Install multiple distros on SSD hints?

[westender]

Hey all,

I dual booted Karmic on my old laptop. I just received my new machine, Envy 17 with a 160 GB SSD and a 640 GB hard drive with Windows 7 pre-installed. I want to multiboot Windows, Maverick and the CAElinux distro, on the SSD I am thinking. I am in the process of searching the forums in regards to partitioning strategies and hints to smooth the installs. If anybody has any tips it would be much appreciated.


Peace,
Mike

[tommcd]

Here is a discussion on journaling file systems (ext3 and ext4) for SSD drives from a linux kernel programmer:
http://thunk.org/tytso/blog/2009/03/01/ssds-journaling-and-noatimerelatime/
The bottom line is that it is ok to use ext3 or ext4 on SSD drives. He recommends adding the noatime boot option to your /etc/fstab file to reduce the extra cost of the journaling file system to the drive.
As for partitioning, I use a separate root partition for each distro that includes the home directory. I then use a /data directory for my data that all 3 of my linux distros share. This way the configuration files in home are kept separated on each distro's root partition and do not conflict with each other.

You may also want to go without a swap partition on the SSD, especially if you have at least 1-2GB memory.
Write back if you need more help.

And welcome to the Ubuntu forums!

[westender]

OK, I went to install from a CD and when the process got to the "Allocate Drive Space" it did not recognize Windows 7 and was going to use ALL of my 160 GB SSD. Trying to figure out how the drives are partitioned and what my next move is.

Here is my RESULTS.txt:


Boot Info Script 0.55 dated February 15th, 2010

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

=> Windows is installed in the MBR of /dev/sda
=> Windows is installed in the MBR of /dev/sdb

sda1: __________________________________________________ _______________________

File system: ntfs
Boot sector type: Windows Vista/7
Boot sector info: No errors found in the Boot Parameter Block.
Operating System:
Boot files/dirs: /bootmgr /Boot/BCD

sda2: __________________________________________________ _______________________

File system: ntfs
Boot sector type: Windows Vista/7
Boot sector info: No errors found in the Boot Parameter Block.
Operating System: Windows 7
Boot files/dirs: /bootmgr /boot/BCD /Windows/System32/winload.exe

sda3: __________________________________________________ _______________________

File system: ntfs
Boot sector type: Windows Vista/7
Boot sector info: No errors found in the Boot Parameter Block.
Operating System:
Boot files/dirs: /bootmgr /boot/bcd

sda4: __________________________________________________ _______________________

File system: vfat
Boot sector type: Vista: Fat 32
Boot sector info: No errors found in the Boot Parameter Block.
Operating System:
Boot files/dirs:

sdb1: __________________________________________________ _______________________

File system: ntfs
Boot sector type: Windows Vista/7
Boot sector info: No errors found in the Boot Parameter Block.
Operating System:
Boot files/dirs:

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

Drive: sda ___________________ __________________________________________________ ___

Disk /dev/sda: 160.0 GB, 160041885696 bytes
255 heads, 63 sectors/track, 19457 cylinders, total 312581808 sectors
Units = sectors of 1 * 512 = 512 bytes
Sector size (logical/physical): 512 bytes / 512 bytes

Partition Boot Start End Size Id System

/dev/sda1 * 2,048 409,599 407,552 7 HPFS/NTFS
/dev/sda2 409,600 266,180,607 265,771,008 7 HPFS/NTFS
/dev/sda3 266,180,608 312,369,151 46,188,544 7 HPFS/NTFS
/dev/sda4 312,369,152 312,579,759 210,608 c W95 FAT32 (LBA)


Drive: sdb ___________________ __________________________________________________ ___

Disk /dev/sdb: 640.1 GB, 640135028736 bytes
255 heads, 63 sectors/track, 77825 cylinders, total 1250263728 sectors
Units = sectors of 1 * 512 = 512 bytes
Sector size (logical/physical): 512 bytes / 512 bytes

Partition Boot Start End Size Id System

/dev/sdb1 2,048 1,250,260,991 1,250,258,944 7 HPFS/NTFS


blkid -c /dev/null: __________________________________________________ __________

