(Solved) Dual Boot Julia/ LMDE.Best Partition Scheme

Archived topics about LMDE 1 and LMDE 2
Dave68

(Solved) Dual Boot Julia/ LMDE.Best Partition Scheme

Post by Dave68 »

I'm a little leary of LMDE, but I want to determine the best Partitioning Scheme.

Seeley had been helping me, and the intial thread was here:

http://forums.linuxmint.com/viewtopic.p ... 9&start=20

Results of fdisk -l

Code: Select all

drash-admin@drash-admin-DM051 ~ $ sudo fdisk -l
[sudo] password for drash-admin: 

Disk /dev/sda: 80.0 GB, 80000000000 bytes
255 heads, 63 sectors/track, 9726 cylinders
Units = cylinders of 16065 * 512 = 8225280 bytes
Sector size (logical/physical): 512 bytes / 512 bytes
I/O size (minimum/optimal): 512 bytes / 512 bytes
Disk identifier: 0x000869a6

   Device Boot      Start         End      Blocks   Id  System
/dev/sda1               1         268     2152678+  82  Linux swap / Solaris
/dev/sda2   *         269        1836    12594960   83  Linux
/dev/sda3            1837        7956    49151978   83  Linux
/dev/sda4            7956        9726    14224384   83  Linux

Disk /dev/sdb: 1000.2 GB, 1000204886016 bytes
255 heads, 63 sectors/track, 121601 cylinders
Units = cylinders of 16065 * 512 = 8225280 bytes
Sector size (logical/physical): 512 bytes / 512 bytesI/O size (minimum/optimal): 512 bytes / 512 bytes
Disk identifier: 0x000f13d1

   Device Boot      Start         End      Blocks   Id  System
/dev/sdb1               1      121601   976760001    7  HPFS/NTFS
drash-admin@drash-admin-DM051 ~ $
Results of parted -l print:

Code: Select all

drash-admin@drash-admin-DM051 ~ $ sudo parted -l print
Model: ATA ST3808110AS (scsi)
Disk /dev/sda: 80.0GB
Sector size (logical/physical): 512B/512B
Partition Table: msdos

Number  Start   End     Size    Type     File system     Flags
 1      32.3kB  2204MB  2204MB  primary  linux-swap(v1)
 2      2204MB  15.1GB  12.9GB  primary  ext4            boot
 3      15.1GB  65.4GB  50.3GB  primary  ext4
 4      65.4GB  80.0GB  14.6GB  primary  ext4


Model: Seagate FreeAgent (scsi)
Disk /dev/sdb: 1000GB
Sector size (logical/physical): 512B/512B
Partition Table: msdos

Number  Start   End     Size    Type     File system  Flags
 1      32.3kB  1000GB  1000GB  primary  ntfs


drash-admin@drash-admin-DM051 ~ $
Effective this morning, Peppermint One is on sda2 and Julia Main is on sda4. I would like to install LMDE into sda2 and remove Peppermint One to complete this process.

Verification Please,
Dave
Last edited by LockBot on Wed Dec 28, 2022 7:16 am, edited 2 times in total.
Reason: Topic automatically closed 6 months after creation. New replies are no longer allowed.
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rivenathos
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Re: Dual Boot Julia/ LMDE. Best Partition Scheme

Post by rivenathos »

No need to be leery of LMDE at this point. I have a 64-bit and 32-bit install running smoothly on two different machines.
Current hardware: a Dell OptiPlex 3010 desktop, a Dell Inspiron 531 desktop, and a Dell Inspiron 1545 laptop.
Current OS: LMDE 3
seeley

Re: Dual Boot Julia/ LMDE. Best Partition Scheme

Post by seeley »

Hi Dave!
1. What about your 1000 GB sdb - is it internal or USB?
2. To be on a save way, you should copy the following command (I found it on "ubuntuusers.de" and name it "findGRUB") into a Terminal and post the whole output:

