Triple OS'

[emeraldgirl08]

I'm curious about W7 and Fedora so I ordered a small hard drive. It is a 40 gb (37.1gb) and I'm wondering how big I should make the partitions. My brother installed W7 and it's taking up around 9 gb of HD space. I know Fedora will require a lot less than that. I may also download OpenSuse or Linux Mint to play around with in the future.

I'm thinking of creating an NTFS partition about 12gb for W7. For Fedora I will allocate 8 Ggb. That leaves me with 16 gb (or close to that). I don't know about creating a FAT32 partition as I will need space for the OpenSuse or Linux Mint.

This will be for a desktop that already has a 232 gb HDD with Win XP pro on it. I want to leave that alone which is why I have the extra HDD.

Anybody have any suggestions for me?

[ajgreeny]

Can't help with the Win7 as I know almost nothing about it, and don't really want to either, but you can certainly put the linux distros on as you suggested. If you must have a fat32 partition, keep it small, or you will run out of space, and you will have your main disk available, anyway. Also consider a shared /data partition for all the linux OSs, so as to keep your root partitions smaller; each /home folder will then only contain the various config files and folders needed by each distro. Whatever else you do, don't be tempted to have a /home partition shared by different linux distros, that way lies a bundle of trouble.

[emeraldgirl08]

Okay things are turning out better than I thought. I had a hard time getting my partitions in order but after a day of pulling hair out I finally got some nice partitions and also downloaded OpenSuse and Arch.

I know I know. M$ is a resource depleting pig but I'm learning all I can about comps and M$ is something I'm familiar with. I also love linux (most of the time!) and now have: Fedora, Ubuntu 8.04-9.04, OpenSuse, Arch, Win7, and Xp Pro. I think that should keep me busy for awhile

[presence1960]

+1 to ajgreeny's suggestion about sharing /home among distros. You don't want to open that can of worms!

I don't like Windows but I installed Windows 7 because I build & repair computers so I have to keep my knowledge current, especially since most people use windows. I don't try to convert anyone to linux. I patiently wait for them to ask or bring it up in conversation. Actually 7 seems better than Vista but it is still windows.

[emeraldgirl08]

Yeah. breaking up linux into /root, /home, etc is a little advanced for me now so no worries about sharing home.

Yeah. I use what works for me so I don't really worry about the OS.

[emeraldgirl08]

Okay. I did install W7 and Ubuntu on the same drive. This drive I should mention is an IDE drive.

The other drive is a SATA and has XP solely on it. I didn't do anything fancy yet b/c the Xp drive isn't mine (sisters) and I was just getting a feel.

I wasn't too sure on how to do a boot with this configuration. I thought if I unplugged the xp drive I could use the W7/Ubuntu drive. During installation I placed the boot menu into Win 7's boot drive. I wasn't sure if it would make a mess. To my surprise when I rebooted after installing Grub showed Jaunty and then Vista (I know Jaunty calls W7 that). So. I was content and ready to read up on how to chainload or whatever you do to make a working "boot menu" for all three OS' upon start up.

This morning I was going to update Jaunty because I didn't get a chance to after installation yesterday (family members needed to use this comp). So Grub comes up with the choices and I choose Jaunty. I get almost all the way done with my updates and the power goes out!

Not good.

I wait an hour for it to come back on (since I live in the boonies I gotta wait!) and then resume my update. After installation I wait for the updates to be applied and install the mediuniverse restricted somethings-or-other to get flash, videos, etc to work. I reboot and since my niece is begging me to create an account for her in W7 (and Ubuntu) I go to boot W7 and get a "cannot find OS disc. Please insert OS disc..."

What broke my boot for W7? Was it the updates b/c I noticed a new kernel was installed. I'm not too sure but if anyone can help I'd appreciate it. Sorry this was SO long too. I just feel the more detail the better.

[eternalsword]

can you boot fine into Jaunty? Also what's your current /boot/grub/menu.lst file look like?

[presence1960]

let's get all the info about your setup and boot info in one swoop. boot into Ubuntu, or if you can't boot the Ubuntu Live CD and choose "try ubuntu without any changes". When the desktop loads download to the desktop the boot info script 0.32 from here: http://sourceforge.net/projects/bootinfoscript/files/
Once downloaded to desktop open a terminal and run this command

sudo bash ~/Desktop/boot_info_script*.sh

This will create a RESULTS.txt file on your desktop. Paste the entire contents of that file back here. When pasted here highlight all text and click the # sign on the toolbar to place code tags around the text.

This will give us all info about your setup including what the previous poster asked for.

