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Double booting, how to prepare partitions for installation

Ask for help with issues regarding the Installations of the Debian O/S.
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jazbar
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Double booting, how to prepare partitions for installation

#1 Post by jazbar »

Made an image if I'm understanding correctly about how to divide both of my PC disks.
Which image is right (1.) or (2.)? Storage place on HDD must be for Debian and for Windows (read and write)?
Where to put bootloader on SSD or HDD and set in BIOS bootable?
May I use Windows bootloader if SSD set to bootable?
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https://ibb.co/52PWKhv
My PC: MB MSI 790GX-G65, AMD Phenom II X3, 6 GB RAM, onboard graphic HD3300 DirectX 10, (AMD 790GX chipset)

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sunrat
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Re: Double booting, how to prepare partitions for installation

#2 Post by sunrat »

I can only suggest what I do. Different people have different ideas. Basically, put both operating systems and swap on the SSD and use the HD for storage.
Something like:
500MB EFI system partition
50GB Windows
2GB swap
Rest for Debian
Easiest way is probably to just install Windows first (it also creates some mysterious reserved partition and recovery partition) then use its Disk Manager to shrink the Win partition, then install Debian. And use Windows 10, Win 8.1 mainstream support ended on January 9, 2018.
“ computer users can be divided into 2 categories:
Those who have lost data
...and those who have not lost data YET ”
Remember to BACKUP!

Marie SWE
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Re: Double booting, how to prepare partitions for installation

#3 Post by Marie SWE »

I quote @sunrat I can only suggest what I do. :D

If i have a computer with two or more disks, I never put all systems bootloader on the same disk..
I disconnect all other drives except the one i should install on.. then i install the OS. After that is finished i connect the other drives and boot in to bios to set boot order on what system(disk) I will use as primary boot... and then I use bios boot menu to switch between them... this way if a system/disk crashes I can always boot into another system
( I use legacyboot, it has its benefits in dualboot and when moving disks between computers than uefi does)

Don't forget to disable fast boot on win 8.1 to prevent problems on shared drives between the systems.
https://ccm.net/faq/31793-windows-8-1-h ... artup-mode
Why make things complicated in life, if you can make it easier for yourself... Do it. ;o)
You only have one life, so make the most of it and enjoy it while you can.

jazbar
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Re: Double booting, how to prepare partitions for installation

#4 Post by jazbar »

After installation one disk at the time... My plan is to set in BIOS bootable only the disk where the bootloader app is. The bootloader will boot chosen OS (disk), even if not set bootable in BIOS, if I am correct!? It can not be set bootable both disks.

Please advise me in what way to prepare partition on HDD regarding my posted image. The (1.) option or the (2.) option?

And where go, on which disk, bootloader app? My PC is 10 years old so does not have UEFI.
My PC: MB MSI 790GX-G65, AMD Phenom II X3, 6 GB RAM, onboard graphic HD3300 DirectX 10, (AMD 790GX chipset)

Marie SWE
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Re: Double booting, how to prepare partitions for installation

#5 Post by Marie SWE »

jazbar wrote: 2021-08-05 18:45 After installation one disk at the time... My plan is to set in BIOS bootable only the disk where the bootloader app is. The bootloader will boot chosen OS (disk), even if not set bootable in BIOS, if I am correct!? It can not be set bootable both disks.

Please advise me in what way to prepare partition on HDD regarding my posted image. The (1.) option or the (2.) option?

And where go, on which disk, bootloader app? My PC is 10 years old so does not have UEFI.

My PC: AMD Phenom II X3, 6 GB RAM, onboard graphic MB MSI 790GX-G65 (AMD 790GX chipset)
In this computer i have 4 booteble HDD's all with there own bootloader and i have Debian buster on my third sata port
In bios bootorder i have set sata3 as primary boot and then LMDE3, win7 and win10(for experimenting) if primary failing then LMDE boots and it that don't boot then win7 boot and so on

I prefer primary partitions instead of extended if I only going to have four or less partitions.. so your (1) is my choice.
I always have ram x3 in swap disk size.. I am a monster with ram usage. :lol: just for I always want to be able to hibernate(save ram to disk) on my systems.. Say you have very many things up and you hear the thunder coming closer and fast.. Then you want to be able to shut down the computer quickly without losing work or having to start saving and bookmarking all open tabs etc.
Hibernate option is very good thing to have. :mrgreen:
and on laptops.. when battery is low... save to disk as emergency auto power down is a blessing.. that have saved me many times 8)

Edit
Missed your question about where does bootloader goes.. Same partition as your install is... if you do as i does.. to use bios as boot meny
If install says sda1 then bootloader is on sda... if it says sdb1 then sdb
Why make things complicated in life, if you can make it easier for yourself... Do it. ;o)
You only have one life, so make the most of it and enjoy it while you can.

jazbar
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Re: Double booting, how to prepare partitions for installation

#6 Post by jazbar »

Marie SWE wrote: 2021-08-05 19:18
jazbar wrote: 2021-08-05 18:45 After installation one disk at the time... My plan is to set in BIOS bootable only the disk where the bootloader app is. The bootloader will boot chosen OS (disk), even if not set bootable in BIOS, if I am correct!? It can not be set bootable both disks.

