Adding Mint Linux to Ubuntu 12.04/Windows7 Dual boot

[zuheyr]

Hello,

I managed to install the Ubuntu 12.04/Windows7 after quite a struggle, mainly thanks to MorisseyJ's post about the b43 firmware...

I want to add, however, Mint Linux Cinamon to this couple but I do not want to destroy what I got real hard.

Would you please care to give your take on this. Thank you very much for reading.

Regards, Zuheyr

[oldfred]

Moved to other OS.

What partitions do you have now and where is the space you want to use? Post gparted screenshot or fdisk output.

Also which boot loader do you want to be in charge or first on menu list? You can only have one grub in the MBR, but either should find all installs and update to let you boot all systems.

sudo fdisk -lu

df -H

[Version Dependency]

One thing you may want to try when dual booting multiple Ubuntu's (and Ubuntu derivatives) is making a partition for your home folder so it can be shared between both.

[zuheyr]

Moved to other OS.

What partitions do you have now and where is the space you want to use? Post gparted screenshot or fdisk output.

Also which boot loader do you want to be in charge or first on menu list? You can only have one grub in the MBR, but either should find all installs and update to let you boot all systems.

sudo fdisk -lu

df -H

Thank you so very much!
This is the gparted image.
http://ubuntuone.com/6t0yzhXoATkdY0qnPwk3BQ

In the first disk I have Ubuntu 11.10 and Windows Vista, both 32.
In the 2nd hard disk, which replaced a recently crashed one, I have 3 primaries: Windows 7, 2 storages ntfs, and an extended which houses the Ubuntu. They are all 64.
I have a 680GB saved unallocated space in the extended partition that I intend to put the mint and the next ubuntu versions...
I installed Windows 7 first in the 2nd disk. Windows 7 found the Vista. Ubuntu 12.04 finds the Windows 7 (but not the Vista...).

zuheyr@zuheyr-Inspiron-530s:~$ sudo fdisk -lu

Disk /dev/sda: 500.1 GB, 500107862016 bytes
255 heads, 63 sectors/track, 60801 cylinders, total 976773168 sectors
Units = sectors of 1 * 512 = 512 bytes
Sector size (logical/physical): 512 bytes / 512 bytes
I/O size (minimum/optimal): 512 bytes / 512 bytes
Disk identifier: 0xe0000000

Device Boot Start End Blocks Id System
/dev/sda1 63 144584 72261 6 FAT16
/dev/sda2 145408 21116927 10485760 7 HPFS/NTFS/exFAT
/dev/sda3 * 21125475 252541799 115708162+ 7 HPFS/NTFS/exFAT
/dev/sda4 252541924 976768064 362113070+ 5 Extended
/dev/sda5 959353605 976768064 8707230 82 Linux swap / Solaris
/dev/sda6 252541926 252814904 136489+ 83 Linux
/dev/sda7 252817408 959352831 353267712 83 Linux

Partition table entries are not in disk order

Disk /dev/sdb: 2000.4 GB, 2000398934016 bytes
255 heads, 63 sectors/track, 243201 cylinders, total 3907029168 sectors
Units = sectors of 1 * 512 = 512 bytes
Sector size (logical/physical): 512 bytes / 4096 bytes
I/O size (minimum/optimal): 4096 bytes / 4096 bytes
Disk identifier: 0x506f0275

Device Boot Start End Blocks Id System
/dev/sdb1 * 2048 524281855 262139904 7 HPFS/NTFS/exFAT
/dev/sdb2 524281856 1153427455 314572800 7 HPFS/NTFS/exFAT
/dev/sdb3 1153427456 1782573055 314572800 7 HPFS/NTFS/exFAT
/dev/sdb4 1782573056 3907026943 1062226944 5 Extended
/dev/sdb5 1782575104 1783623679 524288 83 Linux
/dev/sdb6 1783625728 1825568767 20971520 83 Linux
/dev/sdb7 1825570816 1850736639 12582912 82 Linux swap / Solaris
/dev/sdb8 1850738688 2479884287 314572800 83 Linux
------------------------------------------------------------------------------