Device UUID TYPE LABEL

/dev/loop0 squashfs
/dev/sda1 18381F07381EE392 ntfs SYSTEM
/dev/sda2 9A0C3CBB0C3C93EB ntfs OS
/dev/sda3 884091064090FBDE ntfs RECOVERY
/dev/sda4 4467-13F7 vfat HP_TOOLS
/dev/sda: PTTYPE="dos"
/dev/sdb1 1410138310136ACE ntfs DATA
/dev/sdb: PTTYPE="dos"

============================ "mount | grep ^/dev output: ===========================

Device Mount_Point Type Options

aufs / aufs (rw)
/dev/sr0 /cdrom iso9660 (ro,noatime)
/dev/loop0 /rofs squashfs (ro,noatime)
/dev/sda1 /media/SYSTEM fuseblk (rw,nosuid,nodev,allow_other,blksize=4096,default_ permissions)
/dev/sda2 /media/OS fuseblk (rw,nosuid,nodev,allow_other,blksize=4096,default_ permissions)
/dev/sda4 /media/HP_TOOLS vfat (rw,nosuid,nodev,uhelper=udisks,uid=999,gid=999,sh ortname=mixed,dmask=0077,utf8=1,showexec,flush)

[oldfred]

You have used all 4 primary partitions as primary. You have to delete one primary and convert it to the extended partition to hold all the new logical partitions you want.

Be sure to back up everything you want. If your system lets you write the recovery DVD which will probably only create a new image of the drive as purchased. Also it it lets you create a win7 repair CD. You may need that to repair windows and to run chkdsk if system does not boot at all.

GParted partitioning software - Full tutorial
http://www.dedoimedo.com/computers/gparted.html
Partitioning basics with some info on /data, older but still good
http://ubuntuforums.org/showthread.php?t=282018&highlight=separate+%2Fdata+partition
Screenshots of using gparted
http://www.howtoforge.com/partitioning_with_gparted

Some examples of installs and issues:
http://ubuntuforums.org/showthread.php?t=1622388
http://members.iinet.net.au/~herman546/p22.html (http://members.iinet.net.au/%7Eherman546/p22.html)
Dual drive internal or external
http://members.iinet.net.au/~herman546/p24.html (http://members.iinet.net.au/%7Eherman546/p24.html)

[westender]

Thanks for the info, the machine is brand new and I have the recovery disk so if I muck it up it won't be too painful.

It looks like I will want to delete the sda4 (HP_TOOLS) and create a new extended partition and resize sda2, does that sound right?

[oldfred]

Make a good backup of the tools partition. If you want you can create a new logical partition and copy the tools back into a logical.

Some HP only let you make one DVD recovery disk. Then you have to purchase another even if the first just did not work.

You may need a windows repair CD. It pays to have it as when you do need it of course if is difficult to get. There are available copies on the Internet.

[tommcd]

It looks like I will want to delete the sda4 (HP_TOOLS) and create a new extended partition and resize sda2, does that sound right?
Your /dev/sda4 is not contiguous with /dev/sda2, so if you want to be able to make one large block of unallocated space for Ubuntu, you would need to delete /dev/sda4 and then shrink /dev/sda3 from the end of /dev/sda3. This will create one large block of unallocated space.

If you want two partitions for root and home, then yes, you could delete /dev/sda4 and the create a home partition there when you install Ubuntu. And shrinking /dev/sda2 will allow you to create a root partition in that space.

[westender]

Thanks for the help. I have the recovery disk. Still have a couple of questions:

Is there a big performance improvement if I install Ubuntu to the SSD as opposed to the HD?

I have read that I should use the Windows tool to resize the W7 partitions, is this accurate or can I safely use GParted?

Since I have the recovery disk can I delete the recovery partition?

What about the HP_TOOLS partition, can I move that to the HD or can I/should I create a logical partition in the Windows primary and put it there?

Again, thanks for everyone's help, I will have more questions.

Peace,
Mike

[oldfred]

We do not know what version of gparted you may have, so we normally suggest using windows tools to modify the windows partition, but not to create any new partitions for Linux as that may cause other problems. The newest gparted should be ok, but always reboot windows several times as it will want to run chkdsk after a resize. Do the windows reboots before doing anything else after the windows resize.

Some with SSD brag about 10 to 20 sec boot times where the rest of us have just under a minute depending on your hardware.

