dual booting Mint and Arch and some partition ?'s

[binskipy2u]

I have a 320GB drive and a 500GB drive, currently I dual boot with windows @ 120 gigs on the 320 and <200gb for arch and use the 500 for media etc..
here's the question(s) is it possible to make a 20gig for Mint/ and 120gig for home, 20gig for Arch and the rest of the 320gig for /arch home
and make the first 5 gigs a /swap file on the 500gig for both linux distros to share?

The only reason I'm doing this.. is because I LOVE Mint's ubuntu base+beauty and simplicity, Compatability with darn near everything and stability.. and love arch's bleeding edge..
LIke I said I have windows 7 ultimate, but only went in there maybe 7x in the last year! i never go in there for office, photoshop etc.. I use libreoffice/gimp for all my needs..

so its this doable? and do i have the "right" idea for a partition scheme..

use gparted, make 320 an extended partition.. and make 4 partitions like stated above.. make the first 4gigs swap on the 500 and share the rest of the 500 w/both distros...

thanks for any advice in advance.

OR............. I have like i said, windows on about 120 gigs total..
can I just install mint "over" win 7 on that 120 or wil parted magic let me make 3 more partitions.. already have 4 so i dont have to "start" over again with my current arch install...
win7/root/swap/home to mint root/mint home/ arch root/ arch home.. and make a 4gigs part on the 500 (currently using entire 500 for media etc) ?

[wayne128]

From my experience multibooting many Linux OS with WinOS, what I can say is, partition scheme is just personal choice.

What you described are doable, workable too.

But i would not recommend you to trash Win7, because firstly you already paid for it, secondly, once in a while you still need it anyway you are the boss to decide.

Here is my recommendation for you : base on my personal biased view and experience

1. keep your 320 hard disk intact
at least you have a working dual boot Arch/Win7

2. you just play and learn partition scheme using 500G, which has a lot of flexibility.. and you play enough without touching your 320G hard disk..

I recommend simple scheme, one that surely work ( for me at least over many computers for long time) and would also provide flexibility for play and learn.
I do not use /home, I usually have one OS in one partition, including Win7 ( some manufacturer installed with 4 primary partitions..) and one data partition.

Here is the details
3. primary, sdb1, 20G, for your Linux OS
4. primary ,sdb2, 5G or whatever make sense, Swap, for sharing with ALL linux OS
5. primary, sdb3, 20-50G as a buffer, you can opt out this.. but this is quite useful later if have this partition or unallocated space.. you can skip this without any problem. at time I used this as WinOS or clone winOS ( help me to install faster later)
6. extended, sdb4, take up the rest of ALL space
7. logical, sda5, 350-400G, format to ntfs, use this as data partition, shared by all ( WInOS/Lin OS)
8. the balance, some 20G to 50G, leave it unallocated, this will become useful later when you wish to
play with another OS
play with same OS but another DE
clone a nice working OS before you do some huge upgrade which might lead to issue ( non bootable, crash, kernel panic, bsod, break something...whatever...)

9, after some months, you might wish to rethink your 320G partition scheme, by then, you should have built up some like and dislike while playing on 500G hard disk and some boot loader issues ( mixing Linux OS es and Win7.. especially when Win7 wipe MBR and some Linux OS installer did something to MBR or boot loader upgrade itself and create issues for your multiboot setup...)
BY then you could let 500G hard disk take over as the 'master' and play partition scheme on the 320G..
in summary, it is safer for you to handle just one hard disk at a time... until you can handle some boot loader repair at will.

As mentioned this is biased on my own personal scheme.
To complete this, I copy parted -l just to show you two of my hard disks' partitions, with similar scheme

Code: Select all

parted -l
Model: ATA WDC WD6400AAKS-7 (scsi)
Disk /dev/sda: 640GB
Sector size (logical/physical): 512B/512B
Partition Table: msdos

Number  Start   End     Size    Type      File system     Flags
 1      32.3kB  10.5GB  10.5GB  primary   ext4
 2      10.5GB  15.7GB  5240MB  primary   linux-swap(v1)
 3      15.7GB  125GB   109GB   primary   ntfs
 4      125GB   640GB   515GB   extended
 5      125GB   529GB   404GB   logical   ntfs
11      529GB   550GB   21.4GB  logical   ext4
10      550GB   567GB   16.3GB  logical   ext4
12      567GB   579GB   12.6GB  logical   ext4
 9      593GB   609GB   16.1GB  logical   ext4
 6      609GB   624GB   15.2GB  logical   ext4
 7      624GB   627GB   3601MB  logical   ext4
 8      627GB   640GB   12.7GB  logical   ext4

