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Multi OS Boot

Tags:
  • Windows 8
  • Windows
  • SSD
  • Multiboot
  • Samsung SSD
  • Software
  • Linux
  • Windows 7
  • Dual Boot
  • Operating Systems
  • New Build
Last response: in Windows 8
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May 19, 2014 7:33:33 PM

I've just ordered a Samsung 840 Evo 1TB SSD.

I'm planning to create and use Multiple OSes on it:
* Windows 8.1 Pro or enterprise (C:) 
* Windows 7 SP3 Pro or enterprise (C:) 
* some version of Linux (very little experience) (whatever drive naming scheme it usees)
* Maybe something else.

My main questions are:
#1 What Multi-boot software to use (Free or paid [within $100]).
#2: Partition Sizes (with lots of room to spare)

for #2, from what i've read so far, sounds like 60 gigs should be good for each win 7 & 8, at least for the programs/games that do not wanna be installed on a 3rd apps partition, due to registry issues....

Possible Question #3,

I plan to have an Apps partition (D:)  with various games and other apps that aren't picky about sharable co-location in the registry.

I have plenty of Other Hard Drives that i have to use for storage and document backups. so that's not a problem

Thank you for your consideration and help.

More about : multi boot

Best solution

a b 5 Linux
a b $ Windows 7
May 22, 2014 1:01:09 AM

Install 7 first, use it to create the other partitions. Then install 8. Then install linux. Always Linux last and windows oldest to newest. Done in that order linux will install a boot menu with the other two systems listed as well. It's called grub2. Price $0.
After you've installed your systems, and yes 60GB is plenty to install on, then you may want to create a data partition to store your files on. This has a variety of advantages like if you have to reinstall one of your systems you don't have to hunt around for the file you wish to save and another is that Linux can read and write to an NTFS (windows) partition but windows can't even open let alone read and write a Linux ext4 partition.

Since this is your first experience with linux I recommend Ubuntu or Mint, they're very user friendly and can play many Steam games.
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May 23, 2014 2:57:16 PM

stillblue said:
Install 7 first, use it to create the other partitions. Then install 8. Then install linux. Always Linux last and windows oldest to newest. Done in that order linux will install a boot menu with the other two systems listed as well. It's called grub2. Price $0.
After you've installed your systems, and yes 60GB is plenty to install on, then you may want to create a data partition to store your files on. This has a variety of advantages like if you have to reinstall one of your systems you don't have to hunt around for the file you wish to save and another is that Linux can read and write to an NTFS (windows) partition but windows can't even open let alone read and write a Linux ext4 partition.

Since this is your first experience with linux I recommend Ubuntu or Mint, they're very user friendly and can play many Steam games.


Thank you, I Plan to Try it today or this weekend,.... BTW, do you know of a Way to HIDE A partition, so that Win 8 can be C: and not see the other Win 7, and Win 7, can be C: not seeing Win 8, (as you said they should't see Linux anywho.

and that way i can set a Data D:.. i know i can just change the drive letters in each respective windows, or perhaps simply remove the drive letter of the other os in the manager... but just throwing around ideas, to see if you have any possibly other good advice or tricks i've not thought about :) .

Also, do you think 100GB per OS partition would be OVERKILL? or since 600-700 GB for my data Drive should still be fine? or even make 5 partitions: Linx, Win7, Win8, Data, Shared (non-registry affected progs, like various games and apps) or would that make it 6? cuz linux would add a boot partition?
still ok if it works, for me :) 
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Related resources
a b * Windows 8
May 23, 2014 10:16:44 PM

In regards to your drive assignments:
The easiest way to hide a partition is to just remove the drive letter to the partition. By default, both Windows 7 and 8 will recognize their OS drive as C: and the other OS drive as D:. Any other partitions will be after that. To remove the drive letters, do this:
enter windows key+r
in the run box, enter "diskpart"
in the box that comes up, enter the following commands (in both OSes)
sel vol d
remove
sel vol x (where x is the drive letter of your data partition)
assign letter y (where y is the drive letter you want it to have)

This will hide your other OS drive and get you setup to go on the Windows side of things!
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May 25, 2014 10:30:27 PM

After an Hour+ reading about Linux, Mint vs Ubuntu, I decided to go with Mint for it's alleged greated configurabiliy/customization options.

