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Dual Boot

Savage Shadows

Savage Shadows

Android Enthusiast
Did a very quick search before posting, just thread titles, and didn't see anything catch my eye on this. So I apologize if this has been addressed before.

This is what I want to accomplish. I want to set my laptop up with a dual boot system between Windows 7 and Linux. I do not yet know what Linux system I want to run. If I can overclock my processor, that would be a plus.

Right now, I have a Toshiba Satellite C675-S7106 that I purchased earlier this Spring, before they rolled out their more current follow up models. It has 4GB of RAM and an Intel i3-2350M processor. Unfortunately, it is not compatible with more that 4GB of RAM. It came with a genuine Windows 7 Home Premium. However, I was having some issues at one point where during boot up, it would give me errors such as check media connection, among others. My brother-in-law "fixed" it, installed Windows 7 Ultimate, and said it was a genuine version. However, there is a reason the family does not talk to him any longer, and I don't trust this is a genuine version. Additionally, I now have the full Microsoft Office suite that he installed with a stolen corporate license key from a previous work place of his parents. But before, I installed Office Student, and still have the key for it. I also have an external 1TB hard drive with around 700MB free, and my laptop's hard drive holds around 500MB (sticker size, not sure if it's the actual size).

Here are my questions:
-If I were to do a clean, fresh install of Windows 7 Home Premium, could I use the original Windows 7 Home Premium key found on the Windows sticker included with my laptop? Considering it would still be on the same device.
-Like the previous question, would I still be able to use my Microsoft Office Student key on this same device after a fresh Windows install?
-What Linux build(s) would you recommend using, and why? My main purpose for Linux is to both start learning to use it and learn more about it, and to work on Android projects (more so ROMs and kernels, rather than apps).
-Lastly, I have found a couple of methods of setting up a dual boot system. Would any of you have a recommended method, or be able to point me towards a recommended method?

In case this comes up, I do not like using a virtual machine. I find it messy, annoying, RAM intensive, and any laziness ever in doing so would come at a risk of losing unsaved data.

Thank you for your input, and hopefully this thread may benefit somebody else as well.


P.S. I do realize that Ubuntu puts out a Windows installer. However, I am hesitant as I have heard that 12.04 for some reason isn't the best for working on Android. Something with a certain program not running well on that build or something. Also, it is unclear from the instructions given on the site whether or not I'll be able to manage partitions without formatting or losing anything already present, or else I'd assume it would say "Hey guys, careful, working with partitions can wipe a whole lot of shit so be careful!"
 
1. Yes. I like to reformat/reinstall windows once a year or so. Use the key in the battery box or on the bottom. There is supposed to be a way to change your KEY without reinstalling, but I have never tried, might only work for upgrades.

2. Yes. I have reinstalled Office repeatedly and on new machines. To keep it legal, remove Office from the old machine.

3. I have Ubuntu 12.04, it is popular but have barely touched it.

4. Create a partition (say 20GB or so) for Linux and simply install. Upon booting your machine you will see a black and white 'prompt' screen asking which to boot into (if you do not select an OS your primary will load). I have 3 partitions (Win7, Win8 beta, Linux) with Win7 as my primary boot.



You can create new partitions directly from Win7 or during reinstall of Win7.

WinExplorer > (right clik on computer) manage > disk management


edit: my Ubuntu partition is 20GB (17 GB free).
 
Thank you kevincott! And for some follow up questions now.

I plan on using several partitions. Windows, Linux, swap, shared memory, and possibly a small handful of applications to use between systems (possibly Chrome or some others).

Swap

Now for swap. I do plan on using it as I understand its necessary to write the system memory to a solid drive to allow the proper use of any hibernation feature. I also understand and acknowledge that it can "burn" memory; I understand the risks and am okay with them. Here are my questions.
-Should I use a separate partition for swap, or just include them in my Linux OS partition? Pros/cons?
-If I use a separate partition, what format should I use? FAT32, NTSC, etc...

Currently, my thoughts are that if I use a separate partition for swap, then I can determine how much memory I put at risk of being "burnt". Is that realistic? Responsible? Should I not even worry about that? I don't run many RAM intensive programs, unless Netflix counts or what I may end up using for some Android development.

Partition formats in general

Just like this title says, what about my partition formats in general? What should I use for the Windows partition, Linux partition, shared memory partition? Will I be able to move files between partitions when absolutely needed? I don't know anything on formats, other than the fact that I always format my micro-sd cards to FAT32 and many of the custom ROMs for my old Android phone mentioned ext4. I do figure I might be using Dropbox a bit more here and there, but the less I need to RELY on it, the better.

