Don't be so hard on yourself. I wouldn't call it " the windows way to dual boot" because in truth the windows way is to single boot! Are there better ways? Well, better is relative and depends on how you use the computer. Partition schemes is a bit of an art and I think has a lot of personal preference, not really any one 'right' way.
I am assuming
- that you are using the new 1TB drive as the only drive in the computer (and not leaving windows on the old drive and adding the 1TB as a second drive)
- that you use your computer as a home desktop and it is not a server or performs any centralized server functions within your home network.
- that you are installing windows clean from an install disc, not migrating you existing install. (I recently changed my desktop to a new 1TB Seagate drive and used the included software to clone the existing windows form one drive to the other instead of re-installing, so it is possible)
- since you know to ask about partitioning: that you know how create partitions, how to physically install the drive, and how to use the necessary tools to set this up
- that you will only use Mint and you dont want to triple boot and dont intend to be installing other distros to try them out on a regular basis- your install will be Windows and MInt and you intend to stay that way for awhile. (if you do want to try other virtual machines is a better way to go than install anyway)
Here is my suggestion (your mileage may vary)
** Install Windows first. Windows does not play well with others and you'll have less hasel adding linux to windows than the other way around.
Size the windows partition based on your needs. Depends on how much windows software you install on it. You can install windows, then shrink the partition down to size from within windows. But probably better to use the Linux CD and Gparted to create the partition (but not install linux) then install windows to the partition, then install linux on the rest of the drive. Your call based on what you are comfortable with.
You should have a swap partition with a size equal to your RAM. Read Freds post and google. Depending on amount of RAM some people suggest 1.5 time RAM. But if you want to suspend to disc/hibernate you have to have at least as much space as your RAM.
You'll need a root partition to install Mint to. You could have a number of partitions for different parts of the file system (/usr /tmp /var /etc ......) But the reasoning for splitting up the disc into so many separate partitions makes a lot of sense in a server or a multi-user environment, but for a home desktop I prefer (and find it works better) using one partition for the linux OS. This can be about 10-12 GB (and mint requires much less, but as you ad software...) Of course with 1TB to work with you might want to give it more room. Freds post is a little older and references ext3. I think it predates ext4 which is a newer variant. I use ext4.
I do, however, suggest a separate partition for all your data (music, videos, documents, spreadsheets etc) This could be a /home partition or a data partition (same concept but there is a difference in how things work down the road if you only use a data one instead of the entire /home. It is easier to setup as a /home partition.
You need to think about how much you will be moving data between linux and windows. The issue is that while linux can access the windows files, windows cannot open anything in your linux area. There are a few solutions. 1) If you will only use windows very rarely then just let it be. When you need to do something to a file from within windows, use linux to put it in windows, reboot into windows to do the work, then back into linux to pull it out. I do it this way, but again, I seldom go into windows. 2) If you will often work on the same files in both linux and windows, then you can format you /home (or data) partition as FAT or NTFS. Then windows will be able to open it directly. You dont need to move anything, it just open in both OS. But some people would see this as a performance hit as linux file systems have a lot of benefits over the windows one. 3) There is also a hybrid option. Keep the /home partition ext4 but then have another partition for sharing between the two that is FAT or NTFS. Since this isnt holding all your data and is just for moving selected files it doesnt need to be super large.
You mentioned that you want Mint as your primary so I will assume you wont be going into Windows often and just want it around for the occasional program you need to use which means you wont be moving many files between the two
Code: Select all
part(type) Name format size mount point note
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
sda1(primary) Windows NTFS 100-200 GB (depending on what windows needs)
sda2(primary) SWAP linux-swap 2-4 GB (=RAM)
sda3(primary) Mint 9 ext4 15-25 GB mount as /
sda4(extended)
sda5(logical) Home ext4/NTFS 600-800 GB mount as /home (rest of disc)
sda6(logical) Win-Share NTFS 10-20 GB (if you want this- if so then Data is ext4)
Note- this isnt actually code but it helped me set up a table