Then i Narrowed it down to Cinnamon vs MATE / Kde/Fce.. seemed that cinn and mate were contenders, it seemed Cinnamon might be better for me...

then i was looking @ v16 vs v17RC,.. seemed that 17 rc was approved as stable, and had better and more updated support... GREAT!

NOW THE PROBLEM:
I've already Installed Win 7 & 8.1, it's dual booting ok... BUT now that i used the Mint RC 17 to boot with, I've tried to INSTALL it....

BUT when i click "Computer" it recognizes my HD and the 3 of partitions: Win 7, Win 8, Data, BUT NOT THE Unformated 100 gig partition i created for linux as suggested, nor the extra 96 gigs of undesignated space...

but that's what confuses me! when i click "Install Linux Mint" : I choose the Language, then, the next menu assuring that i have an inet conn, and sufficient space, ...

NOW THE REAL PROBLEM: "Installation Type" My 2 options are:
"Erase disk and install Linux Mint (Warning: This will delete an files on the disk) OR "Something else (You can create or resize partitions yourself, or choose multiple partitions for Linux Mint).

Obviously, i don't wanna Erase the disk LOOSING My other 2 Windows OS Partition Installs, so i choose the ladder:

BUT NOW i Get" "Installation Type":

/dev/sda
free space [] 100204 MB

Welp that's basically ~976.76 GB... That's My ENTIRE SSD, telling me that's there's NOTHING on there?

I don't get it! PLZ HELP!!!

Cuz i don't wanna erase all my hard work that took me litterally days to setup....

So, i'm confused WHY "computer" can see that i DO have other partitions on this system, and the Installation can NOT!? and sees it as an EMPTY Disk!??

OK, JUST Tried to install 64-Bit Linux Mint Cinnamon v 16, SAME EXACT PROBLEM! I Was able to see my partitions in "Computer", but when i attempted to install Mint, It says that it saw NOT Previous OS installed!!! :( ?) PLZ help! thx.
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a b 5 Linux
a b $ Windows 7
May 26, 2014 2:49:57 AM

TWr said:
After an Hour+ reading about Linux, Mint vs Ubuntu, I decided to go with Mint for it's alleged greated configurabiliy/customization options.

Then i Narrowed it down to Cinnamon vs MATE / Kde/Fce.. seemed that cinn and mate were contenders, it seemed Cinnamon might be better for me...

then i was looking @ v16 vs v17RC,.. seemed that 17 rc was approved as stable, and had better and more updated support... GREAT!

NOW THE PROBLEM:
I've already Installed Win 7 & 8.1, it's dual booting ok... BUT now that i used the Mint RC 17 to boot with, I've tried to INSTALL it....

BUT when i click "Computer" it recognizes my HD and the 3 of partitions: Win 7, Win 8, Data, BUT NOT THE Unformated 100 gig partition i created for linux as suggested, nor the extra 96 gigs of undesignated space...

but that's what confuses me! when i click "Install Linux Mint" : I choose the Language, then, the next menu assuring that i have an inet conn, and sufficient space, ...

NOW THE REAL PROBLEM: "Installation Type" My 2 options are:
"Erase disk and install Linux Mint (Warning: This will delete an files on the disk) OR "Something else (You can create or resize partitions yourself, or choose multiple partitions for Linux Mint).

Obviously, i don't wanna Erase the disk LOOSING My other 2 Windows OS Partition Installs, so i choose the ladder:

BUT NOW i Get" "Installation Type":

/dev/sda
free space [] 100204 MB

Welp that's basically ~976.76 GB... That's My ENTIRE SSD, telling me that's there's NOTHING on there?

