I have recently bought a Dell Inspiron 9400 with a 100Gb HDD and 1Gb RAM. I am wanting to install Ubuntu with Windows dual boot.

I plan on keeping my linux partitions simple with a 500MB swap partition ( I believe there is no advantage in going any larger than this) a / partition and a home partition.

In the wisdom of Dell (an oxymoron?) they have taken up 3 primary partitions as below:

DELL INSPIRON 9400
HD PARTITION TABLE

Size Used

01 dev/sda1 fat16 47.03MB 32.17MB

02 dev/sda2 ntfs 88.70GB 10.19GB

03 dev/sda3 fat32 3.00GB 1.91GB Dell Restore

04 dev/sda-1 free 7.84MB n/a

I was planning on using Gparted to shrink partition 2 to 40Gb and then moving partition 03 next to it leaving a free 04 partition of approx. 45Gb in which to put Ubuntu.

I realise if I am going to do this I will have to make 04 an Extended partition and split it into Logical partitions. I was also going to put Grub in the MBR but am concerned that the 01 partition above is only 47 MB and I see that most linux boot partitions are 100MB in size.

Do you foresee any disadvantages/problems/pitfalls with having the Extended/Logical partitions as suggested above? Will I run into problems with my dual boot if I go ahead with Grub in the MBR?
Your advice is much appreciated?

I would certainly not recommend doing this especially with Ubuntu's installation interface and your partition layout unless you are highly proficient at manually configuring things...last time I manually installed Dapper on my machine and on a clean hard drive it did not even like me creating a /boot partition and having the kernel image reside there; the default installation creates a swap and a / and thats about it. As for the size of the /boot partition I remember Gentoo asking for 32MB and Dapper for about 37MB if I'm not mistaken...so I suppose you should be OK with 47MB for your /boot. Hopefully more people will post opinions here...

since u have recently bought a new dell, i suppose u dont have any important data.if it is so then i suggest u dont use any third party partion software.i also assume u r using windows xp pro as windows operating system.
firstly start installing windows and while installing it will ask u on which partion to install there u can remove all the partions and create new partitions like below
partion 01 : 10GB (for windows cdrive)
partion 02 : 10GB (for ubunto only OS)
remaining partitions at ur will(like 40-40GB(fat32 or ntfs)
then try to install windows with c drive (partion 01)
and install ubunto on partion 02 with ubunto on mbr.
later to access the remaining partions from ubunto u can access them by mounting them(for regular basis u can put them on fstab file)

the reason for such partion is bcoz if any of the operating system is corrupted u r data is still safe in the remaining extended partions(i.e 40-40GB).

note: while partioning donot format the other 10GB(it should be raw)
regarding the /boot partions it need not be 100MB , 75MB is just enough
i hope i have given enough info.

The Dell Inspiron 9400 is a notebook which comes pre-installed with Windows XP Home. I would like to avoid re-installing Windows if poss.
What problems do you foresee with my suggested partitioning?

then i dont c any problems here but still u need to have a windows xp cd with u. no one guarentes the dual boot will be stable, but one day u need to install xp thats for sure

Thanks for that kash - I do have the Dell XP restore CD
Someone has suggested I could delete the 3GB Dell restore partition but am concerned I would lose the hibernate feature that comes with this Dell version of XP - anybody have thought on this one?

hey thats no big deal right

Have just discovered Dell partition is purely for restore - hibernation data is stored in RAM so no worries and goodbye to Dell restore partition

cool enjoy!!!

Well this may a bit of "closing the barn door after ...", but some thoughts:

1st, some context, I run a weekly GNU/Linux workshop where our primary goal is helping people w/ installs. I have seen several of these 3-partition Dells over the last few months. (I.e. I think I know what I'm talking about. )


Based on the principle of "1st do no harm", I never touch, not even move, let alone erase, those Utility & Restore partitions. You seem to have made an informed decision & I hope you never regret it in the future when the Dell CD has disappeared.


Pre-install

• Remove old/unnecessary files. (Optional)
• Run chkdsk -f or equivalent.
• Defrag.

Tools

• I always use a bootable CD for partitioning.
• I never use any installed partitioning tool.
• I never use PartitionMagic.
• I prefer Acronis, because I have a review copy, I suspect I could be equally happy using QTParted.

I partition in advance, even if the distro's installer will likely want to do the formatting. This means fewer surprises in dealing w/ a variety of tools or interfaces to common tools.

I shrink the NTFS partition by a reasonable amount (reasonable depending on fullness & future use) & put an extended partition (EP) in the resulting free space -- sometimes this requires cfdisk, other times just filling the free space w/ logical partitions will do.

Then into this EP go the following partitions:

• < 8G or < 16G FAT32 common data
• 1 or 2G swap
• 30-100M /boot
• 5-10G / (root) for each anticipated distro -- sometimes these are empty

The FAT32 common data is sized to stay just under the break points where the cluster size doubles & with it the average waste per file.

The /boot partition is used for the 1st distro installed & GRUB is installed in the MBR. Any subsequent distros must have their boot loaders put in their root (/) partitions & get chained to from the original /boot/grub/menu.lst.

Observations

• Deciding the new partition structure often takes longer than
• the partitioning itself, which can take longer than
• the actual install

-- especially w/ SimplyMEPIS.

47MB should be plenty for a /boot partition, but bear in mind that Ubuntu doesn't remove old kernel versions when you upgrade the kernel, so you'll have to check there's enough space free when you want to upgrade the kernel, and remove old versions if necessary.

Just an update - you are right the horse has bolted and I have deleted the Dell restore partition.

I can't argue with your logic of "1st do no harm" and I could have left that restore partition but I was feeling greedy for disc space - yes a mere 3GB. Never mind I shall guard those CD's with my life -not really.

Anyway partitioning worked like a dream with the latest Gparted live CD - highly recommended - I actually preferred it to Qparted.

This is what I ended up with

/SDA1 Dell Utilities 47Mb
/SDA2 Windows 30GB
/SDA3 5GB FAT16 for shared files b/n Windows and Linux
/SDA4 Extended Patition
/SDA5 Swap 512MB
/SDA6 /root 15GB
/SDA7 /home 20GB

All going well with Ubuntu except my next challenge is to get the screen resolution up to 1440x900 with my NVIDIA card - have downloaded the NVIDIA drivers but looks like some xconf editing will required - will try and seek some help on this.

As any egotistical programmer (redundency?) will tell you, it's a joy when someone listens to your advice thoughtfully -- even if they make an informed decision to not take it. Thanks.

Well, at least it's only XP -- Home at that -- w/ little luck by the time you can't find them you won't miss them.

I must look into that. My preference for Acronis is based on familiarity plus usability. I have it, it works, I like it, I use it again == "rinse & repeat". When GNU/Linux newcomers ask why I use a proprietary commercial product, the other part of the explanation is that it cost me nothing -- it's a review copy.

Since you obviously read my thoughts & made your own decision, you know where my advice differs from what you did. I won't critique your scheme unless asked.

I do have 1 Q: It only adds up to 70G on my calculator, where's the other 30? Even the difference between GB & GiB doesn't account for it.