Now let us assume, hypothetically, that this person’s Windows OS decided to stop working altogether (not because of Wubi, but just because of the laws of computer nature), and now they want to throw caution into the wind and partition the heck out of their hard drive to run both Windows and Ubuntu at the same time.

What’s the best method? Programs like Partition Magic and EASEUS Partition Master do the job just fine and dandy, but is there an easier way? All hypothetical notions aside, let’s explore a few quick alternatives to hard drive partitioning for dual booting Windows and Ubuntu.

Important Note: Modifying your operating system partitions is inherently dangerous and can result in data loss if something goes wrong. Before following any steps in this guide, make sure you feel comfortable with the procedures detailed below, and above all – make a backup!

Modifying A Windows Volume for Free Space

If you’re using Windows 7 or Windows Vista (sorry XP users), Windows has an option for you under Disk Management that allows for the disk space of the hard drives to be shrunk. To do this, go to Control Panel -> Administrative Tools -> Computer Management -> Disk Management. Then just right click on the partition in question and select “Shrink Volume…” to free up disk space.

Windows will let you know how much space can be trimmed from the partition (so that no data is chopped during the shrink process). After shrinking the Windows volume, one can then boot up the Ubuntu Live CD and format the free space for an Ubuntu install.

The GParted Method

If your situation is exactly like the hypothetical one mentioned in the beginning of this article, it would be in your best interest to look into a program called GParted that is located on the Ubuntu Live CD. Once the CD is running on your machine (using the Trial Version option), look for Gparted under System -> Administration.

This is what the program looks like when loaded up. As one can see, this hard drive has a few partitions on it already, with the main one being Windows (sda5). GParted allows the user to create, delete, and re-format any partition on their hard drive with just a few simple clicks, at their own risk of course.

Dual Booting with GParted

Here’s how our hypothetical person would go about fixing his computer for a dual boot situation. First things first: clearing the 80 GB abomination containing the corrupt and villainous Windows partition.

Next, we take that cleared 80 GB and split it into two parts, one for Ubuntu and one for Windows, noting that we can make them any size we want out of the free space.

Note that one of the partitions is in NTFS format (for Windows), and the other is in ext4 format (for Ubuntu). After allowing GParted to finish its splitting task, the hard drive in question looks parted this:

And there you have it: two partitions fully spaced and formatted for a dual boot situation. As always with extensive computer tweaking, be mindful of what you are doing and be sure to be fully understand the risks involved.

This method of creating two different partitions for dual booting is just one way to do it. In actuality, there are numerous ways to format the drive to allow for dual booting with Ubuntu. This website does a great job of giving all the options for a partitioned Ubuntu hard drive. A nice alternative from this site is to try creating small partitions for the base operating system data, and then creating a “Swap” partition to share all your personal data and media between Windows and Ubuntu. Ultimately, whichever method you choose, be mindful of the risks involved with partitioning and formatting and be sure to back up your data.

Final Note: OS Installation

Now that the hard drive is in a condition to allow installing, let me give one more tip for a clean dual boot situation. The main bootloader for Ubuntu 10.1 is called Grub2, and presents itself every time you boot up your computer. If you want to continue having Grub2 manage your operating systems in a dual boot scenario install Windows first on the machine, then Ubuntu. Windows also has a bootloader, and it does not like to show you that there is another OS on the computer. It is a jealous type.

If you make the mistake of installing Ubuntu first then Windows, there are some sites you can go to (here and most importantly here) to see how you can restore the Grub2 using the Ubuntu Live CD and a terminal.

So from one hypothetical computer user to another, join the next generation of users. Become a dual booter today.

Image courtesy: DeclanTM

The post How to Partition Your Hard Drive for Ubuntu and Windows first appeared on Techerator.

Asus Eee PC 900A

Although the SSD is large enough to run the included Xandros Linux operating system, you may find yourself running into storage space limitations if you install a mainstream flavor of Linux.  (Note: I am focusing on Linux because the 4 GB SSD is nowhere near enough space for any Windows version after Windows XP.)

