[SOLVED] Need advices for dualboot on SSD (partitioning, uuid, gpt,..)

Stoffi · 2011-07-20 22:50:34

I am going to install a 250GB SSD in my new laptop, and dualboot
between Archlinux, and windows7 (both 64bit).

After reading around, I am going to set the bios to efi mode first,
then I have to use grub2 instead of grub.
Should I install this to mbr, oh wait, no mbr when I use gpt!

Where should I put grub2?

According to the wiki, https://wiki.archlinux.org/index.php/SS … DED_METHOD
It should be easiest to use Gdisk, so I will try to use this if it is on the install media, else it should work
to download it to the download media, shouldn't it?

Should I install archlinux first, or windows7? and how do I make grub2 the bootloader?

And at last, how do you reccomend I partition this disk?
I have 8GB of ram, so I am thinking of no swap partition.

I am thinking of 30GB for archlinux, and the rest for windows 7 + data,
wouldn't that be the easiest way to make most of the disk available to both OS'es?

Which filsystem should I use for Archlinux, considering this is being installed to an SSD disk?
I won't be using Btrfs though.

Last edited by Stoffi (2011-08-14 20:36:12)

gadget3000 · 2011-07-21 19:22:54

In my experience installing windows 7 first is easiest because grub should supersede ntldr when you install arch and is subsequently easier to configure.
You shouldn't need a swap partition unless you plan on hibernating. I have 4GB of ram and I'm about to get rid of mine.
I currently use 48GB in total for Arch but thats with some (not loads) of pictures, a minimalist install with xmonad and a couple of games. (It's 35GB not including my home partition). I then struggle for space with 250GB to Windows because I game a lot and games take up loads of space!

Stoffi · 2011-07-26 21:20:49

sorry for the late reply, (I've had so much work the last couple of days, that I only had time for work and sleep.)

Thanks for the advice. I tink I might choose to have swap partition, just to keep open the possibility to hibernate to disk.
I wasn't aware of this limitation before you mentioned it. This swap-partition should then be at minimum the same size as
the ram capacity, right?

alphaniner · 2011-07-30 08:05:34

Be sure to check out the wiki entry on SSDs.

Also, beware bargain priced SSDs. From what I've read (professional and customer reviews), I wouldn't buy anything other than an Intel X-25 or 320 Series (or better yet the 510 Series for 6Gb SATA) at this point.

Last edited by alphaniner (2011-07-30 08:21:31)

Stoffi · 2011-07-31 00:10:32

I will have that wiki open on another computer while I partition the harddrive.
I have an intel 510 256GB which has been lying around for about three weeks now,
because I haven't had the time/been home to install it yet.

Do you have any recomendations about which filesystem I should choose?

Inxsible · 2011-07-31 04:41:08

Stoffi wrote:

Do you have any recomendations about which filesystem I should choose?

That totally depends on what you plan on storing on it.

Read the wiki about partitions and filesystems and that should give you a brief idea.

Stoffi · 2011-07-31 19:11:55

Ok, so the same rules for choosing filesystems apply for SSDs as for traditional harddrives, thanks

ChoK · 2011-07-31 19:41:14

ext4 with the discard mount option can use TRIM, btrfs should too but i'm not sure its reliable enough yet (no fsck tool!)

Stoffi · 2011-07-31 22:25:15

Ok, thanks, I think I'll go for ext4, and try to activate the TRIM option.
I won't be using btrfs though, as I don't see it as stable yet.
I will download archboot tomorrow, and I hope I'll have time
to get something done this week

alphaniner · 2011-08-01 05:56:10

An Intel 510, hot damn!

This is totally off the cuff, but I'd recommend looking into the wiki entries on putting /tmp and [parts of] /var on a tmpfs.

And if you're feeling particularly adventurous, maybe look into using a multi-partition setup with journaling disabled for certain partitions. For example, I have a separate partition for /var/cache/pacman (it also holds local and sync from /var/lib/pacman) which is ext4 without a journal. Of course, there's even a wiki entry about putting all that on a tmpfs, too.

Stoffi · 2011-08-14 20:33:56

Yes!
I finally have installed both os'es

I Started with archlinux, using archboot as the installation media.

