Dual Boot – Install Alongside Windows 8 or Choose Another Option?

dual-bootpartitioningsystem-installationwindows

I'm thinking about installing Ubuntu ( dual boot ) as I might like it but I'm not sure whether I should choose to install alongside Windows 8 or something else.

I do have 100 GB unallocated already for Ubuntu on my D:/ drive so I'm good to go.

I've seen people configure their partitions specially ( they created swap and then used the remaining unallocated to install Ubuntu ). Do I need to do this? Or will the installer handle it for me.

Best Answer

As far as I go, never trust automatic partitioning options in Ubuntu installers, as you may end up with nasty surprises. When installing Ubuntu, personally I always prepare the partitions manually. Since you want to keep a dual-boot set-up, most flexible would be to create a new extended partition and inside it create the several logical partitions.

In the extended partition I usually I reserve:

  • 5GB for swap (or whatever appropriate given your RAM)
  • 25GB for / which will contain all your system files (but some will say that this is overly generous, as 15-20GB could suffice given your installation habits)
  • the rest for /home which will contain all your user data

I tend to use ext3 file system for the above partitions for reliability reasons (but you could of course use ext4 or reiserfs if you so prefer). Sometimes I include a /boot partition no bigger than 500MB using ext2, but I cannot remember if this is more hassle than necessary; from memory, this is where kernels and grub config files end up.

Additionally, see My approach for replacing current Ubuntu with newer for a discussion on how manual partitioning can be approached.

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