Shared file partition / Shared program partition

Worth using? Either of them? One thing I love about Google Chrome is how seamlessly I can keep my profiles between devices. I've read that with Firefox, you can do something like put it on a separate partition, and it can be used between systems. But I'd rather use Chrome. Is there something like that for Chrome, or should I just install Chrome on both systems (not like that'd be a big deal or anything)? Would there be any advantage of even having another partition for just a few programs that can perform between the systems?

And for the shared file partition. I realize that if I create and use this partition, I would just end up replacing the common folders (Documents, Downloads, Music, Photos, Videos, etc...) in Windows and Linux with shortcuts to the folders I create in this partition. Would it just be easier to keep and use the folders in Windows and shortcut to them in the Linux OS?




I apologize for writing a whole novel out of questions. I've never used a Linux based OS on a computer for more than ten or fifteen minutes at a time. Never had a dual boot system. I understand how to accomplish things, but have been totally lost as to what configuration to use, why this and not that, and so on.
 
Swap

I have ignored swap and pagefile and let my OS do its' job. Many techies open up their pagefile to the max allowed but unless you are running RAM intensive applications it should not matter. You said you have 4GB and that is plenty for 90% of users, pagefile doesn't come into play until you have around 65+% of your RAM allocated, never messed with swap.

Partition formats in general

Any OS installation will warn/change your file system as necessary and should be able to read other partitions. You might be overthinking this.

Shared file partition / Shared program partition

If Win7 is your primary OS copy & paste bookmarks and such as necessary then open permanent Win7 folders (documents, videos) in Linux as you need, possibly put videos, music and such on the external HD.

I am by no means an Ubuntu guru but I do not remember any prollems reading Win7 folders.
 
In my experience Linux runs better with a dedicated swap Partition. about the same amount as physical memory.

before doing anything backup everything. and remove the external drive from the computer during the installation. IF you are not familiar with the Linux partition tool it can get complicated Linux looks at disk as hda hdb and so on unlike windows c:, D:, and so on.

dual booting will give you access to windows files in Linux but not the other way around. use the external hard drive as your "Shared Swap Drive" between windows and Linux.

Also as a rule of thumb you should start using cross platform programs this will help going between the two OS's (Firefox instead of IE, vlc instead of windows media player, etc)
 
Thank you kevincott and argedion.

argedion, I do plan on having Firefox there to use between systems, but should I be okay with Chrome? I have seen that Chrome is available for Linux, and it is my browser of choice on my pc, but I do keep Firefox because Chrome is VERY glitchy on my phone so I use Firefox there, and it can be nice to pick up tabs between devices.
 
I tend to use firefox when on linux, just because it's a pretty awesome browser and it's there... thought I do quite like chrome.... (but when on linux, I tend to go for chromium personally... ;))

I was told that swap should be 2x the installed ram, but from my understanding that is a very 'old' guideline... I'd say 1x ram would likely suffice.

I tend to do dual boot in this way:
1. Windows - 50GB
2. Linux - 20 GB
3. Swap (1xRam)
4. Data - Everything else (NTFS so both OSs can read it)
 
I have noticed Chromium before. My main question with that is, can you still sync your Chrome/Google account with it, just like with Chrome? Including auto-fill text, sync things with Google account, etc...
 
Savage Shadows said:
I have noticed Chromium before. My main question with that is, can you still sync your Chrome/Google account with it, just like with Chrome? Including auto-fill text, sync things with Google account, etc...
Click to expand...

not sure about the auto fill text but yes everything else will sync with it. It happens to be my browser of choice. I have it on computer and on phone. I no longer use windows so for me its pure Linux.

I strongly recommend you download a few different distro's. Most offer a Live version that you can boot up with out having to do an install. This gives you the opportunity to test drive it before you install it. Ubuntu is an ok system and used to be really user friendly I'm not sure anymore. I haven't used it since 10. I'm a Fedora guy. There are a lot of distro's out there so don't jump to the first one. This is what tends to make Linux loose some of the luster.

IMPORTANT LINUX IS NOT A BETTER WINDOWS ONLY MICROSOFT CAN PUT OUT A BETTER WINDOWS. LINUX IS IT'S OWN OPERATING SYSTEM NOT SUBJECT TO THE LIMITATIONS OF WINDOWS.

Have fun and be sure to join the distro's forums you can learn a lot from those guys and girls.
 
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