Partition for dual linux boot

[Nwwmac]

I am currently running Ubuntu 12.04 and Windows 7 on a 2TB computer. The two OS have about 1T each. I'm considering removing Windows 7 and replacing it with the new Ubuntu based Elementary OS.

You can see the current layout on the attached screen shot.

What would be the best way to do this without harming my existing Ubuntu install? Can I simply delete SDA 1,2 and 3 and then run the Elementary installer and tell it to 'install alongside'?

Ideally, I'd like a separate Home partition. Usually I do the partitioning before running the installer but in this case I'm nervous about breaking the Ubuntu install.

I don't know why SDA 5 and 6 are unknown or why there is unallocated space. I assume these were created when I added the Gnome, KDE and Cinnamon desktops to Ubuntu.

Suggestions welcome!

[oldfred]

I do not think you attached the correct screen shot.

Also post this:

sudo parted /dev/sda unit s print

You also have to keep track of which boot loader is in the MBR, or be prepared to reinstall grub2's boot loader to the MBR if you want it and your new install overwrites it.

[Nwwmac]

How embarrassing. You're right about the screen shot. I'll try again.

[Nwwmac]

I almost missed that second request. Here is the terminal out put.

[oldfred]

I always check after posting a screen shot just to be sure. :) I think it does give a thumbnail when choosing now.

I do not know what is in sda1. That has vendor utilities which usually do not have much utility, but some do have a use. sda2 is the Windows boot and sda3 is your Windows.

We do have users who delete Windows and then realize they have one application or game that they cannot live without. May be best to backup Windows. And be sure to backup any data you have first.

Backup windows before install - post by Mark Phelps
http://ubuntuforums.org/showthread.php?t=2040149
http://ubuntuforums.org/showthread.php?t=1626990
http://www.macrium.com/reflectfree.asp
Another suggestion by srs5694
http://www.runtime.org/driveimage-xml.htm


Most systems including Ubuntu only need 10GB or so if all you want to do is test. You could shrink either Windows or Ubuntu and add other installs. If you shrink Windows you would also have to move extended left into unallocated to make space inside the extended so you can create another logical.

[Nwwmac]

My main machine is an iMac. My little PC is just for playing with, so I'm not worried about backing up Windows 7. I did make CDs for a reinstall if it ever comes to that.

What I'm looking for is the order of the steps I need. Delete the partitions 1-3 first? Will that change the number of the partitions below, and thereby break the Ubuntu install because GRUB will still be looking for the old numbers?

I'm going to give Elementary a long look and I'm willing to give it the 1 TB that windows has now.

I would start by deleting SDA 1-3, then create partitions for swap, system and home. ie. a new SDA 1-3 with different sizes and formats than I have now. Then I'd run the installer and point it to the partitions I made for it. :)

[oldfred]

That should work.

When installing multiple copies of Ubuntu I only use 25GB for / (root) and include /home inside /. But I have all my data in other partitions so whichever install I am in can use the same data. That include my Firefox & Thunderbird profiles in a NTFS partition that I used to share with XP.

You also can share swap unless you hibernate or encrypt /home as then swap is also encrypted.

f
red@fred-Precise:~$ df -h
df: `/root/.gvfs': Permission denied
Filesystem Size Used Avail Use% Mounted on
/dev/sdd3 28G 8.7G 18G 34% /
udev 2.0G 12K 2.0G 1% /dev
tmpfs 790M 1016K 789M 1% /run
none 5.0M 0 5.0M 0% /run/lock
none 2.0G 128K 2.0G 1% /run/shm
/dev/sdc2 100G 32G 68G 33% /mnt/shared
/dev/sdc6 97G 42G 50G 46% /mnt/data
/dev/sda2 74G 50G 21G 72% /mnt/backup
sda & sdb are my old 160GB, sdc is my 650GB & sdd my newer SSD:


fred@fred-Precise:~$ sudo blkid -c /dev/null -o list
device fs_type label mount point UUID
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------
/dev/sda1 ntfs WinXP (not mounted) 04B05B70B05B6768
/dev/sda2 ext3 backup /mnt/backup 13a684e4-2849-4566-9528-21cd07028a9a
/dev/sda4 vfat SHARE (not mounted) 46CD-C9B2
/dev/sdb2 ext4 Maverick (not mounted) 0eea4e95-ea0a-4745-80d4-57bf2bbc9d69
/dev/sdb3 swap (not mounted) 00c4e383-cf30-4b54-9a9f-d46953e3966e
/dev/sdb4 ext4 MavData (not mounted) 431ba9e5-c72c-41c2-ba82-d8ee052336ff
/dev/sdc1 ext3 grub (not mounted) 9e16ad9c-c5f8-4b5a-b2b3-20dfc71a422f
/dev/sdc2 ntfs Shared /mnt/shared 44332FD360AA9657
/dev/sdc4 ext2 bios_gpt (not mounted) bbda6045-bb8a-4666-8bd4-04b3945ca581
/dev/sdc5 ext4 Karmic (not mounted) 117412d5-2dbe-4011-8aec-ae310d1ee6c7
/dev/sdc6 ext3 Data /mnt/data a55e6335-616f-4b10-9923-e963559f2b05
/dev/sdc7 ext4 LUCID (not mounted) 5e25282c-9c54-45df-9e79-514011e98648
/dev/sdc8 ext4 Test (not mounted) af29c61a-34e9-48eb-9c94-afcb4bb61582
/dev/sdc9 vfat OLDG (not mounted) F6A6-705D
/dev/sdc10 ext4 newhome (not mounted) b8a7e331-a716-4ac1-bf58-6ac515606c6d
/dev/sdc11 swap <swap> 09367687-86d1-4fd0-9b81-2787d3196159
/dev/sdc12 ext4 Puppy (not mounted) 07e2a08d-37ca-4cf1-877b-f02b0eabcbca
/dev/sdc13 ext4 natty (not mounted) 318fd41e-4210-4960-a0d9-ee9b48388d69
/dev/sdc14 ext4 kubuntu (not mounted) 0b3034c1-d991-45f5-a7ea-9265125e6b05
/dev/sdc15 swap <swap> 2c05178d-1e0e-4ae8-80e6-a700dc0d6eb9
/dev/sdc16 ext4 oneiric (not mounted) 63d146fd-1c63-4b31-95c5-ab52e2892283
/dev/sdc17 ext4 server (not mounted) 63045773-e42a-46eb-9e96-b93428542527
/dev/sdc18 ext4 (not mounted) 117e0c31-7e16-4e8b-90b7-a3c688a34f26
/dev/sdd1 vfat EFI (not mounted) 7B30-5ACA
/dev/sdd3 ext4 Precise / adc013e9-a23d-4a36-849b-3faeac005667
/dev/sdd4 ext4 Quantal (not mounted) 94e634d0-39fb-4994-a685-8ee34747a240
fred@fred-Precise:~$

[Nwwmac]

I finally got around to installing Elementary OS. It went without a hitch and I am enjoying the new OS very much.

While Ubuntu and E OS are both working fine I was surprised to see that the partition numbers jump from sda1 to sda4. Is this is normal? sda4 is extended and 4+ are inside 4. Only sda1 is a regular partition.

[oldfred]

With MBR(msdos) all primary partitions are sda1 thru sda4. And any one primary can be the extended partition. And logical partitions start with sda5 and you can essentially have an unlimited number of logical partitions.

Also if you delete partitions you may not reorder numbers. It does not matter.

[Nwwmac]

Thanks again. I've got a working computer and I learned something about partitions too.