If your recovery partition lets you create a repair CD you should do that. If you have problems with windows, you can often repair it rather than do the total erase & reinstall that the recovery disk does. It is my understanding that HP only lets you create one recovery DVD, if that does not work then you have to purchase one from them. So I do not think recovery has much purpose, now. Even then, will you want to totally erase hard drive and restore it to the way it was the day you bought it? All updates and new software would have to be reinstalled and your data copied from your backup.

Are there things you use in the HP tools partition. It is usually small and after you create the extended partition you can create a small partition to copy the tools back, if you want them. Or just keep a good backup so you can reinstall if you need them in the future.

[westender]

Ok, my install went great! No problems, just took my time and made multiple backups, for redundancy. My partitioning probably leaves something to be desired but it works.

Now I just need to customize everything to my liking.

Thanks for all the help!

Mike

Ubuntu 10.10 + Windows 7
Hp Envy 17
i7-720QM
8GB DDR3
17.3" 1920 x 1080 display
1GB ATI Radeon HD5850
160 GB SSD
640 GB 7200RPM HD
Blu-Ray ROM w/ SuperMulti DVD RW Double Layer



Boot Info Script 0.55 dated February 15th, 2010

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

=> Grub 2 is installed in the MBR of /dev/sda and looks on the same drive in
partition #5 for (,msdos5)/boot/grub.
=> Windows is installed in the MBR of /dev/sdb

sda1: __________________________________________________ _______________________

File system: ntfs
Boot sector type: Windows Vista/7
Boot sector info: No errors found in the Boot Parameter Block.
Operating System:
Boot files/dirs: /bootmgr /Boot/BCD

sda2: __________________________________________________ _______________________

File system: ntfs
Boot sector type: Windows Vista/7
Boot sector info: No errors found in the Boot Parameter Block.
Operating System: Windows 7
Boot files/dirs: /bootmgr /boot/BCD /Windows/System32/winload.exe

sda3: __________________________________________________ _______________________

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

sda5: __________________________________________________ _______________________

File system: ext4
Boot sector type: -
Boot sector info:
Operating System: Ubuntu 10.10
Boot files/dirs: /boot/grub/grub.cfg /etc/fstab /boot/grub/core.img

sda6: __________________________________________________ _______________________

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

sdb1: __________________________________________________ _______________________

File system: ntfs
Boot sector type: Windows Vista/7
Boot sector info: No errors found in the Boot Parameter Block.
Operating System:
Boot files/dirs:

sdb2: __________________________________________________ _______________________

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

[oldfred]

Glad it is working.

For future reference, since you mentioned you may be interested in multiple installs.

I had just windows & root & swap for Ubuntu for several years. I quickly added a NTFS shared partition, so I could have the same bookmarks and emails by sharing Firefox & Thunderbird profiles.

But now that I am in Ubuntu almost all the time, prefer clean installs, and multiple root partitions so I keep my old install while converting to the new install and then another root or two for testing. I then find a /data partition is worthwhile as I can then mount that into each install and have the same data like I do with my shared NTFS partition. I still have not converted the Firefox & Thunderbird from the NTFS to my /Data, but do not use my XP enough that it matters.

Partitioning basics with some info on /data, older but still good
http://ubuntuforums.org/showthread.php?t=282018&highlight=separate+%2Fdata+partition

[westender]

I re-partitioned the HD, sdb, into an NTFS and an ext4, where I put /home. I figure I can put anything that I want accessible to any system in the NFTS. I, too, see spending the vast majority of my time in Ubuntu so I might change things up. All-in-all things are running smooth, still tweaking my desktop and things.

Peace,
Mike

[efflandt]

If your SSD supports TRIM and you are using ext4 file system with 2.6.33 or newer kernel, you can enable TRIM in Linux using discard option in /etc/fstab. Although, I disabled the ext4 journal using sudo tune2fs -O ^has_journal /dev/sdb1 (the option is capital -O, substitute your SSD partition for /dev/sdb1). My PC is on a UPS, but even without that, power failure or system lockup never caused me any problems long before Linux had journaling.

If you have enough RAM, you can also use tmpfs for /tmp (like iso on USB does).


# <file system> <mount point> <type> <options> <dump> <pass>
proc /proc proc nodev,noexec,nosuid 0 0
# / was on /dev/sdb1 during installation
UUID=e70810eb-379d-4f9f-9087-54c2f1cd96f9 / ext4 noatime,discard,errors=remount-ro 0 1
tmpfs /tmp tmpfs nodev,nosuid 0 0