[emeraldgirl08]

I'll get the boot info in the morning. It's around 12 am here and I'll be up "bright-eyed and bushy-tailed" in the morning with that report

[emeraldgirl08]

Okay. Here is the result of that terminal command.

============================= Boot Info Summary: ==============================

 => Windows is installed in the MBR of /dev/sda
 => Grub0.97 is installed in the MBR of /dev/sdb and looks on the same drive 
    in partition #5 for /boot/grub/stage2 and /boot/grub/menu.lst.
 => Windows is installed in the MBR of /dev/sdc

sda1: _________________________________________________________________________

    File system:       ntfs
    Boot sector type:  Windows XP
    Boot sector info:  No errors found in the Boot Parameter Block.
    Operating System:  Windows XP
    Boot files/dirs:   /boot.ini /ntldr /NTDETECT.COM

sdb1: _________________________________________________________________________

    File system:       ntfs
    Boot sector type:  Windows Vista
    Boot sector info:  No errors found in the Boot Parameter Block.
    Operating System:  
    Boot files/dirs:   /bootmgr /Boot/BCD

sdb2: _________________________________________________________________________

    File system:       ntfs
    Boot sector type:  Windows Vista
    Boot sector info:  No errors found in the Boot Parameter Block.
    Operating System:  Windows Vista
    Boot files/dirs:   /Windows/System32/winload.exe

sdb3: _________________________________________________________________________

    File system:       Extended Partition
    Boot sector type:  -
    Boot sector info:  

sdb5: _________________________________________________________________________

    File system:       ext3
    Boot sector type:  -
    Boot sector info:  
    Operating System:  Ubuntu 9.04
    Boot files/dirs:   /boot/grub/menu.lst /etc/fstab

sdb6: _________________________________________________________________________

    File system:       swap
    Boot sector type:  -
    Boot sector info:  

sdc1: _________________________________________________________________________

    File system:       vfat
    Boot sector type:  Windows XP: Fat32
    Boot sector info:  No errors found in the Boot Parameter Block.
    Operating System:  
    Boot files/dirs:   

=========================== Drive/Partition Info: =============================

Drive: sda ___________________ _____________________________________________________

Disk /dev/sda: 250.0 GB, 250059350016 bytes
255 heads, 63 sectors/track, 30401 cylinders, total 488397168 sectors
Units = sectors of 1 * 512 = 512 bytes
Disk identifier: 0x02317b99

Partition  Boot         Start           End          Size  Id System

/dev/sda1    *          2,048   488,128,511   488,126,464   7 HPFS/NTFS


Drive: sdb ___________________ _____________________________________________________

Disk /dev/sdb: 40.0 GB, 40020664320 bytes
255 heads, 63 sectors/track, 4865 cylinders, total 78165360 sectors
Units = sectors of 1 * 512 = 512 bytes
Disk identifier: 0x1bfbae8d

Partition  Boot         Start           End          Size  Id System

/dev/sdb1    *          2,048       206,847       204,800   7 HPFS/NTFS
/dev/sdb2             208,845    42,620,444    42,411,600   7 HPFS/NTFS
/dev/sdb3          42,620,445    78,156,224    35,535,780   5 Extended
/dev/sdb5          42,620,508    76,581,854    33,961,347  83 Linux
/dev/sdb6          76,581,918    78,156,224     1,574,307  82 Linux swap / Solaris


Drive: sdc ___________________ _____________________________________________________

Disk /dev/sdc: 8019 MB, 8019099648 bytes
256 heads, 63 sectors/track, 971 cylinders, total 15662304 sectors
Units = sectors of 1 * 512 = 512 bytes
Disk identifier: 0x001c2022

Partition  Boot         Start           End          Size  Id System

/dev/sdc1    *             63    15,661,295    15,661,233   b W95 FAT32


blkid -c /dev/null: ____________________________________________________________

/dev/sda1: UUID="3A084A380849F403" TYPE="ntfs" 
/dev/sdb1: UUID="A8286C86286C54FA" LABEL="System Reserved" TYPE="ntfs" 
/dev/sdb2: UUID="FAF470B4F470752B" TYPE="ntfs" 
/dev/sdb5: UUID="f1e6eaa9-f542-4c89-90a4-18cefc12e3cc" TYPE="ext3" 
/dev/sdb6: UUID="af713095-9747-4d6f-8f74-fc128bb6731c" TYPE="swap" 
/dev/sdc1: UUID="7C2C-7475" TYPE="vfat" 

