Installing 7 and Arch64 on the same machine; same HD or separate HDs?

mariusmeyer · 2010-02-01 17:52:13

Hello all!

I've recently bought new stuff for my PC (motherboard, processor, RAM) and I want to reconsider my partition scheme.
I have two HDs: one with 500GB capacity, and one with 160GB. I've been thinking to myself how I'll best be able to install these two OSs (Windows 7 and Arch64) and get them to cooperate in the best possible manner. I then decided to consult with you guys, as some (if not a lot) of you certainly have more experience with computers in general and more specifically installation/partitioning.

So here comes the question: Should I
a) install BOTH Windows 7 and Arch64 on my 500GB HD, leaving the 160GB HD with a single NTFS partition for my "stash" (music, documents etc.)?
b) install Arch64 on the 500GB, Windows 7 on the 160GB? (this is what I currently do with Arch and XP)
c) do something completely different?

I would really appreciate all help! But please, if you have an opinion, be so kind as to give reason to/justify it

Best regards

Kitty · 2010-02-01 18:30:04

Install arch + 7 on the 160, use the 500 for data. This makes the most sense to me. Even with a bunch of games and apps, 100Gb should be a fine 7 partition size. Arch will live comfortably in the leftover 60.

Music and movies will eat the 500 fast, so you can always upgrade to a TB+ with just a simple copy, never touching the OSs.

Protip, install 7 first, it likes to make a small first partition to be it's "/boot" so you'll use 2 physical partitions to get 7 on there, then just do '/', '/home' in Arch. You also might want to use the 7 boot loader that will launch grub, that way you don't have mess with the way 7 likes to boot. (install grub to sda3, if you follow my example here) There are several apps that will change the settings for you, but I don't have any links handy.

mariusmeyer · 2010-02-01 18:57:08

Let me get this straight: the 7 boot loader goes to MBR, and grub goes to the same as / , and then you can have the 7 boot loader launch grub?
That would be handy indeed. Another thing, I like to have a partition with /var and Reiserfs, but that won't be possible (in a normal partition) on the 160 if 7 requires two for itself... (2 for win7 and / and /home makes 4, right) Any opinion on what would then be optimal: an extended partition with all my Arch stuff on the 160? or / and /var on the 160 and maybe /home on the 500 since this could be the place I put my data anyhow...? Or is there some big NO! connected to putting /home on a different physical unit than the rest of Arch?

Cheers!

Last edited by mariusmeyer (2010-02-01 20:14:26)

Skripka · 2010-02-01 19:05:33

I keep separate OSes on separate drives. Arch64, Win7, and a copy of XP are all on different drives...with Grub/Arch64 as 1st in the boot order. Why? If any OS gets smoked, it doesn't effect any of the others.

Your choice.

Arch Linux

#1 2010-02-01 17:52:13

Installing 7 and Arch64 on the same machine; same HD or separate HDs?

#2 2010-02-01 18:30:04

Re: Installing 7 and Arch64 on the same machine; same HD or separate HDs?

#3 2010-02-01 18:57:08

Re: Installing 7 and Arch64 on the same machine; same HD or separate HDs?

#4 2010-02-01 19:05:33

Re: Installing 7 and Arch64 on the same machine; same HD or separate HDs?

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