I am about to complete downloading Ubuntu Install iso. I am very cautious about installing on my hard drive because I have heard of some sad stories of hard drive crashes. I need some final comments on how safe it will be before I encounter the moment of truth.

My 80 GB hard drive currently has the following partitions:

C: win XP - ntfs
D: data files - ntfs
E: program files - ntfs
F: temporary files - ntfs
G, H, I (totaling about 50 GB)are not very important, so I can resize/re-partition them to accomodate Ubuntu.

My question is, can I install Ubuntu in following partitions: root(G), /swap(H), /home (I), /usr(J), /tmp(K). Are these not too many partitions?

Also what size and type should I allocate to root/, swap/ ... /tmp partitions? My RAM is 512MB?

My :

Swap generally is 2x your RAM. Root is usually ~10 GB, /home the rest. Unless you're doing some fancy server setups, most of the rest of the partitions can live safely within /. My other comment would be to either convert your data partition from NTFS to Fat32 (which you can do from Windows) or create a new FAT32 partition for sharing files between linux and Windows. Linux can only read NTFS, write support is experimental (i.e. use at your own risk). Oh and just to use good practices, I would backup anything important before you start any of this.

So my summary:

1) Backup
2) [code] C: winXP - ntfs
D: data - FAT32
E: program files - ntfs
F: temp - ntfs
G: / - 10 GB ext3
H: /swap - 1 GB swap
I: /home - rest of the space

Or if you want, leave D as ntfs and create a part of I as FAT32...

I have already installed Ubuntu and now I have a dual boot. It was as easy as 1.2.3., perhaps easier.

I think I used nearly the same ideas given above by pljvaldez. One problem, though is that I cannot access data on the other ntfs partitions. If I get you right, if I convert a partition to fat32, i will be able to read from linux, or won't I?

You actually can read from ntfs fine. You just have to mount the partitions properly. But you can't WRITE to ntfs, only to FAT32.

I would only convert the data partition because XP will run better off of NTFS. Just use the FAT32 data partition for things you want access to from both systems (like mp3, word docs, etc). If you rip DVD's, you may have a problem sharing them over FAT32 because I think there's a 4GB file size limit for FAT32 where if you were to make a high res copy of a DVD, it would be like 8GB.

Here's how to mount NTFS read only (you may have to do it as root):

mount /dev/hda1 /mnt/windows -t ntfs -o,ro

Change /dev/hda1 to the proper windows partition and /mnt/windows to wherever you created the mount directory.

Once you get that working, change your fstab and add a line like (changing /dev/hda1 and /mnt/windows for each) this for each NTFS you want to read

/dev/hda1 /mnt/windows ntfs ro,user,umask=222 0 0

Then you can just mount /mnt/windows

I wouldn't use a swap greater than 512 MB.

Marko.uk, why swap of <512 MB? Can you justify it?

On the sad side, my system got into a crash. My first installation of Ubuntu was uneventful. But later, I thought of changing the swap partition to another location. So, as a newbie, I had to re-install. Luck was not on my side. I lost my Win XP. So, I had to re-install Windows, and I am still trying to do a microsoft update (windows + apps update). I am in a lot of pain.

Though I have no technical disadvantage re-installing Windows, I have totally failed to do the same for Ubuntu. I wonder why it was so smooth the first time. It installs base software but fails at the point of installing additional ones, complaining of either insufficient space, bad CD, or dirty CD driver. I can't buy any of these ideas.

Its got me stumped. Pretty much!

********

Oh! I have done it. I just burnt a new CD and it worked fantastic. Little things we ignore!

Well, I will try it :-)

Unless you plan to run many applications at the same time, a swap space greater than 512 MB is a waste of harddisk space.

My box has 1GB RAM and 400MB swap space. The swap space as rarely used at all.

Also the guys at Linux Format (very popular Linux magazine here in Britain) recommend a swap space twice your RAM, but not greater than 512MB.

If it is just for hard disk, I have lots of it. I can never exhaust it unless I store any crap in sight. Perhaps the second reason may hold more water.

I have been out of touch since my laptop blew while I was using Ubuntu. To be specific, I was trying to use Ctrl+Alt+Backspace to restart Gnome without restarting the computer. The response was bad. And suddenly Bang! My computer went dead.

My inner self was blaming Ubuntu for the mess. But we found that some little capacitors (?) on the motherboard got burnt, possibly due to power surge. And maybe it was a coincidence I was using Ubuntu's feature I had not used before.

So, for two days I was off touch until the problem was fixed. I am happy to be back.