=============================== "mount" output: ===============================

/dev/sdb5 on / type ext3 (rw,relatime,errors=remount-ro)
tmpfs on /lib/init/rw type tmpfs (rw,nosuid,mode=0755)
proc on /proc type proc (rw,noexec,nosuid,nodev)
sysfs on /sys type sysfs (rw,noexec,nosuid,nodev)
varrun on /var/run type tmpfs (rw,nosuid,mode=0755)
varlock on /var/lock type tmpfs (rw,noexec,nosuid,nodev,mode=1777)
udev on /dev type tmpfs (rw,mode=0755)
tmpfs on /dev/shm type tmpfs (rw,nosuid,nodev)
devpts on /dev/pts type devpts (rw,noexec,nosuid,gid=5,mode=620)
fusectl on /sys/fs/fuse/connections type fusectl (rw)
lrm on /lib/modules/2.6.28-13-generic/volatile type tmpfs (rw,mode=755)
securityfs on /sys/kernel/security type securityfs (rw)
binfmt_misc on /proc/sys/fs/binfmt_misc type binfmt_misc (rw,noexec,nosuid,nodev)
gvfs-fuse-daemon on /home/shinigami/.gvfs type fuse.gvfs-fuse-daemon (rw,nosuid,nodev,user=shinigami)
/dev/sdc1 on /media/disk type vfat (rw,nosuid,nodev,uhelper=hal,shortname=mixed,uid=1000,utf8,umask=077,flush)


================================ sda1/boot.ini: ================================

[boot loader]

timeout=30

default=multi(0)disk(0)rdisk(0)partition(1)\WINDOWS

[operating systems]

multi(0)disk(0)rdisk(0)partition(1)\WINDOWS="Microsoft Windows XP Professional" /noexecute=optin /fastdetect


=========================== sdb5/boot/grub/menu.lst: ===========================

# menu.lst - See: grub(8), info grub, update-grub(8)
#            grub-install(8), grub-floppy(8),
#            grub-md5-crypt, /usr/share/doc/grub
#            and /usr/share/doc/grub-doc/.

## default num
# Set the default entry to the entry number NUM. Numbering starts from 0, and
# the entry number 0 is the default if the command is not used.
#
# You can specify 'saved' instead of a number. In this case, the default entry
# is the entry saved with the command 'savedefault'.
# WARNING: If you are using dmraid do not use 'savedefault' or your
# array will desync and will not let you boot your system.
default		0

## timeout sec
# Set a timeout, in SEC seconds, before automatically booting the default entry
# (normally the first entry defined).
timeout		10

## hiddenmenu
# Hides the menu by default (press ESC to see the menu)
#hiddenmenu

# Pretty colours
#color cyan/blue white/blue

## password ['--md5'] passwd
# If used in the first section of a menu file, disable all interactive editing
# control (menu entry editor and command-line)  and entries protected by the
# command 'lock'
# e.g. password topsecret
#      password --md5 $1$gLhU0/$aW78kHK1QfV3P2b2znUoe/
# password topsecret

#
# examples
#
# title		Windows 95/98/NT/2000
# root		(hd0,0)
# makeactive
# chainloader	+1
#
# title		Linux
# root		(hd0,1)
# kernel	/vmlinuz root=/dev/hda2 ro
#

#
# Put static boot stanzas before and/or after AUTOMAGIC KERNEL LIST

### BEGIN AUTOMAGIC KERNELS LIST
## lines between the AUTOMAGIC KERNELS LIST markers will be modified
## by the debian update-grub script except for the default options below

## DO NOT UNCOMMENT THEM, Just edit them to your needs

## ## Start Default Options ##
## default kernel options
## default kernel options for automagic boot options
## If you want special options for specific kernels use kopt_x_y_z
## where x.y.z is kernel version. Minor versions can be omitted.
## e.g. kopt=root=/dev/hda1 ro
##      kopt_2_6_8=root=/dev/hdc1 ro
##      kopt_2_6_8_2_686=root=/dev/hdc2 ro
# kopt=root=UUID=f1e6eaa9-f542-4c89-90a4-18cefc12e3cc ro

## default grub root device
## e.g. groot=(hd0,0)
# groot=f1e6eaa9-f542-4c89-90a4-18cefc12e3cc

## should update-grub create alternative automagic boot options
## e.g. alternative=true
##      alternative=false
# alternative=true

## should update-grub lock alternative automagic boot options
## e.g. lockalternative=true
##      lockalternative=false
# lockalternative=false

## additional options to use with the default boot option, but not with the
## alternatives
## e.g. defoptions=vga=791 resume=/dev/hda5
# defoptions=quiet splash

## should update-grub lock old automagic boot options
## e.g. lockold=false
##      lockold=true
# lockold=false

## Xen hypervisor options to use with the default Xen boot option
# xenhopt=

## Xen Linux kernel options to use with the default Xen boot option
# xenkopt=console=tty0

## altoption boot targets option
## multiple altoptions lines are allowed
## e.g. altoptions=(extra menu suffix) extra boot options
##      altoptions=(recovery) single
# altoptions=(recovery mode) single