A great way to add storage space at a low cost is to take advantage of the removable card slot on the 900A by purchasing an SDHC card like this 16 GB SDHC card.

Once you have inserted the card into the card reader you can install your chosen Linux distro.  Since the 900A does not have an optical drive, you’ll have to install Linux from a USB flash drive.  When installing the OS on this system, it is important to have a good partitioning scheme otherwise your netbook may experience performance issues due to the decreased transfer speed of the SDHC slot.

I have found that the partition scheme described below works quite well for both the Fedora and Ubuntu Linux distros.

Partition Scheme Explanation

/boot

• It is common practice to place the boot partition at the beginning of the first drive.  100 MB is enough space for the boot loader and the Linux kernel. I recommend using the ext3 file system for this partition because the GRUB boot loader could experience compatability problems with the newer ext4 file system.

/usr

• This is the Linux equivalent of Program Files in the Windows OS.  Placing /usr on the faster SSD will greatly increase system performance.  3.9 GB could be a restriction but it is unlikely considering the few applications that are commonly used on a netbook.  The ext4 file system is used since its read and write speeds are greatly increased over ext3.

/

• The rest of the OS file system will remain here.  Since the “Program Files” of the Linux OS are on the /usr partition, mostly small text and configuration files remain and are easily accessed on the SDHC card.  Ext4 is used for root due to its increased read and write speeds.

swap

• You’d think that since swap space is the use of the physical disk space as extra RAM, that you would want to place it on the faster drive.  While I do agree with this practice, I believe that in the case of a netbook is different.  The 900A comes with 1 GB of RAM.  If you are using more than 1 GB of RAM on a netbook, you probably have too many programs open or are using the system too hard.  It is important to have swap space available to Linux in the case you do use all of the available RAM to prevent a hard system crash.

I have been using the above partition scheme on my Asus Eee PC 900A using Fedora for a few months now and have not experienced any problems.  My partition scheme is only one of the many possible.

What do you think of this configuration?  Have you tried other partition configurations?  Let us know by commenting below.

The post EeePC 900A: Add More Hard Drive Space with a SDHC Card first appeared on Techerator.

An alternative method is to install Windows 7 while keeping your current operating system installed, which is referred to as dual booting.  This allows you to choose which operating system you want to use each time you start up the computer, and allows both systems to make full use of your computer’s resources.

Note: This guide will require you to install an operating system, modify hard drive partitions, and potentially use a LiveCD.  If you’ve never done any of these things before, it might be best for you to follow our guide on how to install Windows 7 on a virtual machine instead.

1.  Download and Burn Windows 7

Download the Windows 7 Release Candidate ISO from Microsoft’s Customer Preview Program website (you will need to log in with your Windows Live ID before you can download the file).  This file is an image of the installation disc which can be burned directly to a blank DVD.

I recommend using ImgBurn (free, Windows) to burn the file.

If your computer doesn’t have a DVD drive (or any optical drive, for that matter) it is possible to run the installation disc from a bootable USB hard drive or a bootable USB flash drive as well.

2.  Partition your Hard Drive

Partitions are individual storage areas within your hard drive (think of them as hard drives within a hard drive), and to install Windows 7 you’ll need to free up some space.  To do this, we will be reducing  the size of your original partition and creating a new partition to hold Windows 7.  This procedure will vary by operating system, so I’ll provide details on a few popular ones.

Note: Partitioning your hard drive can potentially result in loss of data if something goes wrong.  Make sure to back up all important data before proceeding!

Windows XP / Linux

In this guide I’ll be using the free, open source GParted LiveCD to modify and create partitions.  LiveCDs are special versions of an operating system that can be used directly from the disk – no installation required.

For more detailed information on modifying partitions with GParted (with lots of pictures), check out HowtoForge’s guide.

