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nickjbanks
March 18th, 2011, 04:27 PM
I want to set my laptop up for dual boot in Windows7 and Ubuntu. I could do with some help or pointing to a good on-line guide. I'm putting a new HDD in at the same time so I can set it up in any order. The plan is to have a partition for Ubuntu, one for windows and and larger one for documents/music/pisc/etc.

Should I partition it first using a usb caddy? If so what sizes would be good, its a 320Gb HDD but I want a lot of space for docs etc?

What goes on first Ubuntu or Windows?

Megaptera
March 18th, 2011, 05:24 PM
Here's some basic reading to get you started. The version of Ubuntu in this one is an old one (colours give it away) but the process is the same in 10.04 http://www.howtogeek.com/howto/9059/dual-boot-your-pre-installed-windows-7-computer-with-ubuntu/

Some basic partitioning info http://www.linuxbsdos.com/2010/05/26/manual-disk-partitioning-guide-for-linux-mint-9-and-ubuntu-10-04/

Scheme for sharing data 'tween Windows and Ubuntu http://www.howtogeek.com/howto/35807/how-to-harmonize-your-dual-boot-setup-for-windows-and-ubuntu/
I'm sure others will post advice & help too.
Installing Windows and then Ubuntu is easier 'cos Ubuntu's grub (boot) will find Windows whereas the other way round is still possible but requires a bit more setting up. As you've got the choice I'd suggest Windows first then Ubuntu.

Dutch70
March 18th, 2011, 05:41 PM
I want to set my laptop up for dual boot in Windows7 and Ubuntu. I could do with some help or pointing to a good on-line guide. I'm putting a new HDD in at the same time so I can set it up in any order. The plan is to have a partition for Ubuntu, one for windows and and larger one for documents/music/pisc/etc.

Should I partition it first using a usb caddy? If so what sizes would be good, its a 320Gb HDD but I want a lot of space for docs etc?

What goes on first Ubuntu or Windows?

Install windows first. It will take the entire drive. Then go into windows disk management tool & shrink windows to the size you want it.

From there, you'll be doing everything else from Ubuntu. First download the live cd/usb. A usb stick is easier & faster if you have one. You can get everything you need here...
http://www.ubuntu.com/desktop/get-ubuntu/download (http://www.ubuntu.com/desktop/get-ubuntu/download)
Alternatively, you can use Unetbooting to create the usb stick.
http://unetbootin.sourceforge.net/ (http://unetbootin.sourceforge.net/)

Boot into the live cd/usb. Choose "Try Ubuntu" to make sure it will work well with your hardware. Then Open Gparted & use the unallocated space to create an extended partition. You'll want to create at least 2 partitions. One for Swap equal to the size of your RAM. The rest for Ubuntu itself. Format it to ext4.

ps. You can also make a separate /home partition. If you do, then make the partition for the Ubuntu system 10-20GB leave the rest for /home which is equal to documents & settings in windows.

Everything for Ubuntu will be logical partitions inside the extended partition.

I couldn't seem to find the how to I was looking for, maybe someone else will have a better one. These may come in handy though.
https://help.ubuntu.com/community/WindowsDualBoot (https://help.ubuntu.com/community/WindowsDualBoot)
http://lifehacker.com/#!5403100/dual+boot-windows-7-and-ubuntu-in-perfect-harmony (http://lifehacker.com/#!5403100/dual+boot-windows-7-and-ubuntu-in-perfect-harmony)