Dual Booting XP & LL2 with shared data partition.

[m654321]

I am thinking of dual-booting one of my laptops with Win XP and LL2, using a fresh install of each OS, with a common (shared) DATA partition for the contents of 'home' (with the exception of 'Desktop' which wont be shared).

I'll use service pack 4 to patch Win XP, as well as one or two other tips to enhance its security, as suggested by Jerry (Jerry Bezencon) on his extremely helpful YouTube videos.

My question is roughly how much HDD space should I apportion for each operating system?  I was thinking of 40GB for each but maybe I could get away comfortably with much less?

Many thanks for any comments.
Regards
Mike

[Valtam]

I suggested to use Windows XP on Youtube? Where is this video? No one should be running XP unless it is offline (not connected to the internet, or lan) regardless of 'tips and tricks' etc. Just plain not safe.

[gold_finger]

This may actually be what you meant, but will clarify best way just in case there is any confusion.

You don't actually want LL's full /home to be on that data partition.  LL's /home will have not only data files in it, but also program config files.  Since you want the data partition to be shared with Windows it must be formatted as either NTFS or FAT32, neither of which handle Linux permissions/ownership of files the way Ext4 does and that could cause problems if you try to make /home on that partition.

Would be best to keep /home on the root partition or on its own small partition (~2GB) and have just the data files go on the data partition.  Then link or bind the data folders to /home.  Here is tutorial for doing that:  How To Create and Use a Separate Data Partition.

As far as the size of needed partitions goes:

*  Windows = use your best judgement taking into account addition software you plan to install to it.  I don't know enough to give size advise on this.

*  LL "/" root partition = 20-25GB will be fine as long as you store data files on the separate data partition.

*  LL "/home" partition = 2-5GB max, but not really needed at all unless you prefer to keep user config files separate from root partition.

*  Shared Data partition = whatever you want it to be.

[m654321]

I suggested to use Windows XP on Youtube? Where is this video? No one should be running XP unless it is offline (not connected to the internet, or lan) regardless of 'tips and tricks' etc. Just plain not safe.

I do apologise if what I said caused some consternation...  I really apologize here as I have made an error: the videos on the continued use of Win XP after April 2014 were posted on YouTube by Puppylinuxworld - I now realize that this is not you - my sincerest apologies! The Youtube videos (may be of interest) are as follows:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kr7ajYZD8CA: What you should do to keep using WindowsXP after April 2014
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=juHJDalZrTI: Windows XP Service Pack 4 Unofficial
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KnAFfl5gfnI: Windows XP Service Pack 4 Update
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ocOs0X4PcgA: How To Update WindowsXP Until 2019

My apologies again...
Regards
Mike

[m654321]

This may actually be what you meant, but will clarify best way just in case there is any confusion.

You don't actually want LL's full /home to be on that data partition.  LL's /home will have not only data files in it, but also program config files.  Since you want the data partition to be shared with Windows it must be formatted as either NTFS or FAT32, neither of which handle Linux permissions/ownership of files the way Ext4 does and that could cause problems if you try to make /home on that partition.

Thanks gold_finger, yes when I said the contents of 'home' I meant just the data folders (and the files contained in them) e.g. Documents, Downloads, Music, etc... 

Many thanks for the advice for formatting the /mnt/DATA partition as NTFS rather than ext4 to allow MS Windows access - I had actually overlooked that point so will go back and reformat /mnt/DATA as NTFS and relabel. Also I didn't know about the separate (2GB) root partition - thankyou for that too.

Your continued support is really helpful and I've learnt a lot of useful tips from you since moving over from Win XP in April.

Kind regards
Mike

[gold_finger]

Also I didn't know about the separate (2GB) root partition - thankyou for that too.

I'm sure it was just a typo on your part, but above should read "separate (2GB) /home partition", not "root".

I don't use a separate /home partition myself, but some people like to do that.  Under the circumstances here, it'll just hold your user program config files (which take up very little room), but keeping them on separate /home partition WILL make re-installs easier if you end up needing to do that somewhere down the line.

[m654321]

AUTHORS NOTE: I have since moved to a Windows 7 - LL2 dual-boot system.  I share Valtam's hesitation, regarding the continued use of XP, even though PuppyLinuxWorld (a.k.a. LinuxHelpGuy) has shown a work-around for its continued use on YouTube.  My data files are too precious to take the risk with XP...

Valtam, if you prefer to delete this post then please go ahead and do so.

Kind regards
Mike