Code: Select all

sudo fdisk -l 2>/dev/null | egrep "Disk /|/dev/" | sed "s#^/dev/#Part /dev/#" | awk '{print $2}' | sed 's/://' | xargs -n1 -IX sudo sh -c "hexdump -v -s 0x80 -n  2 -e '2/1 \"%x\" \"\\n\"' X | xargs -n1 -IY sh -c \"case  \"Y\" in '48b4') echo X: GRUB 2 v1.96 ;; 'aa75' | '5272') echo X: GRUB Legacy ;; '7c3c') echo X: GRUB 2 v1.97 or higher ;; *) echo X: No GRUB Y ;; esac\""
3. The main problem is, that you have 4 primary partitions and sda2 has a boot flag. 4 primary partitions was no good idea - why did you do that?
Better: 3 primary partitions and 1 extended as container for several logical partitions, e.g. root, home and swap!. It would be possible, to reorganize the partitions, but it would be a long way with risks - you had to save all data before doing that.
seeley
wayne128

Re: Dual Boot Julia/ LMDE. Best Partition Scheme

Post by wayne128 »

I see that you have more than two distros in your list.
Also as time goes, you might change...if that applied then perhaps plan ahead for some play.
you current 4 primary partitions limit you on explore Linux much further.

I have a 80G hard disk in my old laptop, I played , learned and allow breaking often on distros as the way to learn. So instead of just partition for dual boot, I multi boot so that at one time I have two of my choice distros on two partitions and the rest of space I cater for play on new release, new distros, or learn something new without breaking the two choice distros.
Your current two choices are LMDE and Julia.
With that my scheme, not the best, just my method, would be:

1. sda1, Primary, 15G, first choice, master boot loader that you know how to deal with MBR repair.
2. sda2, Primary, 15G, second choice
3. sda3, Primary , 2G, Swap, shared by all Linux OSes
4. sda4, Extended, container for the rest of disk space
5. sda5, Logical, 10G, for trial run on revision of first choice, or play with new distros
6. sda6, Logical, 10G, for trial run on revision of second choice, or play with new distros
7. sda7, Logical, 10G, for play
8. sda8, Logical, rest of space, keep some important data, sync with external USB drives.
wayne128

Re: Dual Boot Julia/ LMDE. Best Partition Scheme

Post by wayne128 »

delete this as not relevant
Last edited by wayne128 on Sat Jan 08, 2011 2:56 am, edited 1 time in total.
drdavidk

Re: Dual Boot Julia/ LMDE. Best Partition Scheme

Post by drdavidk »

I'm a distro-hopper, so I have five partitions, plus a swap: two for LMDE-64 (one root, one home), which is very stable, two for experimenting (again, one root, one home), and a fifth which is my data partition (music, documents, etc.) in Fat32 so that I don't have to deal with permissions problems between various distros (especially between Fedora and Debian-based distros). Separating home from root means not overwriting the settings in my home directory every time I do a fresh install.
Dave68

Re: Dual Boot Julia/ LMDE. Best Partition Scheme

Post by Dave68 »

1. What about your 1000 GB sdb - is it internal or USB?
It is an External, connected via USB Port.
3. The main problem is, that you have 4 primary partitions and sda2 has a boot flag. 4 primary partitions was no good idea - why did you do that?
I guess the only answer I can give you on that one, is that I really didn't know any better.

The installs are pretty fresh, and all of my /home is on a different Partion which can be easily backed up to sdb (data), and unplugged. sda1 is my swap (2GB I believe (swap=RAM x 2 theory posted by Fred)).

I have no problem with creating a new Partition Table with GParted, and wiping sda completely. Fresh installs are not so bad. :lol: (Most of the time.)

I just like to be able to run 2 OSes. I play with one, and funtion in the other. That's why I would like to install LMDE. It would be my play one, and increase my limited, Linux Knowledge.

I kind of like to tinker. :lol:

Does This Help,
Dave
Last edited by Dave68 on Fri Jan 07, 2011 12:55 pm, edited 1 time in total.
seeley

Re: Dual Boot Julia/ LMDE. Best Partition Scheme

Post by seeley »

Hi Dave!
After having read all your post (again): there is a discrepancy. Do I understand you, that you now want to install LMDE in sda2 (former Isadora) and keep your Julia?
To make no fault: which Mint did you install first (Isadora with GRUB"2" into MBR of the first hd, /dev/sda)?
If yes + yes are the answers, then it's no problem to install LMDE: see my HOWTO (written for 32 bit, but it works for 64 too):
instead of sda8 take sda2 and boot loader device sda (not sda1 or sda2...).
You can do all steps until "review", take a screenshot and QUIT without consequences and report with attachment.
If I say "okay", you can install LMDE.
seeley

Edit:
As I wrote this reply, your last answer yet was not published.
Dave68

Re: Dual Boot Julia/ LMDE. Best Partition Scheme

Post by Dave68 »

To make no fault: which Mint did you install first (Isadora with GRUB"2" into MBR of the first hd, /dev/sda)?
Isadora went in first, then later I installed Julia.