When I partinioned the harddrive, (using gdisk) I did it like so:
200MiB EFI boot partition mounted at /boot/efi
128MiB "Windows reserved" because windows aparently needs this or something. (it isn't even shown in windows's partition manager)
190GiB "Windows"
9GiB "Swap" which I intended to have as the last partition, but instead, its before the last partition.
33GiB "Linux" mounted as / using ext4

I was really troubled with installing the efi variant of grub2, and had to try several times,
quite a contrast to installing windows7, which I did afterwards. It installed fine, and didn't
come in the way of grub2.

I'll check out putting parts of the filesystem on a tmpfs later, I first look into fixing som resolution problems,
figuring out where I configure grub2, and decide on a Desktop enviroment to use, as I learnt last time I
installed archlinux, that building my own DE is a bit too hard when I come from a windows world

Thanks for all the help

alphaniner · 2011-08-15 16:27:40

Stoffi wrote:

128MiB "Windows reserved"

You can force Windows to do without this, if you want. But it contains the Windows Recovery environment, where you can do things like full system restore, so I actually find it useful.

Stoffi · 2011-08-26 21:46:08

alphaniner wrote:

Stoffi wrote:
128MiB "Windows reserved"
You can force Windows to do without this, if you want. But it contains the Windows Recovery environment, where you can do things like full system restore, so I actually find it useful.

I didn't know that, but I totally agree on your reasoning. Thanks for the info

skodabenz · 2011-08-27 18:07:46

Stoffi wrote:

128MiB "Windows reserved"
You can force Windows to do without this, if you want. But it contains the Windows Recovery environment, where you can do things like full system restore, so I actually find it useful.

The Windows Reserved (or rather Microsoft Reserved as its actually called - https://secure.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/ … _Partition ) is used to compensate for the lack of post MBR 33 KiB gap (present in MBR) which is taken over by GPT Primary Header and partition table. The "msftres" partition is actually unformatted and reserved for "future use" by Microsoft softwares (may or may not include Windows). Windows Recovery Environment partition is usually NTFS formatted partition which has WinRE image used to boot a minimal Windows OS needed to recover the main system alone which uses a different partition type GUID than msftres GUID.

Arch Linux

#1 2011-07-20 22:50:34

[SOLVED] Need advices for dualboot on SSD (partitioning, uuid, gpt,..)

#2 2011-07-21 19:22:54

Re: [SOLVED] Need advices for dualboot on SSD (partitioning, uuid, gpt,..)

#3 2011-07-26 21:20:49

Re: [SOLVED] Need advices for dualboot on SSD (partitioning, uuid, gpt,..)

#4 2011-07-30 08:05:34

Re: [SOLVED] Need advices for dualboot on SSD (partitioning, uuid, gpt,..)

#5 2011-07-31 00:10:32

Re: [SOLVED] Need advices for dualboot on SSD (partitioning, uuid, gpt,..)

#6 2011-07-31 04:41:08

Re: [SOLVED] Need advices for dualboot on SSD (partitioning, uuid, gpt,..)

#7 2011-07-31 19:11:55

Re: [SOLVED] Need advices for dualboot on SSD (partitioning, uuid, gpt,..)

#8 2011-07-31 19:41:14

Re: [SOLVED] Need advices for dualboot on SSD (partitioning, uuid, gpt,..)

#9 2011-07-31 22:25:15

Re: [SOLVED] Need advices for dualboot on SSD (partitioning, uuid, gpt,..)

#10 2011-08-01 05:56:10

Re: [SOLVED] Need advices for dualboot on SSD (partitioning, uuid, gpt,..)

#11 2011-08-14 20:33:56

Re: [SOLVED] Need advices for dualboot on SSD (partitioning, uuid, gpt,..)

#12 2011-08-15 16:27:40

Re: [SOLVED] Need advices for dualboot on SSD (partitioning, uuid, gpt,..)

#13 2011-08-26 21:46:08

Re: [SOLVED] Need advices for dualboot on SSD (partitioning, uuid, gpt,..)

#14 2011-08-27 18:07:46

Re: [SOLVED] Need advices for dualboot on SSD (partitioning, uuid, gpt,..)

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