Considerations before you install

[plevans]

I forgot to mention that I have had a little bit of previous experience w/Linux. I first installed Ubuntu to dual-boot w/Windows and GRUB worked fine. After reformatting the partition that Ubuntu was on I was unable to boot into Windows, but fixed that by restoring the MBR from a backup. So having been there, done that once I think I'd like to go for a full install. I'd like to see how Mint performs without being slowed down by running on a virtual hard drive.

Slow performance is just *one* of the issues w/Vista that started me on my search for another os. It actually began w/ Vista not playing happily w/AVG Antivrus and refusing to download virus definition updates (and forgetting to tell me). After getting infected w/3 viruses and several malwares, then spending 2 full days cleaning it up, Vista runs *sloow* and programs hang up.

So in light of that can you see any reason why I shouldn't do a full install? At this point I'm so disgusted w/Vista that I (almost) don't care if I can't boot into it.

[shane]

My concern was that you would not be able to boot because of Grub issues... but if you have done it with Ubuntu, it should work fine in Mint as well. So, I see no reason for holding back on installing to disk. Go for it!

[plevans]

Thanks Shane, I think I will.

Do I need to use a partitioning program to set up the partitions for Linux from Windows? When I installed Ubuntu it gave me the default option or specifying the partitions manually. Does Mint install do the same thing?

[shane]

The installer in Mint is identical to the Ubuntu installer. Do your partitioning in the installer... using the manual partitioning tool. It is easy to use. Create separate / and /home partitions as described by Fred above. The default option will create only one partition which is the simplest way but makes reinstalling (if required) or upgrading more of a hassle.

[plevans]

Thanks so much to everyone for your advice. I'll let you know how it turns out.

Patti

[plevans]

I'm at the Prepare Partitions portion of my install and need to create a new partition for Mint in my hd's free space (with existing Win Vista on /dev/sda1. Should this be a Primary or Logical partition?

[Fred]

plevans,

Well, hopefully you will be within the extended partition and can make logical partitions. You don't have enough primary partitions to cover everything. Read the post I referenced below to better understand the limits on partitioning.

viewtopic.php?f=90&t=24659&p=144139&hilit=Fred+extended#p144139

Fred

[plevans]

I'm confused about what to do at this point.The Prepare Partitions screen shows:

/dev/sda:
/dev/sda1 -- ntfs -- (Win Vista)
free space -- 220GB
/dev/sda5 -- ntfs -- (my Vista data files)
/dev/sda3 -- ntfs -- 6GB (Vista Recovery files)

It's the free space I'll be partitioning and am confused about. With free space highlighted I am given one option, which is New Partition. That brings up Create A New Partition window where I must select Primary or Logical.

To accomplish this layout:
swap ----Formatted as swap -----2GB
/ ----------Formatted as ext3 ------12GB
/home ----------Formatted as ext3 ------10GB
...do I first create swap area partition? If so should it be logical or primary.

[Fred]

plevans,

From the live CD desktop, look in the menu and open a program called "gparted." It is a partitioning tool. Post a screen shot of the partition table for this drive so I can see what you actually have there.

Fred

[plevans]

I figured out how to take the screenshot and saved it to the desktop. Now how do I post it?

[shane]

Use an image hosting service like imageshack.us... post it there and paste the link or embed it in the forum.

[plevans]

http://tinyurl.com/c75yak

[Fred]

plevans,

Good, we are in luck, make all the partitions logical. swap, /, and /home, as was suggested earlier.

Fred

[plevans]

Thanks Fred and shane. I'll let you know how it turns out.

Patti

[plevans]

The install worked great! There were some issues with GRUB at first.To boot into Mint I had to go to Windows Boot Menu (Mint was not given as an option) then exit, which started GRUB and from there both os were visible. Once I installed all the Mint updates this problem was solved.

Now I just need to learn my way around Linux.

Thanks so much for this informative thread and all the help everyone gave me.

Patti
Still hoping to become a former Windows user

[Milutin]

Is it posible to upgrade the mint 6 to mint 7 or it has to be new installation?

[dlkreations]

Is it posible to upgrade the mint 6 to mint 7 or it has to be new installation?

You will need to do a new install, which is best anyway, even if you were using a vanilla Ubuntu install. I'm sure a lot of people will say no to this, but I will stick to my guns here. Plus this has been asked before in another thread.

[shane]

If you follow this thread's suggestions and install with a separate /home partition... a reinstall is the best option... less to download... quicker... and cleaner.

[markfiend]

A question about the swap partition:

Fred recommends putting the swap partition first, as it's faster that way.

Yet on the default installation partition setup, the swap partition is last. I was just wondering why that's the case?

Oh and a hint, if you're moving your partitions around post-installation, with GParted on the liveCD, beware that it can take a LONG time! Like several HOURS!

[big_dog1968]

I am pretty sure I asked this question before on this or some other forum, but how do you make it so your NTFS partitions have the ability to move files to trash when you delete instead of just permanently deleting them? I know it has something to do with creating a .trash1000 folder, and something added to fstab, but not sure what/how. I had it working before, but forgot to copy fstab so I could set it up again when I installed the latest version.