As of yesterday morning, I overwrote Isadora with Peppermint One for the time being. Regardless, LMDE will be going in to sda2 if I keep the current format, and then last night, I reinstalled Julia, still in sda4.

Like I said earlier, I like to tinker. :oops:

It will be a couple of days before I can get back to this. Monday night I would imagine.

Thanks Again,
Dave
Last edited by Dave68 on Fri Jan 07, 2011 1:17 pm, edited 1 time in total.
seeley

Re: Dual Boot Julia/ LMDE. Best Partition Scheme

Post by seeley »

Hi Dave!
Why hold and wait?
You can QUIT at "review"!
seeley
Dave68

Re: Dual Boot Julia/ LMDE. Best Partition Scheme

Post by Dave68 »

Slow day at the office for you too huh?

Tonight is Anniversary Dinner with the wife, then weekend quality time with the kids (not to mention the Honey Do's).

I'm not on my home PC, the one I'm currently using at work is Windows, and IT keeps us locked out of the fun stuff.

I'm pretty confident that I can make this happen, but I will have to wait until Monday evening before I can proceed. (Wife will shoot me if I neglect her. :roll: )

Thanks,
Dave
seeley

Re: Dual Boot Julia/ LMDE. Best Partition Scheme

Post by seeley »

Hi Dave!
Congratulate your wife and you - have fun!
Till Monday or so - with good news, I hope.
seeley
willie42
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Re: Dual Boot Julia/ LMDE. Best Partition Scheme

Post by willie42 »

Dave68 wrote:Slow day at the office for you too huh?

Tonight is Anniversary Dinner with the wife, then weekend quality time with the kids (not to mention the Honey Do's).

I'm not on my home PC, the one I'm currently using at work is Windows, and IT keeps us locked out of the fun stuff.

I'm pretty confident that I can make this happen, but I will have to wait until Monday evening before I can proceed. (Wife will shoot me if I neglect her. :roll: )

Thanks,
Dave
we dont want that now Dave.....that would not be healthy for you to let the wifey shoot you. Have fun :lol:
Comptia A+ Certified Technician
Comptia Network + Certified Technician
You can not have Success without Failures.
Dave68

Re: Dual Boot Julia/ LMDE. Best Partition Scheme

Post by Dave68 »

Surprise! She told me it would be alright.

She wants something I'm sure. LOL

Thanks Fella's,
Dave
willie42
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Re: Dual Boot Julia/ LMDE. Best Partition Scheme

Post by willie42 »

Good to see you on and still alive Dave :D
Comptia A+ Certified Technician
Comptia Network + Certified Technician
You can not have Success without Failures.
Dave68

Re: Dual Boot Julia/ LMDE. Best Partition Scheme

Post by Dave68 »

After reviewing Seeley's Tutorial, the process doesn't seem any different that what I've done in the past. When I installed Isadora LXDE on my son's Desktop, GParted wasn't included in the LiveCD, so I used the installer with the Advanced Partitioning Option to re-format the drive, and create the necessary Partitions.

2GB for swap
12-14GB for \
20GB for \home

I have been nervous about LMDE because of the variance between the Main Edition. I do however, need to figure out the best way to Partition my PC because I like to play with one, and use the other as my Main OS.

Seeley spoke of 3 Primaries, an extended and additional logicals. I've always used Primaries as I generally run no more than 2 Mint Versions at any given time. I have never created a /boot Partition, but it appears this is the better option if running multiple distro's.

Thanks Guys,
Dave

*Note: I may be marking this (Solved) within the very near future. I want to set my Partitions first, and verify them.

