Dual Booting Windows and Ubuntu

[Command Center]

Hi,

I am considering Dual booting Ubuntu on my Windows machine. I was going to go into Disk Management and shrink my current drive and use the shrinked drive to install Ubuntu on it. My question is; if I decide to uninstall Ubuntu in the future and re-partition the skrinked drive, will I be able to merge the new skrinked drive with the old one or how will that work?

Thanks for your time

 

[R_1]

yes. you will delete the partitions, that ubuntu are using and resize the partition absorbing the now free space. I know paragon paragon partition manager does this, unsure if windows does

 

[flipins]

Yes you can, you can partition an amount of space for Ubuntu, then when you want that space back, format that partition and allocate all of that space to your Windows partition and delete the Ubuntu Partition.

 

[USAFRet]

Another option would be to run Ubuntu in a VM. No partitioning needed.

 

[Command Center]

Yes you can, you can partition an amount of space for Ubuntu, then when you want that space back, format that partition and allocate all of that space to your Windows partition and delete the Ubuntu Partition.

Is there a tool in Windows 10 that allows me to merge the two separated partitions together?

 

[flipins]

Yes you can, you can partition an amount of space for Ubuntu, then when you want that space back, format that partition and allocate all of that space to your Windows partition and delete the Ubuntu Partition.

Is there a tool in Windows 10 that allows me to merge the two separated partitions together?

Command line works but yes just google it and you will find many solutions.

 

[Command Center]

Yes you can, you can partition an amount of space for Ubuntu, then when you want that space back, format that partition and allocate all of that space to your Windows partition and delete the Ubuntu Partition.

Is there a tool in Windows 10 that allows me to merge the two separated partitions together?

Command line works but yes just google it and you will find many solutions.

Awesome stuff! Thanks for your help!

 

[flipins]

Yes you can, you can partition an amount of space for Ubuntu, then when you want that space back, format that partition and allocate all of that space to your Windows partition and delete the Ubuntu Partition.

Is there a tool in Windows 10 that allows me to merge the two separated partitions together?

Command line works but yes just google it and you will find many solutions.

Awesome stuff! Thanks for your help!

Hey no problemo!

 

[Command Center]

Another option would be to run Ubuntu in a VM. No partitioning needed.

Yeah I was think of doing that but I am using a laptop and I am worried that it would put too much strain on my system?

 

[flipins]

Another option would be to run Ubuntu in a VM. No partitioning needed.

Yeah I was think of doing that but I am using a laptop and I am worried that it would put too much strain on my system?

You probably are not going to be gaming in Ubuntu so it is totally usable in a virtual machine. Just not as good performance as you would get with a dedicated partition.

 

[USAFRet]

Another option would be to run Ubuntu in a VM. No partitioning needed.

Yeah I was think of doing that but I am using a laptop and I am worried that it would put too much strain on my system?

Not even a little bit.
A few years ago I had a Sony Vaio, and with sufficient RAM, would run 3 VM's + the host all at the same time.
Host of Win 7 or 8, VM's of Server2008, Win 7, and LinuxMint.

 

[Command Center]

Another option would be to run Ubuntu in a VM. No partitioning needed.

Yeah I was think of doing that but I am using a laptop and I am worried that it would put too much strain on my system?

You probably are not going to be gaming in Ubuntu so it is totally usable in a virtual machine. Just not as good performance as you would get with a dedicated partition.

Yeah there is no harm in testing it out in a virtual machine first. I have on more question before I go if you don't mind answering it. What is the best free VM software available. I know VMware workstation has a free 12 day trial but is there a totally free reliable VM program out there?

 

[USAFRet]

Yeah there is no harm in testing it out in a virtual machine first. I have on more question before I go if you don't mind answering it. What is the best free VM software available. I know VMware workstation has a free 12 day trial but is there a totally free reliable VM program out there?

VirtualBox from Oracle.
Free, no trial period. I use it daily.

 

[Command Center]

Another option would be to run Ubuntu in a VM. No partitioning needed.

Yeah I was think of doing that but I am using a laptop and I am worried that it would put too much strain on my system?

Not even a little bit.
A few years ago I had a Sony Vaio, and with sufficient RAM, would run 3 VM's + the host all at the same time.
Host of Win 7 or 8, VM's of Server2008, Win 7, and LinuxMint.

Ah ok that's good to know! Better than shrinking and partitioning drives and then having to restart the computer to change operating systems. Thanks for your help, appreciate it!

 

[Command Center]

Yeah there is no harm in testing it out in a virtual machine first. I have on more question before I go if you don't mind answering it. What is the best free VM software available. I know VMware workstation has a free 12 day trial but is there a totally free reliable VM program out there?

VirtualBox from Oracle.
Free, no trial period. I use it daily.

That's great!! Thanks again 😀