First time dual booting....

[whatthefunk]

Right now, I have a 500 gb HDD split in two with Kubuntu installed on one half and nothing on the other. Im planning on buying an SSD, 60 gb or 120 gb, and then doing a fresh install of Kubuntu 12.04 when its released. I also want to try out Ubuntu 12.04 to see if Unity is any more sane than it was last time I tried it out. Then I want to wipe out my current Kubuntu installation and use the 500 gb HDD for storage but before doing this I want to transfer all my data to the currently unused partition. So my questions:
1. Will dual booting two very similar distros, Ubuntu and Kubuntu, on the same SSD cause any trouble?
2. How can I wipe out one partition on my HDD and make sure the other partition stays safe?
3. (Dual booting newbie question alert...) How do I dual boot?

[oshunluvr]

1. No.
2. Use a partitioning tool like KDE partition manager or GParted.
3. Install both distros and run update-grub. Usually, the installer does it correctly. IMO, install the distro you plan on using most often last. This will automatically leave it as the default boot distro.

I'm curious - what's the reason to move data from one 250 gb partition to the other 250 gb partition?

If you're planning on using an SSD you should read up on how to correctly partition and format it before trying to use it. There are potential issues with sector alignment during partitioning and certain filesystems and mounting options cause less wear-and-tear than others.

A couple of opinions:
Why dual-boot just to look at Unity? A Virtual machine is easier and VirtualBox is very easy to set up.
60gb is three times the amount needed for a Kubuntu install so if you're only going to use the SSD for linux save a few bucks and buy the smaller one.

[whatthefunk]

1. No.
2. Use a partitioning tool like KDE partition manager or GParted.
3. Install both distros and run update-grub. Usually, the installer does it correctly. IMO, install the distro you plan on using most often last. This will automatically leave it as the default boot distro.

I'm curious - what's the reason to move data from one 250 gb partition to the other 250 gb partition?

If you're planning on using an SSD you should read up on how to correctly partition and format it before trying to use it. There are potential issues with sector alignment during partitioning and certain filesystems and mounting options cause less wear-and-tear than others.

A couple of opinions:
Why dual-boot just to look at Unity? A Virtual machine is easier and VirtualBox is very easy to set up.
60gb is three times the amount needed for a Kubuntu install so if you're only going to use the SSD for linux save a few bucks and buy the smaller one.

Thanks for the advice.
I was going to move the data from one 250 gb partion to the other because the partition its currently on is the one that Kubuntu is installed in. If I wipe out the Kubuntu install, wont it take the data too??

Hmmm...VirtualBox might be a better option. Ill look into that.

[Kilz]

That depends on how you partition. Its possible to set the home directory on another partition, or store the data on another partition. If you have a separate home partition and saved your files there they wont get deleted necessarily. I use a media partition and then mount it and symlink some folders in it to home. This way if I wipe out an install or install a new distro on a partition all my files I have created are still on the media partition and only need to be mounted and linked into the new one.

[oshunluvr]

When you say "wipe" the kubuntu install - you need not reformat the entire drive. Just delete the folders that are from the install. Your personal data is under /home and your username.