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 severallogical
partitions.In the
extended
partition I usually I reserve:swap
(or whatever appropriate given your RAM)/
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)/home
which will contain all your user dataI tend to use
ext3
file system for the above partitions for reliability reasons (but you could of course useext4
orreiserfs
if you so prefer). Sometimes I include a/boot
partition no bigger than 500MB usingext2
, but I cannot remember if this is more hassle than necessary; from memory, this is where kernels andgrub
config files end up.Additionally, see My approach for replacing current Ubuntu with newer for a discussion on how manual partitioning can be approached.