Drive Resize for install have a question

[integrity]

I have a Toshiba 80gig Laptop I would like to install Kubuntu as a dual boot. I would like to know what should I resize the drive to. I want to just be able to play with linux and learn it so I don’t need all that wasted extra space that I can use for my Xp portion of the drive I do a lot of Graphic’s.

Also so I can knock all in one post this question is there a program that will allow me to create a Ghost like Image that I can recover for this install? In case I mess up I don’t want to end up reinstalling the Kubuntu.

[Snowhog]

Re: Drive Resize for install have a question

What you shrink your XP partition down to is really up to you. But, I wouldn't shrink it to what it is aready useing - you won't have any room to do anything in XP!

Let's say that XP is using 20Gb of your 80Gb drive. You can comfortably resize your XP partition down to 40Gb, leaving you 40Gb of unused space that you can partition for Linux. If you want more space for XP, adjust to your liking. I would leave at least 25Gb for Linux though.

If you have not already done so, download and burn to CD GParted for resizing and repartitioning your HD.

[integrity]

Re: Drive Resize for install have a question

If I recall from the last time I installed Kubuntu there was options for what type of partition I would like to setup what are the benefits of the variances?

Also linux has the swap and Ext why do I need both? Why doesn't linux just have one Partition like xp?

[Snowhog]

Re: Drive Resize for install have a question

When you configure a hd for use by any Linux OS, you need to establish at a minimum, two partitions, but three is highly recommended.

First, you need a partition for root ( / ). This is where the system establishes all it's directories and files it needs to run. A swap ( swap ) partition is needed by Linux, and you need to set a partition up for it. If you don't, you may not even get your installation to boot. The third (and recommended) partition is your home ( /home ) partition. This partition is used as your personal 'filing cabinet' as it were. You, as the user, *own* what ever gets put there.

Not sure what you mean by "...linux has the swap and Ext..." Linux uses a file type of ext3 (or reisfers) for the root ( / ) partition - you decide which when preparing your drive and partitions. As for "...one partition like xp?" Linux isn't XP!

[integrity]

Re: Drive Resize for install have a question

Home Partition 12gig
Root 4gig
Swap 4gig

Is this sufficient?

[dibl]

Re: Drive Resize for install have a question

Home Partition 12gig
Root 4gig
Swap 4gig

Is this sufficient?

1. YES
2. NO
3. WAY OVERKILL

Root needs to be at least 7GB, in my opinion -- I have observed the "used" value to closely approach 5GB on my system, in between "cleanups", and with Linux you do not want to fill up a root filesystem.

Swap, on the other hand, has never been touched on mine, but it is a desktop with a lot of RAM, so I would think 0.5GB would be plenty even for a RAM-limited system. The old "rule of thumb" from the days when 156MB was a lot of RAM is 1.5x your RAM, but that seems to produce large wasted space on the newer systems where 1GB of RAM is kind of normal.