Setting up VM

[slickymaster]

The first thing that cross my mind is that Virtualbox Guest Additions could be the culprit of that slowness, not providing 3D acceleration.
Please see this: https://www.virtualbox.org/ticket/11107

[ChochiWpg]

The first thing that cross my mind is that Virtualbox Guest Additions could be the culprit of that slowness, not providing 3D acceleration.
Please see this: https://www.virtualbox.org/ticket/11107

That seems very complicated for me TBH. I ended up uninstalling the VM software and deleting the files it created as well.

I was speaking with someone on Google+ who suggested to run Ubuntu natively via dual boot as it runs much better. So I am currently attempting to give that try. But I am already running into issues.

First off I will not repartition my HDD without having a full image of my Windows OS. Problem with that is my current system holds 380GB of information. I do not have enough additional HDD space to repartition and save a backup on a separate partition. Nor do I have enough DVD's to backup 380GB of data.

So ATM I am at an impasse. I want to use Ubuntu and think I will enjoy running and using the distro. At the same time I want to make sure I have everything backed up first before installing.

Seems to me that using Ubuntu is the fun/easy part. The extremely frustrating and complicated part (for me at least) is having to backup everything, create partitions and then make sure to install it correctly. It's the whole install process that I find very un-user friendly. Where Ubuntu itself is extremely user friendly and seems to be a joy to use. I just want to use it already and I have been backing up and trying to figure out how to partition for the past 7 hours.

[slickymaster]

That seems very complicated for me TBH. I ended up uninstalling the VM software and deleting the files it created as well.

I was speaking with someone on Google+ who suggested to run Ubuntu natively via dual boot as it runs much better. So I am currently attempting to give that try. But I am already running into issues.

Running it natively will give you better performance because you aren't running two OS's at the same time. Yours native install will have all the RAM and CPU cycles to itself.

First off I will not repartition my HDD without having a full image of my Windows OS. Problem with that is my current system holds 380GB of information. I do not have enough additional HDD space to repartition and save a backup on a separate partition. Nor do I have enough DVD's to backup 380GB of data.

So ATM I am at an impasse. I want to use Ubuntu and think I will enjoy running and using the distro. At the same time I want to make sure I have everything backed up first before installing.

Seems to me that using Ubuntu is the fun/easy part. The extremely frustrating and complicated part (for me at least) is having to backup everything, create partitions and then make sure to install it correctly. It's the whole install process that I find very un-user friendly. Where Ubuntu itself is extremely user friendly and seems to be a joy to use. I just want to use it already and I have been backing up and trying to figure out how to partition for the past 7 hours.

Installing Ubuntu dual-booting with your existing Windows install is not that complicated and you shouldn't be afraid of attempting to do it. It's a very straightforward process and there are a lot of tutorials that you can see before you'll do it.

One thing I do advice and encourage you to do is to defragment your hard drive before starting with the Ubuntu installation, even though Windows partition and Linux partition have no real impact on each other, beyond accessing each others' data if you'd like to do that.
The Ubuntu installer will offer to resize your Windows partition to create space on your hard disk for Ubuntu. All you need to do is tell it how much space to give to each OS. Fragmentation of the Windows partition affects how well the installer can resize it, so you should defragment the disk from Windows before installing Ubuntu.

[ChochiWpg]

Running it natively will give you better performance because you aren't running two OS's at the same time. Yours native install will have all the RAM and CPU cycles to itself.



Installing Ubuntu dual-booting with your existing Windows install is not that complicated and you shouldn't be afraid of attempting to do it. It's a very straightforward process and there are a lot of tutorials that you can see before you'll do it.

One thing I do advice and encourage you to do is to defragment your hard drive before starting with the Ubuntu installation, even though Windows partition and Linux partition have no real impact on each other, beyond accessing each others' data if you'd like to do that.
The Ubuntu installer will offer to resize your Windows partition to create space on your hard disk for Ubuntu. All you need to do is tell it how much space to give to each OS. Fragmentation of the Windows partition affects how well the installer can resize it, so you should defragment the disk from Windows before installing Ubuntu.

