[SOLVED] How do I partition my 1 TB hard drive to dual boot Windows 10 and Linux Mint Cinnamon?

[writer_from_hell]

Hello,
I am getting the laptop Acer Aspire 5 and it comes with 1 TB of disk space. I have never used Linux before but I really want to switch to Linux but I need Windows for running some softwares (ECAD, CAD, EPLAN and some games etc) which aren't available for Linux.
I have never used Dual Boot before and I was hoping someone could help me decide how much space to allocate for Windows 10 and Linux Mint Cinnamon and how much to allocate for storing media files and documents which both OS can access.
I plan to use Linux as my primary OS but I don't want to run into any storage related problems down the line. So, basically I want both OS working properly and a separate partition which is used only for personal files.

Any help will be highly appreciated
Thank you, have a great day.

[deepakdeshp]

viewtopic.php?f=42&t=163126

[Mute Ant]

As we see from Ser Deepak's link, Windows dual boot with a Linux is not trivial to set up. Windows will actively defend itself against 'foreign' boot code and may well keep disabling the Linux, so you have to be quite adept to keep both available. If you are at the 'how do I partition' level I suggest you don't. Give the whole drive to Windows 10 to get a standard OS every time. Then play with Linux on something removable, or as a virtual machine running inside Windows.

[I2k4]

I've been dual booting / running Live USB since 2010 (Ubuntu 10.04, then Mint 15.x) First, I always recommend running the version of Mint you're interested in as a persistent live USB for some weeks, thoroughly getting familiar with compatibility issues on your PC and all peripherals you rely on, and trying out the Linux software you might want to use instead of or concurrent with Windows. (There is some fine third party software with good cross-platform Linux / Win versions that will use the same files.) "Persistence" on live USB saves your settings and software installations between reboots, otherwise they are wiped. Full drive install will not automatically "cure" problems that arise on live USB - pretesting with USB spares the trouble and risks of a full drive install and you can easily build and try alternative Linux if something about the first puts you off.

I use a 16gb USB 3.0 thumb drive, format it as NTFS (can be done with the installer) and set about half of it as "persistence" - building a good persistent live USB within Windows (there are some others, too) - directions for creating and using are at the site:

http://www.pendrivelinux.com/universal- ... -as-1-2-3/

Once you know what Linux will and won't do for you, you'll have to decide where you'll keep your data / media / documents, etc. knowing that a) you can "mount" and access your Windows partition and load and save edited data from within Linux, BUT b) you cannot access your Linux partition from Windows, which won't see its "ext" file system. You might also need to know there is a good Dropbox client for Linux and it can be set for local storage sync with either a Linux or Windows Dropbox Dropbox, OneDrive, Mega and Google's online services work fine in Firefox or Chrome or any full-featured browser from Linux, and the online office suites will open either Linux or Windows partition documents. SImilarly, Linux media players, photo and video software, etc. have no problem accessing Windows drive for playing, editing and saving but not vice versa. On my terrabyte drive, I keep nearly all data on the Windows partition, comfortable with 60gb for Linux. But that reflects a personal use case. Maybe this gets you started on your own.

[writer_from_hell]

As we see from Ser Deepak's link, Windows dual boot with a Linux is not trivial to set up. Windows will actively defend itself against 'foreign' boot code and may well keep disabling the Linux, so you have to be quite adept to keep both available. If you are at the 'how do I partition' level I suggest you don't. Give the whole drive to Windows 10 to get a standard OS every time. Then play with Linux on something removable, or as a virtual machine running inside Windows.

Thank you for taking the time to reply.

[writer_from_hell]

viewtopic.php?f=42&t=163126

Thanking for taking the time to reply.

[writer_from_hell]

I've been dual booting / running Live USB since 2010 (Ubuntu 10.04, then Mint 15.x) First, I always recommend running the version of Mint you're interested in as a persistent live USB for some weeks, thoroughly getting familiar with compatibility issues on your PC and all peripherals you rely on, and trying out the Linux software you might want to use instead of or concurrent with Windows. (There is some fine third party software with good cross-platform Linux / Win versions that will use the same files.) "Persistence" on live USB saves your settings and software installations between reboots, otherwise they are wiped. Full drive install will not automatically "cure" problems that arise on live USB - pretesting with USB spares the trouble and risks of a full drive install and you can easily build and try alternative Linux if something about the first puts you off.

I use a 16gb USB 3.0 thumb drive, format it as NTFS (can be done with the installer) and set about half of it as "persistence" - building a good persistent live USB within Windows (there are some others, too) - directions for creating and using are at the site:

http://www.pendrivelinux.com/universal- ... -as-1-2-3/

Once you know what Linux will and won't do for you, you'll have to decide where you'll keep your data / media / documents, etc. knowing that a) you can "mount" and access your Windows partition and load and save edited data from within Linux, BUT b) you cannot access your Linux partition from Windows, which won't see its "ext" file system. You might also need to know there is a good Dropbox client for Linux and it can be set for local storage sync with either a Linux or Windows Dropbox Dropbox, OneDrive, Mega and Google's online services work fine in Firefox or Chrome or any full-featured browser from Linux, and the online office suites will open either Linux or Windows partition documents. SImilarly, Linux media players, photo and video software, etc. have no problem accessing Windows drive for playing, editing and saving but not vice versa. On my terrabyte drive, I keep nearly all data on the Windows partition, comfortable with 60gb for Linux. But that reflects a personal use case. Maybe this gets you started on your own.

Thank you for the help.