Ubuntu

installing side by side vs in unused space

Asked by Hal

I'm confused,

What is the difference between installing Ubuntu *side by side* Win vs. installing Ubuntu *in unused space* ?

I don't want any inter-dependence between Win 7 and Ubuntu.
I don't want Ubuntu running as Windows app.
I don't want Win 7 to share a partition with Ubuntu.
I sure don't want Ubuntu to mess with Win 7 or vv.

And I'm confused about those 2 installation options.
Can somebody explain in detail what the differences are?
Or point me to some FAQ, please.

I'll wait to Monday, if no answer I'll ditch Ubuntu for good, this is getting ridiculous, options are not clear,
no information, total confusion.

I wan't a clean dual boot win 7 and ubuntu, with no sharing partition, virtualization, run one OS as an app in another OS, or any other half way solutions.

Thanks.

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marcobra (Marco Braida) (marcobra) said : 		#1

To get best answer

Boot you pc entirely from Ubuntu live cd then open a terminal from Applications → Accessories → Terminal
and type:

sudo fdisk -l

copy terminal result and paste here.

Then try by yourself to view your actual hard disk partitions. Use the System→Administration→gparted

Thank you

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deny26 (deny26) said : 		#2

Installing side by side
ubuntu installer will resize ur partition which have more space

Installing in unused space
Ubuntu installer will use this partition to install ubuntu

Revision history for this message
Hal (hallansing) said : 		#3

deny26 and all, thanks for helping out

Still confused:
In case of "side by side" you mean that ubuntu will divide Win primary partition to make space for itself,
ie making 2 partitions out of Win Primary partition and then install itself into the 2nd partition, is this the case ?
or will ubuntu install itself in Win Partition and run sort of as a win app???

I already performed the following with Partition Manager app:
- shrunk Win Primary partition to 50Gb from 600Gb
- deleted miscellaneous hp partition to make room for 4th primary for ubuntu
- moved all 3 win and hp partitions to the start of disk, win boots fine after all the above procedures, no prob.
- this created 500GB unused space at end of disk for ubuntu, not partitioned yet
- ready to install ubuntu, but now this confusion with "side by side" vs "in unused space" ...

My goal was to keep win as backup OS on this new notebook ( keep it, can it and forget it )

What exactly is "side by side" ???
win + ubuntu on same partition or what ???
or split win partition into 2 adjacent partitions and install ubuntu into one of them ???

is side by side = make unused space from win partition and install, is this the case ???
vs use already prepped unused space ???

What is the difference and the implications in setting it up DUAL BOOT in these 2 cases:
1. side by side
2. if I choose install ubuntu into unused space which I already prepped for it

**********************************
here is the info for partitions, as requested by:
win 7 ( loader ) (/dev/sda1) - 200mb - what the heck is this thing for, i don't know
win 7 (loader ) (/dev/sda2) - 55gb - C drive MAIN DRIVE with win 7 on it
win 7(/dev/sda3) - 20gb - D drive RECOVERY - hp recovery partition
- the last is UNUSED space 500Gb, no partition there yet

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marcobra (Marco Braida) (marcobra) said : 		#4

In this case i suggest you to use the option to use the "unused space" that mean Ubuntu install process will create an ext4 partition using the 500gb of unused space and you and your Ubuntu will be happy.

Hth

Revision history for this message
Hal (hallansing) said : 		#5

i figured that side by side option is most likely = split windows partition into 2 partitions and install ubuntu into the 2nd one
i went ahead and installed ubuntu into unused space and dual boot works fine

now, i got another problem: wi-fi is not working, ubuntu did not install broadcom ( most commonly used, broadcom has linux drivers ) wireless driver, and did not even provide any warning about the fail to install...

************************************
installation options should be clearer:
1. wipe the disk, removes all partitions and all OSs on the disk, then installs ubuntu, single boot
2. split windows partition into 2 and install ubuntu into the 2nd partition, multi boot
( side by side definition is confusing as it provides no verbal information about how side by side is accomplished )
3. install ubuntu into unused space on disk, multi boot
4. prepare space for ubuntu, advanced
5. install ubuntu as windows application using Wubi installer
6. help with option selection, this should open help window with text explaining in detail how each option is done, including
risks, advantages and disadvantages

all options must be listed, even if they are grayed out

this way there is no confusion and possible ways to install ubuntu

after installation there should be a LOG file created on desktop with all problems, fails and successes in installing hardware drives etc...

regards.