## controls how many kernels should be put into the menu.lst
## only counts the first occurence of a kernel, not the
## alternative kernel options
## e.g. howmany=all
##      howmany=7
# howmany=all

## specify if running in Xen domU or have grub detect automatically
## update-grub will ignore non-xen kernels when running in domU and vice versa
## e.g. indomU=detect
##      indomU=true
##      indomU=false
# indomU=detect

## should update-grub create memtest86 boot option
## e.g. memtest86=true
##      memtest86=false
# memtest86=true

## should update-grub adjust the value of the default booted system
## can be true or false
# updatedefaultentry=false

## should update-grub add savedefault to the default options
## can be true or false
# savedefault=false

## ## End Default Options ##

title		Ubuntu 9.04, kernel 2.6.28-13-generic
uuid		f1e6eaa9-f542-4c89-90a4-18cefc12e3cc
kernel		/boot/vmlinuz-2.6.28-13-generic root=UUID=f1e6eaa9-f542-4c89-90a4-18cefc12e3cc ro quiet splash 
initrd		/boot/initrd.img-2.6.28-13-generic
quiet

title		Ubuntu 9.04, kernel 2.6.28-13-generic (recovery mode)
uuid		f1e6eaa9-f542-4c89-90a4-18cefc12e3cc
kernel		/boot/vmlinuz-2.6.28-13-generic root=UUID=f1e6eaa9-f542-4c89-90a4-18cefc12e3cc ro  single
initrd		/boot/initrd.img-2.6.28-13-generic

title		Ubuntu 9.04, kernel 2.6.28-11-generic
uuid		f1e6eaa9-f542-4c89-90a4-18cefc12e3cc
kernel		/boot/vmlinuz-2.6.28-11-generic root=UUID=f1e6eaa9-f542-4c89-90a4-18cefc12e3cc ro quiet splash 
initrd		/boot/initrd.img-2.6.28-11-generic
quiet

title		Ubuntu 9.04, kernel 2.6.28-11-generic (recovery mode)
uuid		f1e6eaa9-f542-4c89-90a4-18cefc12e3cc
kernel		/boot/vmlinuz-2.6.28-11-generic root=UUID=f1e6eaa9-f542-4c89-90a4-18cefc12e3cc ro  single
initrd		/boot/initrd.img-2.6.28-11-generic

title		Ubuntu 9.04, memtest86+
uuid		f1e6eaa9-f542-4c89-90a4-18cefc12e3cc
kernel		/boot/memtest86+.bin
quiet

### END DEBIAN AUTOMAGIC KERNELS LIST

# This is a divider, added to separate the menu items below from the Debian
# ones.
title		Other operating systems:
root


# This entry automatically added by the Debian installer for a non-linux OS
# on /dev/sda1
title		Windows Vista (loader)
rootnoverify	(hd0,0)
savedefault
chainloader	+1


=============================== sdb5/etc/fstab: ===============================

# /etc/fstab: static file system information.
#
# Use 'vol_id --uuid' to print the universally unique identifier for a
# device; this may be used with UUID= as a more robust way to name devices
# that works even if disks are added and removed. See fstab(5).
#
# <file system> <mount point>   <type>  <options>       <dump>  <pass>
proc            /proc           proc    defaults        0       0
# / was on /dev/sda5 during installation
UUID=f1e6eaa9-f542-4c89-90a4-18cefc12e3cc /               ext3    relatime,errors=remount-ro 0       1
# swap was on /dev/sda6 during installation
UUID=af713095-9747-4d6f-8f74-fc128bb6731c none            swap    sw              0       0
/dev/scd0       /media/cdrom0   udf,iso9660 user,noauto,exec,utf8 0       0
/dev/fd0        /media/floppy0  auto    rw,user,noauto,exec,utf8 0       0

=================== sdb5: Location of files loaded by Grub: ===================


  30.2GB: boot/grub/menu.lst
  30.2GB: boot/grub/stage2
  30.2GB: boot/initrd.img-2.6.28-11-generic
  30.2GB: boot/initrd.img-2.6.28-13-generic
  30.2GB: boot/vmlinuz-2.6.28-11-generic
  30.1GB: boot/vmlinuz-2.6.28-13-generic
  30.2GB: initrd.img
  30.2GB: initrd.img.old
  30.1GB: vmlinuz
  30.2GB: vmlinuz.old

FYI the link to download wasn't working. I got an error code for it. Good thing I had that program saved from a time I was working on my laptop