Arch Linux

Crone

Member

Registered: 2012-03-21

Posts: 71

Arch Linux and Win8.1 Dual Boot on 128GB SSD

I have a Samsung 840 PRO 128GB that has Windows 8.1 on it. It has 68.7GB free.

I want to dual boot windows and arch linux on the ssd. Is it a bad idea regarding space? Will the speed of the drive be hindered? I also have an HDD that has backtrack installed on it, so I have grub too. Grub is on the HDD. Does this complicate things?

The usage of arch is home/office/development. All the files will be saved on the HDD so maybe I can cut a lot of space from the installation in the SSD.

Trilby

Inspector Parrot

Registered: 2011-11-29

Posts: 29,786

Website

Re: Arch Linux and Win8.1 Dual Boot on 128GB SSD

Adding question numbers:

(1) Is it a bad idea regarding space? (2) Will the speed of the drive be hindered? (3) I also have an HDD that has backtrack installed on it, so I have grub too. (4) Grub is on the HDD. Does this complicate things?

Most of this is covered in the wiki or other forum posts asking about the same thing - so look around.

1) No.  Windows takes massively more space than an arch install, and Win is only using half the drive.  I don't have any DEs installed, but I have some hefty packages like texlive (LaTex), and my root filesystem is under 5 GB.  Any media or other files you'd likely keep in your home folder are the only things that might even put a dent in that space.  But your last point suggests these might be on the HDD anyways.

2) No.  How could it / why would it?  I don't mean to ridicule the question, but I'm curious if you've heard such things somewhere - it's just absurd.

3) OK.

4) It shouldn't.  I don't know what other bootloader(s) you have set up, but in many cases you could have one bootloader for all three systems.  Just keep an eye on the wiki guides for whether you should use uefi or MBR.

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"UNIX is simple and coherent" - Dennis Ritchie; "GNU's Not Unix" - Richard Stallman

Crone

Member

Registered: 2012-03-21

Posts: 71

Re: Arch Linux and Win8.1 Dual Boot on 128GB SSD

Yea all the media will be on the HDD. Possibly some non-repository applications that I don't use that often aswell.

I'm happy to hear that most likely there won't be a space issue. I'm asking about the speed because, I think that, when an SSD is almost full, it kinda underperforms.

Regarding 4, I don't have UEFI. Right now the system starts from the HDD (BIOS setup) where Grub is and if I choose windows, the execution moves to the MBR, which is on the SSD, and then windows boot. If I understand it correctly at least. So If I'm not mistaken I can just add a new entry to the current GRUB pointing to the linux partition on the SSD and it will work.

Last edited by Crone (2014-07-16 14:44:20)

Trilby

Inspector Parrot

Registered: 2011-11-29

Posts: 29,786

Website

Re: Arch Linux and Win8.1 Dual Boot on 128GB SSD

For booting - I believe that's right.  I know syslinux has problems if the boot partition is not on the save physical drive as the MBR code - but I'm pretty sure GRUB can handle this (though I've never used the 'new' grub).  But even if it is an issue, you could chainload a bootloader for archlinux just like you do windows, or you could even share the boot partition between backtrack and arch (if backtrack has a separate boot partition).

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"UNIX is simple and coherent" - Dennis Ritchie; "GNU's Not Unix" - Richard Stallman

Crone

Member

Registered: 2012-03-21

Posts: 71

Re: Arch Linux and Win8.1 Dual Boot on 128GB SSD

I don't remember if it does, but yea I can do either of those should I step into issues. Thanks for the help, I'm going to install it today most likely, so I'll post back here if I find trouble.