XP - Ubuntu Dual Boot: Replacing ubuntu with arch......

zee · 2009-03-27 20:54:53

Hey everyone

First- I'm really liking everything I read about arch. I'd really like to delve a little deeper and install arch over ubuntu.

I've read through the guides and I *think* i can probably do it.... However, I only have wireless and there is great fear within me.

But most of all, I'd really like to not lose XP/my saved data.

What's really confusing me- and I've searched and read the faqs, etc,- is the dual-boot-partitioning-replacing ubuntu-grub relationship.

I know that when I turn on my computer, I select which OS i want to load from the grub menu.

my hd looks like this right now:

/dev/sd1 ntfs preload 135GB(62 used) Booooot
/dev/sda5 ext3 like 90GB (6used)
/dev/sda6 linux-swap 3GB
unallocated unallocated 6MB
/dev/sda2 serviceV001 5GB(4 used)

I'm not sure how long ago I did this, but I have no idea what i did when i did it and I'm not really sure what i have now except that XP is on sd1. I remember a while ago wanting to get rid of ubuntu... I think i deleted everything except sd1 and i had massive massive problems and i think it had to do with grub. I had to reformat and reinstall XP after that and it was a huge pia.

I'd like that to not happen again, and I guess what I'm asking is:

Where do I begin with partitioning? the grub stuff is really confusing to me.. I think I could install arch, but when I restart my computer, I have no idea wtf will happen (chernobyl?). I just want to get rid of ubuntu and replace it with arch, but I'm really not sure about the /boot stuff and how I should organise my file structure

Any words of wisdom?

-zee

Primoz · 2009-03-27 21:15:44

Well I learnt from my mistakes that installing with another system present and trying to preserve that system can be tricky.
I almost always ended by installing my grub on my Kubuntu's root partition.
Any way the best thing to do would be to first format all of Ubuntu partitions (back-up off course). And then proceed with Arch installation.
One of the first thing that Arch install will demand from you is to specify size of your partitions. It's important to remember which of them is for what.
As when you'll come to Grub installation you'll have to specify the boot partition which would be sda1 in normal install, but I would assume that sda1 is occupied by Widows, so boot partition is then sda2 actually.

Hope that helps.

userlander · 2009-03-27 21:39:38

That install looks kind of funky. I'd wipe everything after /dev/sda1 (assuming that's your windows install) and start fresh from there (backing up what you want to save, of course). You might as well reclaim that "unallocated" space if possible.

Then just install grub to the MBR of the drive (/dev/sda) with root being whatever partition you make as / and it should boot into arch fine. It's been so long since I installed Arch I can't remember if it automatically adds your windows OS to grub, but you can always add that later easily enough. It's only like 4-5 standard lines in menu.lst.

That should pretty much do it. Just don't get too freaked out over it. As long as you know /dev/sda1 is your XP partition, just leave that alone and you should be fine.

JF · 2009-03-27 22:01:50

Hi first post here, I'm a several years happy linux user and a several months happy arch user so I feel like contributing

To add the the previous response and answer your file structure question: the simpliest setup would be:

- delete all partitions but sda1
- create one ext3 partion (primary type) as / with all the space remaining minus your RAM amount
- create one swap partition (primary type) with a size equal to your RAM amount

This way /boot will be included on the linux partition so you don't have to bother with it.
The linux partition will be sda2 and the swap will be sda3.

Hope this helps.

Last edited by JF (2009-03-27 22:02:38)

zee · 2009-03-27 22:09:54

ah

guys, thanks a lot!

i think I was on information overload. Will I need to adjust sd1 at all because it's currently "boot"?

userlander · 2009-03-27 22:25:24

zee wrote:

ah
guys, thanks a lot!
i think I was on information overload. Will I need to adjust sd1 at all because it's currently "boot"?

No, afaik that "boot" designation is just for windows.

JF · 2009-03-27 22:25:51

Usually you have to install the bootloader on the partition which has the "boot" flag or to move the "boot" flag on the partition you want have the bootloader. But since the MBR has precedence over the partitions, if you install grub on it, all will be fine.