Please advise me in what way to prepare partition on HDD regarding my posted image. The (1.) option or the (2.) option?

And where go, on which disk, bootloader app? My PC is 10 years old so does not have UEFI.
I prefer primary partitions instead of extended if I only going to have four or less partitions.. so your (1) is my choice.
Will Debian recognize primary NTFS partition in order to read & write? That is why I stated second option where the NTFS partition lay inside (Debian's) extended partition. And also you can mess with extended partition adding new partitions inside without losing your data.
My PC: MB MSI 790GX-G65, AMD Phenom II X3, 6 GB RAM, onboard graphic HD3300 DirectX 10, (AMD 790GX chipset)

Marie SWE
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Re: Double booting, how to prepare partitions for installation

#7 Post by Marie SWE »

jazbar wrote: 2021-08-08 09:57 Will Debian recognize primary NTFS partition in order to read & write? That is why I stated second option where the NTFS partition lay inside (Debian's) extended partition. And also you can mess with extended partition adding new partitions inside without losing your data.
Yes Debian recognizes ntfs partitions and it works out of the box. "ntfs-3g" is the one that gives NTFS support for the filesystem.. and I believe it is installed by default. :D
If not you can always install NTFS-3G to get full ntfs support.. Either through Synaptic PackageManager or terminal (apt install ntfs-3g)

Messing with partition with data on is always risky, primary or extended.. never ever,ever do that without backups.. it is so easy to make a mistake.
And if you are going to experimenting with partitions with data on.. even when you have backups... always have backup, backup and backup.. it can never be mentioned too few times :wink: :wink: :wink:
Learn how Linux recovery tool named Testdisk works.. it is a time saver when you make a mistake :mrgreen: :mrgreen: :mrgreen:
Remember, not everything is always 100% recoverable.. that's why backups always is your safetynet. 8)
But often testdisk save time to restore lost partitions

EDIT
I'll like if someone else in here leave your opinion/suggestion on what I just wrote :wink:

EDIT2
As I mentioned in post viewtopic.php?p=740321#p740321 above.. Don't forget to disable fast boot on win 8.1 to prevent problems on NTFS shared drives between the systems. 8)
https://ccm.net/faq/31793-windows-8-1-h ... artup-mode
Why make things complicated in life, if you can make it easier for yourself... Do it. ;o)
You only have one life, so make the most of it and enjoy it while you can.

jazbar
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Re: Double booting, how to prepare partitions for installation

#8 Post by jazbar »

Thx for the reminder and other info. I already unchecked the box with fast boot.

Do you have knowledge about mandatory primary FAT32 partition (size and more) on Debian disk in order to Windows bootloader recognize Debian for booting without installing a GRUB bootloader?
My PC: MB MSI 790GX-G65, AMD Phenom II X3, 6 GB RAM, onboard graphic HD3300 DirectX 10, (AMD 790GX chipset)

Marie SWE
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Re: Double booting, how to prepare partitions for installation

#9 Post by Marie SWE »

jazbar wrote: 2021-08-09 19:19 Thx for the reminder and other info. I already unchecked the box with fast boot.

Do you have knowledge about mandatory primary FAT32 partition (size and more) on Debian disk in order to Windows bootloader recognize Debian for booting without installing a GRUB bootloader?
You're welcome, it's just nice to be able to be helpful :mrgreen:

I don't know.. sorry :oops:
I have never used windows bootloader to load linux.. so I have no clue.
In windows I never creates the tiny fat32 partition.. I just make windows install bootloader on my NTFS primary windows(C:) partition to have more primary partitions to other things..

On laptops with only one harddrive.. windows and Linux dualboot.. I make first partition NTFS-winOS, Second ext4-LinuxOS, third swap and last NTFS-Data.. and then I use Grub as bootloader to both windows and Linux... I always install windows first and linux last

On stationary desktops i have one HDD to each OS and I use one bootloader to each disk... then I just using Bios boot menu (Esc or F10) to choose what disk to boot from.
Why make things complicated in life, if you can make it easier for yourself... Do it. ;o)
You only have one life, so make the most of it and enjoy it while you can.

jazbar
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Re: Double booting, how to prepare partitions for installation

#10 Post by jazbar »

Yes it is the way without the FAT32 partition. For example it can be installed on Windows disk Grub2Win app. And from there to set a boot disk and prioritize OS you want to use. But I really like to know about this FAT32 partition and set the bootloading in Windows itself.
My PC: MB MSI 790GX-G65, AMD Phenom II X3, 6 GB RAM, onboard graphic HD3300 DirectX 10, (AMD 790GX chipset)

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