Rakhama WP

My new Mint setup

–Edit
Y’know what? I’ll post it anyway! Manual partition resizing a-go-go! This tutorial assumes that Windows is already installed. The Linux Mint Live CD will be used as I know it has GParted on it.
This tutorial is aimed at beginners, and doesn’t explore using multiple partitions for the Linux install. At the least, you may want to put the /home directory on its own partition, but there are plenty of sources of information out there that can advise you on a good Linux partition setup.

1. Considering Partitions Sizes

This should be the first thing you do. Start with the essentials – the shared data partition, for storing documents for use between operating systems. I set mine to 5Gb, I doubt I’ll need more than that at any one time. I can always chuck files onto a network drive, but you may need more if you’re storing music or something. The second essential, and this one’s easier to figure out, is the Linux swap partition. It should be the equivalent of double your computer’s RAM. So for my 2Gb RAM, I gave it 4Gb. Simples! Now the tricky part – how much to allocate to Windows and Linux? Well, you should know how much you have left now. Depending on what you plan to do with your installations, this is up to you. Windows generally needs a lot more room than Linux, and I like to play games on Windows on my laptop, which takes up a heck of a lot more space. So I rationed out 50Gb to Windows and 15Gb to Linux – and yes, Windows still uses a far greater percentage of the space than Linux does. But like I say, it’s up to you to figure out how much you’ll think you’ll need. It’s very easy to resize partitions later using GParted anyway. Just remember that your hard disk’s capacity will always be a little less than what’s stated on the label! On to the resizing!

2. Resize the Partitions
• The first thing you should do is to run a defrag in Windows. Tedious, I know, but it’ll reduce the risk of anything going wrong when you resize the Windows partition. That said, I didn’t bother, but I wasn’t overly fussed about goosing the Windows installation. Surprisingly, it actually turned out alright! But still, defrag, and backup what you need. Saves tears later.
• Boot into the Mint LiveCD – using the LiveCD ensures that none of the partitions are locked by an operating system on the disk.
• Go to Menu->All applications->Administration and select Partition Editor. GParted will open, and will show the current partition layout on one of your hard drives. Use the drop-down menu at the top right to select the physical disk to partition. Also, see that Apply button? Any modifications you make now will not be committed until you click that button.
• Resize the Windows partition to a desired size. Make sure it is still to the left-hand side of the disk (position is important if you need to resize later).
• If the Windows partition is contained within an Extended partition, great! Otherwise, some planning may be required. Disks should only have up to four primary partitions. A primary partition is one that is not inside an extended partition (extended partitions are also primary partitions). Any more than four could cause problems. Extended partitions contain logical partitions, and you can have loads of them within one extended partitions. It’s just the number of primary partitions that is the limitation. Anyway, you should add an extended partition to the rest of the free space, assuming you do not already have four primary partitions. If you do, you’ll have to figure that one out yourself I’m afraid!
• We’re going to add the Linux Swap partition. Inside the extended partition, click the New button. Specify the size of the swap, and change the File System to linux-swap. Make sure the partition is moved to the far right-hand side of the available space. Label it appropriately (‘Swap’?), and click the Add button.
• Now to add the shared partition. I used NTFS, because Linux can handle NTFS very well these days, and of course, so can Windows. As with the previous step, click the New button, specify the size, and this time set the File System to ntfs (or fat32, if you’d prefer for whatever reason). Again, drag it to the far right-hand side, label it, and click the Add button.
• The remaining space will be used for Linux. It will sit between the Windows partition, and the ‘fixed’ partitions. The reason for this is that if you decide that Windows could do with more space, the Linux partition can be shrunk, or vice versa. Add another partition in the empty space by selecting the extended partition, and clicking the New button. Use all the space. Why not? That’s what it’s there for. Set the File System to ext3 (or if you’re feeling brave/know that your Linux will support it, go for ext4 – it should be worth it!), label it, and click the Add button.
• The main screen will now show how your disk will be arranged. If you’re happy with it, click the Apply button, make a cup of tea, and watch some Stargate. Otherwise, make the changes as appropriate.
3. …Oops, not finished this article. I’ll come back to it!