Here's the Plan:

Primary Partition 1 - ext2 - boot - 500MB
Primary Partition 2 - linux-swap - swap - 2.15GB
Extended Partition - 71.87GB
Logical Partition - ext4 - distro1 - 12.21GB
Logical Partition - ext4 - home - 46.88GB
Logical Partition - ext4 - distro2 - 12.78GB

I'll send outputs for:

Code: Select all

sudo fdisk -l
and

Code: Select all

sudo parted -l print
upon completion.

I'm pretty comfortable with this, but am willing to adapt if this doesn't hit the gist of it.
Dave68

Re: Dual Boot Julia/ LMDE. Best Partition Scheme

Post by Dave68 »

Okay Gentlemen. Here are my outputs for:
sudo fdisk -l

Code: Select all

drash-admin@drash-admin-DM051 ~ $ sudo fdisk -l
[sudo] password for drash-admin: 

Disk /dev/sda: 80.0 GB, 80000000000 bytes
255 heads, 63 sectors/track, 9726 cylinders
Units = cylinders of 16065 * 512 = 8225280 bytes
Sector size (logical/physical): 512 bytes / 512 bytes
I/O size (minimum/optimal): 512 bytes / 512 bytes
Disk identifier: 0x000abf5a

   Device Boot      Start         End      Blocks   Id  System
/dev/sda1   *           1          61      487424   83  Linux
Partition 1 does not end on cylinder boundary.
/dev/sda2              61         317     2051072   82  Linux swap / Solaris
Partition 2 does not end on cylinder boundary.
/dev/sda3             317        7867    60643329    5  Extended
/dev/sda5             317        1788    11814912   83  Linux
/dev/sda6            1788        7867    48827392   83  Linux

Disk /dev/sdb: 1000.2 GB, 1000204886016 bytes
255 heads, 63 sectors/track, 121601 cylinders
Units = cylinders of 16065 * 512 = 8225280 bytes
Sector size (logical/physical): 512 bytes / 512 bytes
I/O size (minimum/optimal): 512 bytes / 512 bytes
Disk identifier: 0x000f13d1

   Device Boot      Start         End      Blocks   Id  System
/dev/sdb1               1      121601   976760001    7  HPFS/NTFS
drash-admin@drash-admin-DM051 ~ $
and sudo parted -l print

Code: Select all

drash-admin@drash-admin-DM051 ~ $ sudo parted -l print
Model: ATA ST3808110AS (scsi)
Disk /dev/sda: 80.0GB
Sector size (logical/physical): 512B/512B
Partition Table: msdos

Number  Start   End     Size    Type      File system     Flags
 1      1049kB  500MB   499MB   primary   ext2            boot
 2      500MB   2600MB  2100MB  primary   linux-swap(v1)
 3      2602MB  64.7GB  62.1GB  extended
 5      2602MB  14.7GB  12.1GB  logical   ext4
 6      14.7GB  64.7GB  50.0GB  logical   ext4


Model: Seagate FreeAgent (scsi)
Disk /dev/sdb: 1000GB
Sector size (logical/physical): 512B/512B
Partition Table: msdos

Number  Start   End     Size    Type     File system  Flags
 1      32.3kB  1000GB  1000GB  primary  ntfs


drash-admin@drash-admin-DM051 ~ $ 
Thank You,
Dave
seeley

Re: Dual Boot Julia/ LMDE. Best Partition Scheme

Post by seeley »

Hi!
My only experience with an own boot partition I made some years ago with Fedora, where it was recommended. But I guess it's not necessary.
@ Dave:
You did not realise your plan (home partition) - why? LMDE is a rolling distribution, you don't need an own home, but other Mint distris are no rolling distris, so I would
create a home partition - as you planed - for those.
seeley
Dave68

Re: Dual Boot Julia/ LMDE. Best Partition Scheme

Post by Dave68 »

@seeley,

Partition 6 is /home partition. 50GB

I left about 15GB of free space at the end.

Unless I'm Missing Something,
Dave
drdavidk

Re: Dual Boot Julia/ LMDE. Best Partition Scheme

Post by drdavidk »

I'd be concerned about using the same /home directory/device for two different distros, as the settings for one might be (and often are) different for another distro. Even though you don't need a separate /home for LMDE, since it's a rolling distro, you hop around a lot, and may not keep LMDE, so you're better off creating two separate /home partitions. Otherwise your scheme looked good. Why keep an empty 15GB at the end, however?
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