Partition recommendations?

[thinkpad1]

I was curious how large/small I should make my Windows XP partition if I want Linux on the drive as well. I have a 160GB drive.

Is 30GB too much/too little? Right now, I have 30GB being C drive etc. and the rest is 15GB. I am not sure whether I'll need the extra 15GB but I read that a lot of programs like to use or be installed on C so I thought I'd install the majority of any programs/applications on C. If I had to re-install Windows, I'd just re-install the programs.

Any comments?

Btw, I'd like to use two or three Linux operating systems. So, is 15GB per enough or should I break them up with separate /home etc.?

[robert213]

Last summer, I installed a new 92 GB HD on my GF's laptop.

C: for system files, 32 GB
D: for documents and powerpoint presentations, 40 GB
E: for Adobe Premiere for editting videos, 20 GB

Not even a year later, and she already has used 28 GB on C: for Windows system and her program files.

I have used up 26 GB on my C:, so I shouldn't complain.

If don't install much more than Windows and MS Office, then 32 GB ought to fine for you.

If you install some photo/video editting software, then
you may wish to allocate 40 GB on your fresh Windows and your Program installs.

[emeraldgirl08]

I've started doing the separate /, /home, and /swap with my Linux partitions. I've yet to do two or more Linux partitions on the same HDD! For all intents and purposes an MS and one Linux boot pretty much serve me well. I think with two or more linux parts you can all share one swap partition.

Someone correct me here if I'm not right... hands??? Anyone???

Now with the Windows part people used to create a Share NTFS partition between Windows and Linux. Don't know what the state of affairs with that is but I am able to mount my W7 and Share partition if I need to. I just really don't have any reason to however.

Here is a copy of my of my R51e fdisk:

Code: Select all

Disk /dev/sda: 80.0 GB, 80026361856 bytes
255 heads, 63 sectors/track, 9729 cylinders
Units = cylinders of 16065 * 512 = 8225280 bytes
Disk identifier: 0x0004506a

   Device Boot      Start         End      Blocks   Id  System
/dev/sda1   *           1        2611    20972826    7  HPFS/NTFS
Partition 1 does not end on cylinder boundary.
/dev/sda2            2612        3526     7349737+  83  Linux
/dev/sda3            3527        4574     8418060    5  Extended
/dev/sda4            4575        5880    10490445    7  HPFS/NTFS
/dev/sda5            3527        4441     7349706   83  Linux
/dev/sda6            4442        4574     1068291   82  Linux swap / Solaris

My T400 would show almost the same thing. From what I read it may be tricky with GRUB2 tho. I still need to work on that bootloader. I SO liked the older GRUB SO much better! The middle NTFS is supposed to be a share partition between the Linux and Windows but my installation of Neverwinter Nights on that part pretty much took about 60% of it.

Have fun with the experiments!

EDIT:

Whoops forgot to mention that I get by with 20gb for W7 in my R51e. I don't have my T400 with XP Pro and 64-bit Crunchbang near me now so I'll be back with the fdisk report later. I'm of the variety that doesn't like putting all my media on my system partitions. I put those on an external drive, DVDs, or my Flash Cards.

[A31]

If you want to run say XP and Vista on the same hard drive and it is 100GB, you could use 50GB for each OS. That's what I'd do, split the hard drive partitions between the two OS's you want to use.

So for you, you can 'donate' 80GB of your 160GB HDD to XP, and the other 80GB half to Linux.

[thinkpad1]

If you want to run say XP and Vista on the same hard drive and it is 100GB, you could use 50GB for each OS. That's what I'd do, split the hard drive partitions between the two OS's you want to use.

So for you, you can 'donate' 80GB of your 160GB HDD to XP, and the other 80GB half to Linux.

Okay, so would you just partition using one primary partition and create that one being 80GB and then the next partition would be extended and install Linux there?

I need a 1GB (min.) of a Linux swap partition and I was curious if 20GB partitions is enough for Linux. I am asking that because I wanted to install multiple distros for the time being to determine which one I like on my Thinkpad T41.

Then I will re-partition again and install the one I like/use the most. I think my current configuration setup of XP being on 30GB is enough and I have a 2nd NTFS partition of 15GB just in case. Say, if I obtain data files or want something there for temp. and I don't have a usb drive handy. Or if that is wasting space, please say. Anybody?

I actually use both equally, I'd say, right now, but that might change once I improve enough in Linux. I also like the look of Windows 7 but since it sounds like it needs more resources, I'll probably stick with XP on the T41. I won't touch Vista. lol!