JK3mp · 2009-03-28 00:28:47

JF wrote:

Hi first post here, I'm a several years happy linux user and a several months happy arch user so I feel like contributing
To add the the previous response and answer your file structure question: the simpliest setup would be:
- delete all partitions but sda1
- create one ext3 partion (primary type) as / with all the space remaining minus your RAM amount
- create one swap partition (primary type) with a size equal to your RAM amount
This way /boot will be included on the linux partition so you don't have to bother with it.
The linux partition will be sda2 and the swap will be sda3.
Hope this helps.

I agree with all of this....i've just recently done this VERY same process. Though the recomended amount of swap is 2x the amount of RAM you have .... thus far no problems.

Last edited by JK3mp (2009-03-28 00:29:20)

bgc1954 · 2009-03-28 00:48:16

JK3mp wrote:
I agree with all of this....i've just recently done this VERY same process. Though the recomended amount of swap is 2x the amount of RAM you have .... thus far no problems.

Yeh, the only thing I would add to this is if you have 1 gb of ram or more, 2X swap is overkill. Chances are your system wouldn't ever use the swap anyway with that much ram.

Also, when you install Arch just uncomment the lines in the default /boot/grub/menu.lst for your windows xp to boot. If you follow the beginners guide you can't go far wrong.

Ranguvar · 2009-03-28 02:27:35

If you have a gig or more, I would say a little over 1x RAM as swap, so you can do suspend-to-RAM. Less if you don't need that. Even this is conservatively large.
If you have 512MB, I'd probably use a gig of swap or so, etc.

And as userlander said, the boot flag makes absolutely no difference to GRUB, LILO, or Linux. Microsoft's NTLDR boot loader is the only one that uses it.

hatten · 2009-03-28 10:55:47

Ranguvar wrote:

If you have a gig or more, I would say a little over 1x RAM as swap, so you can do suspend-to-RAM. Less if you don't need that. Even this is conservatively large.
If you have 512MB, I'd probably use a gig of swap or so, etc.
And as userlander said, the boot flag makes absolutely no difference to GRUB, LILO, or Linux. Microsoft's NTLDR boot loader is the only one that uses it.

suspend to RAM can be done without swap (or a little one) it is suspend to disk that you cannot use if you have a smaller swap.

JF · 2009-03-28 12:29:44

Ranguvar wrote:

And as userlander said, the boot flag makes absolutely no difference to GRUB, LILO, or Linux. Microsoft's NTLDR boot loader is the only one that uses it.

You made me doubting so I quickly set up a VM in order to verify

Well, the boot flag actually makes a difference to your BIOS: if there is no bootloader in your MBR, the BIOS uses the boot flag to locate the partition containing the bootloader.

Also if you install Linux bootloader into a partition and keep the Windows one in the MBR, setting the boot flag on the linux partition will make the BIOS use the Linux bootloader instead of Windows one.

Don't be confused by that zee: just install the bootloader into the MBR it will work fine.

Arch Linux

#1 2009-03-27 20:54:53

XP - Ubuntu Dual Boot: Replacing ubuntu with arch......

#2 2009-03-27 21:15:44

Re: XP - Ubuntu Dual Boot: Replacing ubuntu with arch......

#3 2009-03-27 21:39:38

Re: XP - Ubuntu Dual Boot: Replacing ubuntu with arch......

#4 2009-03-27 22:01:50

Re: XP - Ubuntu Dual Boot: Replacing ubuntu with arch......

#5 2009-03-27 22:09:54

Re: XP - Ubuntu Dual Boot: Replacing ubuntu with arch......

#6 2009-03-27 22:25:24

Re: XP - Ubuntu Dual Boot: Replacing ubuntu with arch......

#7 2009-03-27 22:25:51

Re: XP - Ubuntu Dual Boot: Replacing ubuntu with arch......

#8 2009-03-28 00:28:47

Re: XP - Ubuntu Dual Boot: Replacing ubuntu with arch......

#9 2009-03-28 00:48:16

Re: XP - Ubuntu Dual Boot: Replacing ubuntu with arch......

#10 2009-03-28 02:27:35

Re: XP - Ubuntu Dual Boot: Replacing ubuntu with arch......

#11 2009-03-28 10:55:47

Re: XP - Ubuntu Dual Boot: Replacing ubuntu with arch......

#12 2009-03-28 12:29:44

Re: XP - Ubuntu Dual Boot: Replacing ubuntu with arch......

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