1. Download the GParted LiveCD and burn it to a CD.
2. With the CD still in your computer’s optical drive, reboot your computer and choose to boot from the CD.
3. Select your main partition (you may only have one) and resize it you have enough extra space to hold Windows 7.
   1. I recommend providing Windows 7 with at least 20 GB, so subtract your current size by at least 20480 MB.
4. In the empty space that resulted from the resizing, create a new NTFS partition and give it a name.
5. Click the Apply button to execute the changes.

Windows Vista

Windows Vista includes an impressive partition management tool, although it is fairly well hidden.  To shrink your current partition and create a new partition for Windows 7, follow these steps:

1. Open Control Panel –> System and Security –> Administrative Tools: Create and format hard disk partitions.
   
2. Right click the partition you would like to resize and click ‘Shrink’.
   
   1. I recommend providing Windows 7 with at least 20 GB, so subtract your current size by at least 20480 MB.
3. Click Shrink to resize the partition.
4. Right click the newly created space and select ‘New Simple Volume’.
5. Set ‘File System’ to NTFS and name the volume.
   

3.  Install Windows 7

Now that you’ve done all that work, the rest of the process is fairly straightforward.  Insert your newly burned Windows 7 DVD into your optical drive and reboot your computer.  Be sure to choose to boot from the disk if prompted.

When going through the initial installation steps, you will be prompted to choose an installation type.  Select ‘Custom (advanced)’, which will allow you to select the Windows 7 partition you created in Step 2.  Be careful when choosing the installation partition because that partition will be formatted before installation and all previous data will be lost.

Windows 7 will take some time to install and your computer may restart several times.  You will need to enter your license key as well as some initial setup information during this process.

4.  Dual Booting

Windows XP / Vista

If you installed Windows 7 with Windows XP or Windows Vista on your computer, you’re already finished!

Next time you start up your computer, you will be presented with a special menu that will let you choose which operating system to run.

Linux

Since the Windows Boot Manager only recognizes Windows-based operating systems, you won’t be able to access your Linux distribution temporarily.  If you were using the GRUB bootloader before installing Windows 7, it will have lost priority to the Windows Boot Manager and will no longer be visible when you start up your computer.

To restore the GRUB bootloader, follow these steps:

1. Boot into your Linux distribution’s LiveCD.
2. Open the Terminal application and enter the following commands:
   1. sudo grub
   2. find /boot/grub/stage1
      1. This command will identify where GRUB is currently installed and may be needed in the next step.
   3. root (hd0,0)
      1. Note that (hd0,0) refers to the hard drive and partition where you originally installed the GRUB bootloader.  If you don’t know where GRUB is located, use the location you found in Step 2.
   4. setup (hd0)
   5. quit

GRUB will now be re-enabled, but it won’t know where your Windows 7 partition is located since you installed it after you originally installed Linux.

To add Windows 7 to your GRUB bootloader:

1. In Terminal, enter the following command:
   1. sudo gedit /boot/grub/menu.lst (If your GRUB configuration file is located somewhere else, point to that file.  Mine was located at /media/disk/boot/grub/menu.lst)
2. Locate the example section for Windows installations (it will be commented out with #’s as shown below):
   # title   Windows 95/98/NT/2000
   # root   (hd0,0)
   # makeactive
   # chainloader   +1
3. Uncomment this section by removing the #’s and change the second line ‘root (hd0,0)’ to the partition where you installed Windows 7.
   1. For example:  If you installed Windows 7 on your first hard drive on partition 4, the command would be ‘root (hd0,4)‘.  If you are unsure of your partitions, launch gparted from Terminal with the sudo gparted command.
4. Save this file and reboot your computer.

Congratulations!  GRUB Should now be restored and let you choose either operating system when you boot up your computer.

The post How To: Install Windows 7 and Keep Your Current OS (Dual Boot) first appeared on Techerator.