Noob Triple Boot partition table configuration question.

[UncleTed420]

Hi, I am a noob to Linux, not going to lie, but I am trying to learn as much as I can. I've played with Ubuntu, which I'm not really a fan of and Fedora, which I really like (with the KDE Desktop Environment, not a fan of GNome) and I just discovered Mageia 2 which I want to start playing with. I am wanting to do a Triple Boot of Windows 7/Fedora 17/Mageia 2. So here are my questions 1. How should I partition my drive (using a 750 GB [698.6 GB usable] hard drive. and 2. In which order should I install.

Here is how its currently partitioned for this venture:


/dev/sda1 90 mb ntfs Windows Boot Manager
/dev/sda2 100 gb ntfs Windows 7
/dev/sda3 extended
/dev/sda5 500 mb ext4 Fedora Boot Manager
/dev/sda6 47.76 gb ext4 Fedora Root Drive
/dev/sda7 4 GB Linux-swap
/dev/sda8 47.76 ext4 Fedora Home Drive
/dev/sda9 500 mb ext4 Mageia Boot Manager
/dev/sda10 47.76 GB ext4 Mageia Root Drive
/dev/sda11 4 GB Linux-swap
/dev/sda12 47.76 GB ext4 Mageia Home Drive
/dev/sda13 398.53 GB ntfs Files

If you have a better suggestion please tell me. I do want to have one large partition that can be shared between the three OS's.

Any info and tips on this matter is greatly appreciated. Thank you in advance.

[oz]

Hello

You can use a single swap partition for all Linux distros and you may not even need that if you have lots of RAM. I don't use a swap partition at all and haven't for the last 5 or 6 years.

[UncleTed420]

I'm working with 4 GB DDR 2 and a separate video card with 1 GB of ram. Which order would you recommend I complete the install? I'm thinking Windows, Mageia 2 then Fedora?

[oz]

I'm working with 4 GB DDR 2 and a separate video card with 1 GB of ram. Which order would you recommend I complete the install? I'm thinking Windows, Mageia 2 then Fedora?

Yes, definitely install Windows first.

I've never installed Mageia and haven't installed Fedora since Fedora Core 2 came out many years ago, but I believe your order on Linux installs sounds correct. Maybe someone else will chime in if there's any reason Fedora should be installed before Mageia.

[devils casper]

First of all, install Windows OS. Linux distros installation order doesn't matter now because all distros are using GRUB2 now. GRUB2 detects all other installed distros without any problem.

I would suggest you to create partition structure before starting installation of any distro. Latest version of Windows OS (7) uses 2 Primary partitions now. Install Windows OS first. Use PartedMagic LiveCD to create partition structure for Linux distros after that.

* 2 Primary Partitions for Windows OS
* 1 Extended Partition, use all the free space
* Create Logical partitions inside Extended for Linux distros. 1 GB SWAP and 12-15GB each for / (root) partitions. There is no need to create separate /boot partition too.

[UncleTed420]

Thanks for getting this info to me so quickly. Many kudos on how helpful yall are, Thanks a bunch. I'm giving it a shot now and will post results when I'm done. Thanks again.