Best way to dualboot ubuntu 9.10 on windows 7

[fireblade007]

I am a newbie to ubuntu, please help me out,
I am using a laptop which has windows 7 installed in it. I wanted to test the ubuntu 9.10. So I freed 10 gb of space from my 160 gb hard drive and made it as unallocated space, used a ubuntu 9.10 cd and made it to install on "the largest continuous free space". There were other options such as "install them side by side" and "specify partitions manually(advanced)",which I didn't try. Can you tell me which is the best option for dual booting ubuntu 9.10 over windows 7 so that I get the best performance from ubuntu?

[Sub101]

Can I just confirm a few things with you.

Have you successfully installed and booted into Ubuntu?

Are you able to use Windows 7?

[fireblade007]

yes I have successfully installed ubuntu and I am able to use windows 7 without any problems. As I said, I used the option "install ubuntu on the largest continuous free space". Want to know whether this is the best way to dualboot on windows 7?

[e4uforums]

Yes. The way you have it setup you have two partitions on your hard drive, one for each OS. The only better way I can think it having 2 hard drives - one for each OS. (that's pretty rare in a laptop though)

By choosing "largest continuous free space" you were simply telling the Ubuntu installer to installed to the section of the drive not occupied by Windows 7.

If you can boot into either OS, you should be all set. Have fun!

[Sub101]

To be honest I would think that your installation would be the most effective way.

I would expect the Ubuntu installation will be to the space you freed. If you want to check you can go to System => Admin => Disk Utility in Ubuntu and find out.

[fireblade007]

thank you for your replies.......