How to partition a drive for multiple distros

[aviceda]

Hi All, recently I lost the hard-drive that I had installed LL on, and have just purchased a 3Tb drive to replace it. I was very impressed with LL2.8 (except the Grub default 'arrogance' )
Now I want to put at least three distros on the drive to evaluate them (At this stage I don't want to use a virtual machine....sorry)
Earlier I had success with the latest Korora 23 but had to use the 'tedious' Anaconda installer, and permitted it to create it's own partitions (...as I had no success with the ones that I'd created with Gparted)
Now I have  'Biosboot', Boot and LVM partitions and 2.58 Tb unallocated space., if I want to add an LL installation, should I create fresh partition (ext4 or LVM with Gparted?) or use the installer partition tool? Before I commence I would love to get some 'expert-advice' and opinions.

Cheers, Tom

[firenice03]

I'll chime in with some basic info; the experts may expand in-depth... Now I've mostly installed LL and Mint but the info should work for most distro's that install similarly...

I would partition the drive ahead of time; from a live environment (LiveUSB) using gparted create the partitions for each distro's root, another for swap and a "/home"...
Root partitions I typically format as ext4 but in reality you'll reformat at install - use the drop down to label as "/", format swap as swap  and home same ext4 using the drop down label "/home"...

When installing use the "Something else" option to choose your specific partition...
When installing; install that distro's grub to its root partition..

Especially if installing after LL is installed..

After new distro is installed boot into LL run grub update to add it to grub.
- this will keep grub the prominent grub which it likes.

The separate /home should be seen by all distro's (shared) as would swap.


Another thought to consider is a "/Data" partition for files etc.. This could be mounted into the primary OS and then into the secondaries later as needed..

Also partitions can be created after the fact (say you want to add another trial distro) but there is a BUT... If you think you will want another; it may not hurt to leave a few GB's as unallocated for this or should you want/need to expand a partition later.. Recouping from an partition that is in use adds risk..

I suggest searching the forums for "dual boot" as well as "grub" there is some  really good information in those threads...

Again this is what I have done; the partitions could be created at the time of install from unallocated if you leave more available...

[aviceda]

Thanks Firenice, really appreciate all constructive advice!
I did initially partition the drive first, expecting the distros to install in the reasonable way that I've been used-to for some time, but 'good old' Fedora 'Anaconda' wasn't having any of my 'partitioning' ...surprisingly, as I have managed to do set it up in the past (...by fluke?),  but this time I had decided to leave LL as the last (with it's default grub-loader issues)
So now I have a 'healthy' Korora 23 using LVM, but if I create your 'normal' partitions for LL will they restrict the size of this one in some way? (Apologies if this sounds vague, but I find it difficult to explain, if I could work out how to upload an image on here I would give you a screenshot of my drive with Gparted )
Tom

[firenice03]

If you already have OS's running and you need to recoup disk space (nothing unallocated) there are procedures - with Windows I know you have to shrink the disk yada yada.. With Korora and others, I'm not sure; lets let the Linux guru's confirm...

For the images.. use http://imgur.com click upload button at the top...
Once image is upload copy the BBC code into the reply..

[aviceda]

Thanks Firenice, have learned something new today 



This is the Gparted view of my /dev/sdc

[firenice03]

Well you should be ok.. You have plenty of unallocated disk...
When you create new partitions create them from the unallocated space, your current install partitions should remain untouched...

During installs use the "Something else" versus "Along Side"; something else give more options..  And add grub to the newly created partitions...

[aviceda]

Hi Firenice, attempted the LL install using your advice but before implementing partition changes noticed that changes were going to be made to the previous (korora) on the same drive (sdc)
It appears that the Korora installation details are very different to the GParted ones posted earlier.







Am a bit reluctant to install LL if it will 'overwrite' the Korora partitions, does this make sense?
Wonder if anyone else has had noticed these issues?
Cheers, Tom

[firenice03]

HHMMM...
We may want to see if gold_finger or another chimes in... for the LVM VG korora, LV swap line..

The GParted image shows Korora on SDC, which is fine..

From the install as follows...
SDA = Windows
SDB = Cant see right off but another Linux Distro and swap?
SDC = Linux, assuming mapped for the  /dev/mapper/Korora
SDD = Mint

Writing changes..
LL is being built across all partitions...
3 partitions for swap (2 SDB and 1 SDD); and  SDC partition 4 which doesn't exist yet, this will become SDC4 assuming for "/" and assuming from the unallocated space..

sdb1 & 3 and sdd1 all for swap are probably ok being reformatted as swap
although swap could be shared across the distro's (Mint and LL for certain) as could "/home"..

The  line...
LVM VG korora, LV swap as swap is the one I'm most iffy and a confirmation/additional input to be certain..

Lastly the Device for boot loader installation have all previous install been to sda? or the same as root partition?
it may make a difference for grub..

[rokytnji]

Excuse me for asking. Is this drive made as GPT or MSDOS?
If MSDOS.
The unallocated 2.5 needs to be done as a extended/logical partition because of  only a 4 primary partition limit in MSDOS devices.

[aviceda]

rokytnji
I believe the drive is GPT not MSDOS

firenice03
All the previous Grub installations except the last (Korora) have been to SDA (but I have created Grub boot-loaders on all the drives, in the event of problems)

Hope this helps,

Tom