Thanks again for your help. I run defrag on my system weekly and just to be safe before partitioning and installing Ubuntu I will run it manually as well.

I have watched tutorials and did notice that the Ubuntu install does offer to resize the partition. However, I noticed in other tutorials to repartition the HDD first in Windows via disk management before installing Ubuntu. Which option is ideal? Also, you mentioned it is possible to share files/data between Windows and Linux? Because I would like to access my media files I already have on my Windows partition in Linux as well. Lastly, you also mentioned it's a good idea to setup a Home, Root and Swap partition. Is this something that can be done during the Ubuntu install when it says it will partition the HD for you? Or is this something you have to do before or after install?

Sorry guys, so many questions and I am probably making this harder than it really is, but it's all very new and overwhelming at the moment.

[slickymaster]

I have watched tutorials and did notice that the Ubuntu install does offer to resize the partition. However, I noticed in other tutorials to repartition the HDD first in Windows via disk management before installing Ubuntu. Which option is ideal?

Personally I prefer to use Linux programs because they are faster as you don't need to defragment first. If you go with Windows Disk Management I do advise you to defragment your hard drive before installing Ubuntu.
Please see this link, it's quite explanatory on this subject: Resize the Windows partition

Also, you mentioned it is possible to share files/data between Windows and Linux? Because I would like to access my media files I already have on my Windows partition in Linux as well.

Yes, it's possible, though it might strike you as a bit difficult at the beginning, it's not so. You can do it is through the possibility that even though Windows can't read from EXT2/4 partitions, Ubuntu can read from NTFS partitions.
See these: A Comprehensive Guide to Sharing Your Data Across Multi-Booting Windows, Mac, and Linux PCs and How To Harmonize Your Dual-Boot Setup for Windows and Ubuntu

Lastly, you also mentioned it's a good idea to setup a Home, Root and Swap partition. Is this something that can be done during the Ubuntu install when it says it will partition the HD for you? Or is this something you have to do before or after install?

Yes, you do it when you're installing Ubuntu, not after. See this very easy tutorial on how to do it: Ubuntu 12.10 installation and disk partitioning guide

[ChochiWpg]

Personally I prefer to use Linux programs because they are faster as you don't need to defragment first. If you go with Windows Disk Management I do advise you to defragment your hard drive before installing Ubuntu.
Please see this link, it's quite explanatory on this subject: Resize the Windows partition


Yes, it's possible, though it might strike you as a bit difficult at the beginning, it's not so. You can do it is through the possibility that even though Windows can't read from EXT2/4 partitions, Ubuntu can read from NTFS partitions.
See these: A Comprehensive Guide to Sharing Your Data Across Multi-Booting Windows, Mac, and Linux PCs and How To Harmonize Your Dual-Boot Setup for Windows and Ubuntu


Yes, you do it when you're installing Ubuntu, not after. See this very easy tutorial on how to do it: Ubuntu 12.10 installation and disk partitioning guide

Thank you again for all your help SlickyMaster. Looks like I have a lot of reading to do. Partitioning using the built in Ubuntu installer sounds much simpler than defraging and using the Disk Management utility. The disk partitioning guide was very helpful. As for sharing between OS's I will have to re-read that section a few times over as it seems advanced for me right now.

Thanks for all your help. This thread has somewhat veered from my initial question and before I attempt to go further I want to do some more reading and understanding beforehand. Much appreciated, if I run into any problems I will let you know. Thank you.

[slickymaster]

Maybe it would be better to close this thread then, and mark it as solved, and if latter on you run with any problems you can open a new one, specifically to the issues you eventually stuck on.

If you have doubts on how to mark a thread as SOLVED please see my signature on how to do it.

[Bucky Ball]

Thread moved to Virtualisation.

Maybe it would be better to close this thread then, and mark it as solved, and if latter on you run with any problems you can open a new one, specifically to the issues you eventually stuck on.

Agreed, good plan. After you have researched some more you may have very different questions. Post them in new threads with descriptive titles and in the appropriate sub-forums to maximise your chances of help. Good luck with it.