at times...but you might consider a different distribution of linux. At the moment I am a fan of "Fedora (Linux)" and it's implementation of GNOME3. GNOME3 is a love or hate interpretation of the desktop, so you will want to LiveCD before you install. The major differences in Ubuntu and Fedora are primarily in their proprietors. Canonical develops Ubuntu and Red Hat developes Fedora. The first will use Synaptic Package Manager and the later will use Yum (minor differences in syntax). Though, if you want to avoid having to compile you binaries there typically are more RPM (Fedora) packages than bin (Ubuntu) files.

Qualculate. It's amazing.
Ardour. If your into Audio Production.
 

thecynicalmonk

Honorable
Feb 18, 2013
271
0
10,810




I'm running in UEFI.

As far as the Partition setup, where would you put swap?

Does this look good?
SSD-
67 GB Windows 8 x64
25 GB / Ubuntu x64
8 GB swap

HDD-
400 GB Windows Games
600 GB Shared Media /home (i think with this size i can ONLY use NTFS, correct?)
 

spankmon

Distinguished
Dec 31, 2011
477
0
18,860
Personally, I wouldn't put swap on the ssd. On my system with 8Gb ram, swap is rarely used... and even then it's only on the order of a few hundred kb. Seldom has it gone above 2Mb (but I don't watch it very closely). If you really want to separate root and /home, /home should have its own partition using ext3 or ext4 IMHO. The storage shared partition should also be solitary using vfat or ntfs (use ntfs if you will have any huge single files).
 
Solution

thecynicalmonk

Honorable
Feb 18, 2013
271
0
10,810


Ok, So hows this instead? (Btw, I'm glad you suggested to not put swap on my SSD, space is already limited as is)

SSD-
75 GB Windows 8 x64 (NTFS)
25 GB / Ubuntu x64 (Ext4?)

HDD-
400 GB Windows Games (NTFS)
150 /home (Ext4)
442 GB Shared Media /home (NTFS)
8 GB swap
 

spankmon

Distinguished
Dec 31, 2011
477
0
18,860
It looks good to me. Hope it works fabulously. My only hesitation would be the 75GB devoted to Windows. That space could fill up quickly if you keep the pagefile, hibernate, sys restore, downloads and browser caches all within the SSD.
 

thecynicalmonk

Honorable
Feb 18, 2013
271
0
10,810


True, but i forgot to mention. I did away with my pagefile, hibernation, only allocated 1GB to system restore, mapped Downloads and all User files to my HDD via regedit, and plan to keep my chrome cache on the SSD

Edit: All of my programs except for a choice few (system tweaking tools, WoW, browser, antivirus, etc.) is installed on my HDD