Code: Select all

Model: FUJITSU HDD (scsi)
Disk /dev/sdb: 640GB
Sector size (logical/physical): 512B/512B
Partition Table: msdos

Number  Start   End     Size    Type      File system     Flags
 1      32.3kB  4532MB  4532MB  primary   ext4
 2      31.5GB  33.6GB  2097MB  primary   linux-swap(v1)
 3      33.6GB  97.2GB  63.7GB  primary   ntfs
 4      97.2GB  640GB   543GB   extended
 5      191GB   527GB   336GB   logical   ntfs
 6      527GB   534GB   7391MB  logical   ext4
 7      534GB   578GB   43.7GB  logical   ext4
 8      578GB   603GB   24.7GB  logical   ext4
 9      603GB   614GB   11.0GB  logical   ext4

[binskipy2u]

What about this..
320 gig >>> / (mint) 20 gig
/(home/mint) rest of hd (will be using this for alot of programs for compatability)

500 gig >>> /(arch) 20 gig
/(swap) for Mint & Arch (4gigs) (i have 6 gigs ram, I set swappiness to 0 in sysctl.conf)
/(home/arch) 150 gigs

/rest of 500 gig shared for media,documents, pics, etc

Use parted Magic and make all partitions ext4

install mint , custom partitioning, and direct swap to sdb2, install grub on sda1
install arch , custom partitioning, on sdb1 & sdb3 and direct swap to sdb2 and DONT install grub at all.

when I reboot, I should have grub from mint with Mint & Arch as choices..

am I on the right track? (no need for windows, I can install office 2k7, photoshop cs2, etc on crossover office 9.0)

Any advice, suggestions? Thanks in advance...

I figure with Mint I can have STABIILITY, and Compatability and with Arch I can have speed + bleeding edge or Manjaro for stability and close to bleeding edge ( Manjaro, its like Arch, well arch based.. but its a few weeks behind arch so the devs there can tweak, fix compatability issues so the user doesnt have to make choices that could break the system during updates)

[wayne128]

What about this..
320 gig >>> / (mint) 20 gig
/(home/mint) rest of hd (will be using this for alot of programs for compatability)

500 gig >>> /(arch) 20 gig
/(swap) for Mint & Arch (4gigs) (i have 6 gigs ram, I set swappiness to 0 in sysctl.conf)
/(home/arch) 150 gigs

/rest of 500 gig shared for media,documents, pics, etc

Use parted Magic and make all partitions ext4

I do not see any issue on your plan.

install mint , custom partitioning, and direct swap to sdb2, install grub on sda1
install arch , custom partitioning, on sdb1 & sdb3 and direct swap to sdb2 and DONT install grub at all.

when I reboot, I should have grub from mint with Mint & Arch as choices..

am I on the right track?

Here is the issue, a minor one.
You install Mint first with boot loader, then install Arch second without boot loader, when you reboot, Mint grub menu would have no selection for Arch because it did not exist at that point. So you need to do a sudo update-grub after you reboot with Mint.

Alternatively, change the sequence of installation:
install Arch without boot loader first, then install Mint second, with boot loader to /dev/sda, this way, Mint's grub would have both Mint and Arch in the config file and when you reboot you have selection of both OS.

I figure with Mint I can have STABIILITY, and Compatability and with Arch I can have speed + bleeding edge or Manjaro for stability and close to bleeding edge ( Manjaro, its like Arch, well arch based.. but its a few weeks behind arch so the devs there can tweak, fix compatability issues so the user doesnt have to make choices that could break the system during updates)

Only want to say this, when you decide to live on leading edge, you should be well aware that it takes a lot more time and skill to 'manage the OS', because there are too many changes daily. You need to upgrade it often.
Sometime, upgrade can lead you to all kind of problem.

Therefore, you should have a simple way to either CLONE your OS before a large distro-upgrade, or have a mean to create an iso of the existing working OS,. in the event when your upgrade break your system, if you can repair, that will be good, but if you cannot repair, at least you can return to your last working iso, or Clone and reinstall them. It save a lot of time to install from fresh plus add your customisations..

[binskipy2u]

Alternatively, change the sequence of installation:
install Arch without boot loader first, then install Mint second, with boot loader to /dev/sda, this way, Mint's grub would have both Mint and Arch in the config file and when you reboot you have selection of both OS
***************************
I dont know whether I should use Mints Grub or Arch's/manjaros grub



Only want to say this, when you decide to live on leading edge, you should be well aware that it takes a lot more time and skill to 'manage the OS', because there are too many changes daily. You need to upgrade it often.
Sometime, upgrade can lead you to all kind of problem.

