[More questions D:]Unusable space?

cryticfarm · 2009-07-30 12:33:17

So I was going to install arch today but I couldn't get the partitions working. Here are my partitions/problems.
Windows 7 Primary Bootable 224000 mb
/boot 32 mb Primary (do I make this bootable or the root?)
/swap 2000 mb Logical Non-Bootable (Should I use 2GB because I have 2GB ram and I read somewhere that you should keep it that same amount as your ram)
/root 4000 mb Primary (Read brackets from the /boot)
/home the_rest mb Primary (Problem is, when I was going to create this partition from an unallocated space it said unusable in the file system category so I could not create a partition out of it).

The main problem is this /home one though.

Last edited by cryticfarm (2009-07-30 15:11:09)

jelly · 2009-07-30 12:47:27

/boot -> bootalbe
swap is big enough
root is big enough but depends on your windows manger , gnome || kde is going to be hard.
/home make logical or extended that will work. I think you can only have 3 primary partitions, so make the others logical

cryticfarm · 2009-07-30 14:07:37

Arch Install Guide wrote:

Primary partitions can be bootable, and are limited to 4 partitions per disk or raid volume.

Also what do you recommend?
XFCE or OpenBox?
I'm a heavy windows user. I gave ubuntu and stuff a try but I really didn't like it, so I decided to try arch.

Last edited by cryticfarm (2009-07-30 14:11:19)

jelly · 2009-07-30 14:49:00

just try both, see what you like , suits you

cryticfarm · 2009-07-30 14:59:37

Openbox Wiki Article wrote:

To be able to exit the session using xfce4-session

What does this mean?

Last edited by cryticfarm (2009-07-30 15:12:11)

miau · 2009-07-30 15:22:00

I think it is necessary, if you want to exit openbox by using the logout button of Xfce.

Leiaz · 2009-07-30 15:34:44

cryticfarm wrote:

Arch Install Guide wrote:
Primary partitions can be bootable, and are limited to 4 partitions per disk or raid volume.

But if you want more than 4 partitions, one of those have to be an extented partition. So that makes 3 primary partitions for your files and the others have to be logical partitions.

cryticfarm · 2009-07-30 18:50:03

Leiaz wrote:

cryticfarm wrote:
Arch Install Guide wrote:
Primary partitions can be bootable, and are limited to 4 partitions per disk or raid volume.
But if you want more than 4 partitions, one of those have to be an extented partition. So that makes 3 primary partitions for your files and the others have to be logical partitions.

So I have 3 primary partitions for windows, home, and root, and 2 logical for boot and swap?

perbh · 2009-07-30 18:58:29

Your /boot should be primary or you can't boot!!

.:B:. · 2009-07-30 19:08:37

perbh wrote:

Your /boot should be primary or you can't boot!!

I never heard such a thing. Windows, however, needs a primary partition to boot from; Linux is less selective.

perbh · 2009-07-30 19:17:31

B wrote:

perbh wrote:
Your /boot should be primary or you can't boot!!
I never heard such a thing. Windows, however, needs a primary partition to boot from; Linux is less selective.

*lol* - well, depends whether or not you want to overwrite the windoze mbr ... (ie grub on mbr)
If you do - yup, you can boot from wherever - if you don't, you need /boot (if it is on a seperate partition) to be primary (and active).

Last edited by perbh (2009-07-30 19:18:24)

cryticfarm · 2009-07-30 19:21:41

So this is my setup now:
Windows 7 Primary Bootable 224000 mb
/boot 32 mb Primary Bootable
/swap 2000 mb Logical Non-Bootable
/root 4000 mb Primary
/home the_rest mb Logical

Will this all work out?
Also, I heard you need to install grub on both the windows and linux partitions when you install. Is this true?

perbh · 2009-07-30 19:30:35

I think you misunderstand (somewhat) partitioning and bootability ...
It all really hinges on the MBR.
1) If you keep your original MBR, you can have only _one_ bootable, primary partition - the one who has got its 'bootflag' set (ie. the 'active' partition). In this case, you would typically install grub on your linux /boot-partition and make this active - then you can boot windoze or linux through grub's menu.lst
2) If you install grub on the MBR, then it doesn't matter whether partitions are logical or primary, or whether or not they are active - grub will happily boot anything from anywhere (well, windoze still need to be on a primary partition - 'chainloader +1')

[edit]
If you are using vista - I would strongly recommend to leave the MBR alone ...

Last edited by perbh (2009-07-30 19:34:06)

cryticfarm · 2009-07-30 20:11:00

So I just leave the default install boatloader settings alone, except uncommenting those lines in menu.lst?

perbh · 2009-07-31 13:24:21

If you decide to put grub on the MBR (default), you _will_ have problems if you use vista (it's ok for XP).
When doing the install, you have to tell the installer to put grub on the /boot-partition. You also have to make sure that (use 'fdisk' and a live cd) that the /boot partition is your only active primary partition and finally you have to edit /boot/grub/menu.lst

Another word of warning here ... Whenever vista updates itself (for any reason), it will set the active partition back to it's windows-partition; so again, you have to boot from a live cd and use fdisk so that the /boot-partition becomes your only active one.

[edit]
btw - I think 4 gigs is wayyyy too little for the root partition - go make it at least 8 gigs.
(and before yall jump down my throat - I know its _possible_ to run with 4, but what's the point when you have more than sufficient space? You will only create problems in the long run unless you are ever so clever at running pacman -Scc or making /var a seperate partition)

Last edited by perbh (2009-07-31 13:28:06)

Arch Linux

#1 2009-07-30 12:33:17

[More questions D:]Unusable space?

#2 2009-07-30 12:47:27

Re: [More questions D:]Unusable space?

#3 2009-07-30 14:07:37

Re: [More questions D:]Unusable space?

#4 2009-07-30 14:49:00

Re: [More questions D:]Unusable space?

#5 2009-07-30 14:59:37

Re: [More questions D:]Unusable space?

#6 2009-07-30 15:22:00

Re: [More questions D:]Unusable space?

#7 2009-07-30 15:34:44

Re: [More questions D:]Unusable space?

#8 2009-07-30 18:50:03

Re: [More questions D:]Unusable space?

#9 2009-07-30 18:58:29

Re: [More questions D:]Unusable space?

#10 2009-07-30 19:08:37

Re: [More questions D:]Unusable space?

#11 2009-07-30 19:17:31

Re: [More questions D:]Unusable space?

#12 2009-07-30 19:21:41

Re: [More questions D:]Unusable space?

#13 2009-07-30 19:30:35

Re: [More questions D:]Unusable space?

#14 2009-07-30 20:11:00

Re: [More questions D:]Unusable space?

#15 2009-07-31 13:24:21

Re: [More questions D:]Unusable space?

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