And df -H

zuheyr@zuheyr-Inspiron-530s:~$ df -H
Filesystem Size Used Avail Use% Mounted on
/dev/sdb6 22G 3.7G 17G 19% /
udev 2.1G 4.1k 2.1G 1% /dev
tmpfs 828M 902k 827M 1% /run
none 5.3M 0 5.3M 0% /run/lock
none 2.1G 82k 2.1G 1% /run/shm
/dev/sdb5 535M 74M 434M 15% /boot
/dev/sdb8 322G 5.0G 301G 2% /home


Great many thanks again, regards, Zuheyr

[zuheyr]

One thing you may want to try when dual booting multiple Ubuntu's (and Ubuntu derivatives) is making a partition for your home folder so it can be shared between both.

Thank you! Yes this is certainly my intention.
In fact, I also intend to share the swap as well as I invested in a generous swap (please see the gparted image:
http://ubuntuone.com/6t0yzhXoATkdY0qnPwk3BQ

Following a great article on swap I unfortunately cannot recall now and have no time ATM to search for again, I put 3 times the ram (4GB).

And I do not hibernate, so my research indicates sharing the swap will be ok.

Many thanks, Zuheyr.

[oldfred]

With 4GB of RAM swap only needs to be 4GB if hibernating and even less unless planning to edit video, then your really want unlimited RAM anyway.

The old rule on swap being 2 times RAM was when RAM was 256K or 512K. Then with 2GB of RAM or more it became 1 times RAM. Some with over 4GB of RAM have no swap but it usually is better to have at least a little.

Windows combines all boot files from a second install into the first, so there is only one bootable Windows partition. Grub's os-prober then can only find one Windows to boot and then you have to choose which Windows to boot from the Windows menu. If you want to split the boot, you have to separately repair each Windows install so it has its own boot files.

[Paddy Landau]

I don't know the answer to your problem, but I do know that when I want to protect my investment in time (especially with Windows), I back up the entire hard drive. That way, if I make a real screw-up (or my kids put viruses onto Windows), I can just restore.

I use CloneZilla for this. It's not the most user-friendly system around, but it works. You can also try Redo Backup, which is much more user-friendly.

[zuheyr]

With 4GB of RAM swap only needs to be 4GB if hibernating and even less unless planning to edit video, then your really want unlimited RAM anyway.

The old rule on swap being 2 times RAM was when RAM was 256K or 512K. Then with 2GB of RAM or more it became 1 times RAM. Some with over 4GB of RAM have no swap but it usually is better to have at least a little.

Thank you. I tried to find the article I used and read a number of new ones now but you are right. I will reduce it to say 4.5GB max!

On the other hand:
I have added the Mint Linux variants sharing the same swap and the home partitions. Please see the gparted image.

http://ubuntuone.com/6GJIgo56FO2IDYdhitcUIC

Just for the next newbie like myself.
I put the loaders in their /boot partitions and updated the Ubuntu grub after each install. All is fine (despite the same b43 firmware glitch).

Regarding the Windows, yes, no problem, Windows 7 booter located the Vista.

Thank you very much. Best regards, Zuheyr

[zuheyr]

I don't know the answer to your problem, but I do know that when I want to protect my investment in time (especially with Windows), I back up the entire hard drive. That way, if I make a real screw-up (or my kids put viruses onto Windows), I can just restore.

I use CloneZilla for this. It's not the most user-friendly system around, but it works. You can also try Redo Backup, which is much more user-friendly.

Thank you! I did not know these tools. Much appreciated, particularly because I want to learn and making many more mistakes on the way... Thanks very much. Best regards, Zuheyr

[oldfred]

You should not need separate /boot for most desktop installs and you cannot share a /boot.

I do not like to share /home. Those that say you can share the partition are suggesting you use different user names so no settings conflict. But then the data is still in a different location.

I prefer to create data partition(s) with multiple installs and just mount the data partition into each system.

Splitting home directory discussion:
http://ubuntuforums.org/showthread.php?t=1811198
http://ubuntuforums.org/showthread.php?t=1901437
http://ubuntuforums.org/showthread.p...hlight=%2Fdata