The only problem I can see with your idea is the fact that you are only allowed 1 extended partition and 3 primary partitions or 4 primary partitions and 0 extended per hard disk.
A better option would be to install Mint in new logical partitions in the existing extended partition. With your present scheme you can create up to 9 logical partitions within the extended partition (a grand total of 15 partitions are allowed)
You also don't need a second swap partition. All Linux distros on one drive can use the same swap space.
Co-existing with ubuntu. Multiple boot[SOLVED]
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Re: Co-existing with ubuntu. Multiple boot
Last edited by LockBot on Wed Dec 28, 2022 7:16 am, edited 1 time in total.
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Re: Co-existing with ubuntu. Multiple boot
EDIT: Aging Technogeek beat me to it again.
Hi tim, and welcome to linuxmint. If you're only asking about the boot menu, you don't need to worry, Mint will (by default) load it's own (very nice) bootloader into the MBR, and will automatically add entries for any existing oses. One thing concerns me with your suggested setup:
Second, I may be wrong as it's a while since I tried it, but I don't think you can have two extended partitions on the same drive, so you wouldn't be able to have those logical partitions you want.
I would suggest a complete re-start with the partitioning, keeping only the (XP?) partition 1 as it is. Let the extended partition fill the rest of the drive, then you can add or remove logical partitions at will. Btw, there may be a way to extend the extended partition leftwards into empty space after deleting partitions 2 or 3, but if there is I don't know of it.
Also, which partition is ubuntu in, because you really don't need more than 10GB for / if you keep your data separate, and both your ext3 partitions are huge.
I always recommend a separate data partition, rather than a separate /home partition. This allows you to get away with only a single 10GB partition per distro, swap, and a large data partition that you can use with all distros, and you can even make it usable transparently. The downside of this method is if you need to re-install for whatever reason, you lose all your custom configuration, which can be substantial, but I solved this problem by backing up my important /home config files.
Fred seems to be the expert on all things boot/partitioning around here, so read some of his posts for thorough guides.
Hi tim, and welcome to linuxmint. If you're only asking about the boot menu, you don't need to worry, Mint will (by default) load it's own (very nice) bootloader into the MBR, and will automatically add entries for any existing oses. One thing concerns me with your suggested setup:
Firstly, I don't know of any real reason to have two swap partitions on the same drive, so just let mint use the existing one.tim042849 wrote:My intention is to install mint on partition 2, with logical partitions for / , /home and swap.
Second, I may be wrong as it's a while since I tried it, but I don't think you can have two extended partitions on the same drive, so you wouldn't be able to have those logical partitions you want.
I would suggest a complete re-start with the partitioning, keeping only the (XP?) partition 1 as it is. Let the extended partition fill the rest of the drive, then you can add or remove logical partitions at will. Btw, there may be a way to extend the extended partition leftwards into empty space after deleting partitions 2 or 3, but if there is I don't know of it.
Also, which partition is ubuntu in, because you really don't need more than 10GB for / if you keep your data separate, and both your ext3 partitions are huge.
I always recommend a separate data partition, rather than a separate /home partition. This allows you to get away with only a single 10GB partition per distro, swap, and a large data partition that you can use with all distros, and you can even make it usable transparently. The downside of this method is if you need to re-install for whatever reason, you lose all your custom configuration, which can be substantial, but I solved this problem by backing up my important /home config files.
Fred seems to be the expert on all things boot/partitioning around here, so read some of his posts for thorough guides.
Re: Co-existing with ubuntu. Multiple boot
Another option is to shrink your NTFS partition a bit, extend the extended (excuse the pun ) into the new space, move things around within the extended partition to allow room for new ext3(s). A bit much, but it can be done. If you choose this path, do the defrag thinger on the NTFS and do 1 operation at a time within GParted. You may also have to re-identify existing fstab entries.
As a side note, for the GRUB issue, you can always set up a dedicated GRUB partition which would resolve the shifting GRUBs at installation of new Lx ops.
-DataMan
As a side note, for the GRUB issue, you can always set up a dedicated GRUB partition which would resolve the shifting GRUBs at installation of new Lx ops.
-DataMan
Re: Co-existing with ubuntu. Multiple boot
Hey! I said it firstDataMan wrote:extend the extended (excuse the pun )
tim, my previous suggestion would indeed have completely wiped out your ubuntu partition (though there have been reports that if you recreated the partitions in exactly the same place, it would work, it's far too risky to bother). Ok, so now we know much more about your setup, there's a couple of solutions. The absolute safest and practically guaranteed to work is:
1) shrink partition 6 (ubuntu root) to 10GB
2) install mint using whatever logicals you like into the remaining 30GB space
The other one, which I would have thought should work, but have never tried:
1) delete partitions 1&2 (so backup anything you need)
2) extend the extended to fill the space (this is what would fail if anything was to, but it would just raise an error, it wouldn't be damaging)
3) install mint using whatever logicals you like into the new 177GB space (you might also want to restore the contents of 2 you backed up earlier, so allow for that)
Re: Co-existing with ubuntu. Multiple boot
How about copying your Ubuntu partitions (and any others you might want to keep) over to a spare drive, then re-partitioning the original drive like you want it, then copying Ubuntu back over? I've done something like that a few times when I wanted to go to a new partition scheme. Used GParted to make the copies. Currently, I've got two drives, with Debian Lenny on sda1 and sda3, Mepis 8 on sdb1 and sdb3, Mint Elyssa on sdb7 and sdb8, Ubuntu Hardy on sdb9 and sdb10. The rest are data or swap partitions. Note the relatively small hard drives I'm using:
Code: Select all
Disk /dev/sda: 40.0GB
Sector size (logical/physical): 512B/512B
Partition Table: msdos
Number Start End Size Type File system Flags
1 419MB 7756MB 7337MB primary ext3 boot
2 7756MB 8291MB 535MB primary linux-swap
3 8291MB 13.5GB 5240MB primary ext3
4 13.5GB 38.7GB 25.2GB extended
5 13.5GB 24.0GB 10.5GB logical ext3
6 24.0GB 38.7GB 14.7GB logical ext3
Disk /dev/sdb: 80.0GB
Sector size (logical/physical): 512B/512B
Partition Table: msdos
Number Start End Size Type File system Flags
1 32.3kB 7337MB 7337MB primary ext3
2 7337MB 8382MB 1045MB primary linux-swap
3 8382MB 13.6GB 5240MB primary ext3
4 13.6GB 70.8GB 57.1GB extended
5 13.6GB 18.9GB 5239MB logical ext3
6 18.9GB 34.6GB 15.7GB logical ext3
7 34.6GB 41.9GB 7337MB logical ext3
8 41.9GB 47.2GB 5248MB logical ext3
9 47.2GB 53.5GB 6292MB logical ext3 boot
10 53.5GB 56.6GB 3142MB logical ext3
11 56.6GB 70.8GB 14.2GB logical ext3
Re: Co-existing with ubuntu. Multiple boot
tim: earlier you said that partition 6 was ubuntu root, no worries, just follow the same instructions with 5 instead, as you suggest.
Re: Co-existing with ubuntu. Multiple boot
Looks like you've found a good solution to your problem. The scheme you outline should work just fine. If you are interested in learning more about installation and partitioning, you can read this thread: http://forums.linuxmint.com/viewtopic.php?f=90&t=11872. It has some very good information in it.