I don't get it! PLZ HELP!!!

Cuz i don't wanna erase all my hard work that took me litterally days to setup....

So, i'm confused WHY "computer" can see that i DO have other partitions on this system, and the Installation can NOT!? and sees it as an EMPTY Disk!??

OK, JUST Tried to install 64-Bit Linux Mint Cinnamon v 16, SAME EXACT PROBLEM! I Was able to see my partitions in "Computer", but when i attempted to install Mint, It says that it saw NOT Previous OS installed!!! :( ?) PLZ help! thx.


Apparently you have four PRIMARY partitions already in use. The BIOS only allows 4 and you need one or an extended partition to install Mint on. With your Mint installation disk running open a program called gparted under system tools and it' ll show you what you have already. Perhaps win8 installed a recovery partition and you don't need that because you have the install disk or you could make a win8 recovery USB (16GB) which should ersae the recovery partition. With that done you' ll have smooth sailing.
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May 26, 2014 8:32:49 PM

stillblue said:
TWr said:
After an Hour+ reading about Linux, Mint vs Ubuntu, I decided to go with Mint for it's alleged greated configurabiliy/customization options.

Then i Narrowed it down to Cinnamon vs MATE / Kde/Fce.. seemed that cinn and mate were contenders, it seemed Cinnamon might be better for me...

then i was looking @ v16 vs v17RC,.. seemed that 17 rc was approved as stable, and had better and more updated support... GREAT!

NOW THE PROBLEM:
I've already Installed Win 7 & 8.1, it's dual booting ok... BUT now that i used the Mint RC 17 to boot with, I've tried to INSTALL it....

BUT when i click "Computer" it recognizes my HD and the 3 of partitions: Win 7, Win 8, Data, BUT NOT THE Unformated 100 gig partition i created for linux as suggested, nor the extra 96 gigs of undesignated space...

but that's what confuses me! when i click "Install Linux Mint" : I choose the Language, then, the next menu assuring that i have an inet conn, and sufficient space, ...

NOW THE REAL PROBLEM: "Installation Type" My 2 options are:
"Erase disk and install Linux Mint (Warning: This will delete an files on the disk) OR "Something else (You can create or resize partitions yourself, or choose multiple partitions for Linux Mint).

Obviously, i don't wanna Erase the disk LOOSING My other 2 Windows OS Partition Installs, so i choose the ladder:

BUT NOW i Get" "Installation Type":

/dev/sda
free space [] 100204 MB

Welp that's basically ~976.76 GB... That's My ENTIRE SSD, telling me that's there's NOTHING on there?

I don't get it! PLZ HELP!!!

Cuz i don't wanna erase all my hard work that took me litterally days to setup....

So, i'm confused WHY "computer" can see that i DO have other partitions on this system, and the Installation can NOT!? and sees it as an EMPTY Disk!??

OK, JUST Tried to install 64-Bit Linux Mint Cinnamon v 16, SAME EXACT PROBLEM! I Was able to see my partitions in "Computer", but when i attempted to install Mint, It says that it saw NOT Previous OS installed!!! :( ?) PLZ help! thx.


Apparently you have four PRIMARY partitions already in use. The BIOS only allows 4 and you need one or an extended partition to install Mint on. With your Mint installation disk running open a program called gparted under system tools and it' ll show you what you have already. Perhaps win8 installed a recovery partition and you don't need that because you have the install disk or you could make a win8 recovery USB (16GB) which should ersae the recovery partition. With that done you' ll have smooth sailing.


ok, thx, but the # of partitions wasn't the problem, apparently the old GPT info was still lingering in the MBR, so i removed the old traces of GPT (since the SSD is not UEFI compatible, strangely), and finally installed Mint, Cinnamon 17 RC, seems to be running fine, just have to figure out how use the device manager, or maybe there isn't one that looks anything in Windows? anywho, thx for the reply
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