***************************
Arch has close to daily updates.. while Manjaro is a few weeks behind, their testers, and devs release the "latest updates" after testing, so they are more stable thus leading to less issues... Arch is bleeding edge, while manjaro is more like "Leading edge"..

thanks for your input.. I will keep that in mind..

[wayne128]

I dont know whether I should use Mints Grub or Arch's/manjaros grub

I think not much different.

Recent Arch uses grub 2.00

Mint14 uses grub 2.00
Mint13 and a few older versions use grub 1.99++

Anyway, whichever one you use, you still can boot from the last installation and do a sudo update-grub to put first OS into last OS's grub menu.

If you are still hasitate, just do this, install boot loader in both MBR of their respective hard disk.
1. When you install first OS, Mint on sda, just install boot loader to /dev/sda
2. When you install second OS , Arch on sdb, go ahead and install boot loader to /dev/sdb

You will find that you can actually use bios to select boot order.
When you select 500G drive to boot first, you get to Arch.
When you are running Arch, do also a sudo update-grub.
This way you have both MBR being bootable and either way you can boot any OS.

[binskipy2u]

I have one last question.. part of what I've been explaining...

I have windows & Arch on the 320 (100gigs for windows 7, and the rest for Arch) and the 500 is media etc..
the "arch" part of the 320 is /, /swap, /home and windows makes 4 partitions..

Any way I can format sda1 (windows) and direct mint to that partition.. (can it have 3 arches and 2 mint partitions on the same drive?) /mint root, /mint home, direct swap to use the arch swap i have set up? Then afterwards update grub on "arch" and have a mint entry when I reboot that replaces the windows entry that's there now? This would save me time reinstalling 2 distros.. by just installing one.. can I install mint on ONE partition? or is that a "bad" idea in the long run?

and just keep the 500 gig as is, so i dont have to move anything?

[wayne128]

a MBR/msdos format hard disk can have at most 4 primary partitions, or 3 primary plus one extended (within extended you can have many logical partitions )

As you are thinking 3 partitions for Arch and 2 for Mint, they add to 5.. beyond 4.
So I cannot answer your question without looking at the two images.

Of course you can have 3 primary and many logical partitions, but your current layout might impose some restriction to you until you re-partition them, and you need to bear in mind that partitioning carry risk of data loss as well as partition OS become unbootable.

Can you post gparted images of the two hard disks ( one for 320G, another for 500G)?

It should look like below image
http://partedmagic.com/lib/exe/fetch.ph ... Fgp15.jpeg

[binskipy2u]

I'm not home right now, on a 16 hour shift.. will try to post the gparted details when I can..


I dont mind reinstalling everything to do it right.. i'm so good at fixing what isnt broken, i can install mint/arch with my eyes closed.. just never dual booted 2 linux distros before..


someone on here had a signature "if it's not broke, fix it until it is.." something to that effect.. that quote sums me up completely

OH I WAS JUST THINKING.. can I split the 320 into /root mint 20 gigs/ home mint 130gigs, /root arch 20 gigs, /home arch rest of 320 and make one use gparted to shrink 5 gigs off the 500 to use as /swap for both, while keeping 495 gigs as data/stuff? (Like i said before, I have 6 gigs ram.. i set swappiness=0 all the time) so the swap is just a "formality"

does size order "matter" in a partitioning scheme..
20gigs /root mint
140 gigs /home mint
20gigs/ root arch
140gigs /home arch


or
20 gigs/ 20 gigs, 140gigs/140gigs? in other words /root /root /home /home, or root/home root/home?

[binskipy2u]

Hey Wayne.. what about this for a Scheme..

320gig Hd:

120gb -windows 7 (sda1)
20gb-/Arch root (sda2)
180gb- /Arch Home (sda3)
(install Archs' Grub on sda1)

500gig Hd:

20Gb- /Mint root (sdb1)
175Gb- /Mint home (sdb2)
5Gb- /Arch & Mint swap (sdb3)
300Gb- /shared media,docs,pics, et a'l drive (sdb4)
(install Mints' grub on sdb1)

Then like you said, if I'm readin this correctly.. when I boot up, I'll have the choice of the 2 drives.. if i pick Sda, i should have the choice of win7/ Mint, if I choose sdb, I should boot right into Mint, is this correct?)

btw, no just Wayne, but if ANYONE can give me input on my scheme if its "workable/doable etc w/o any issues anyone w/more experience knows abouut" please do..

thanks so much in advance