Linux Mint 13

[bootneck02]

I have just downloaded Linux Mint 13 Mate 64 edition bit and burnt it onto a DVD and want to dual boot with Windows 7. I have also downloaded and printed the Official user guide, but embarrassed to admit I do not understand the instructions. I have two drives a C and a D both are Samsung 150 GB drives and wish to use the C drive as the dual boot. On page 14 of the guide it describes how to install when you get to Installation Type there two options (1) Erase disc and install Linux Mint (2) Something Else, which I have clicked on and there is the problem as it shows both drives but not annotated as C or D but a jumble of numbers and letters. Would the top of the listed two be what I would know as the C drive and the second be the D drive? Once I know which is which I think I will be able to partition and install by following the instructions. I am thinking of having a partition of 30GB for Linux would that be enough. also on my D drive I have my music collection which was downloaded by Windows Media Player will Linux be able to read those files and play them?

 

[floppybootstomp]

I'm not entirely sure about this as I usually install Linux distros to a hard disk all to themselves (physically swappable disk caddies) but you definitely don't want option 1

As I recall Linux will list your disks C & D as hdd 0 and hdd 1 so if that's what you're seeing then yes, what you assume is correct.

Mint is a very user friendly distro and in my experience if you want to dual boot just go with the auto options.

Mint will be able to play your audio files, I believe several media players are installed by default and more can be installed from the repository. Same goes for video files.

Whatever you do, take your time, disk sizes should be given and this should help you identify your C & D drives.

 

[bootneck02]

Thanks for the info floppy I will have another look at it tomorrow as getting a little cream crackered as we had my daughter and partner down today for a visit.

 

[Urmas]

Whatever you do, take your time, disk sizes should be given and this should help you identify your C & D drives.

This is an excellent piece of advice!

As I recall Linux will list your disks C & D as hdd 0 and hdd 1...

Not quite [but close.]

"Physical" drives (that is, those Samsungs in this case) will be listed as "sda" and "sdb". The partitions on those disks will be sda1, sda2, sda3.... and sdb1, sdb2, sdb3... respectively.

HEREⁱ is a VERY good illustrated guide for "Installing Ubuntu in Hard Disk Two" — close enough. The Ubuntu version [Mint is based on Ubuntu, so the install process is the same] is a couple of years old, so the installer looks a bit different these days. But the process is the same.

Here is Mint 13 in my VirtualBox (with some "extra eye candy" — thanks to Vincent van Gogh... and four litres of beer. )

<-- Clicky Clicky



ⁱAn excellent resource:
http://members.iinet.net/~herman546/

 

[floppybootstomp]

Ah yes, sda. Well, it was late and the Merlot was flowing

 

[Urmas]

You were not wrong... just feeling nostalgic — must've been that Merlot.

Used to be that hda was used for IDE drives and sda was used for SCSI drives. Nowadays, all drives are treated as SCSI devices.

 

[bootneck02]

Thanks guy's for your input, certainly I also enjoy a slurp of Merlot. I will have a go at installing tomorrow or rather today as tomorrow has already come.

 

[bootneck02]

Well it has been a frustrating day. I first downloaded Mint and it went straight to my F drive which is a back up drive, I disconnected that and have now got to sort that out hopefully it has not buggered up the backups. Then on the second attempt it downloaded on to my D drive where all my music is on and would not boot, disconnected that and finally it went on my C drive and is working ok as far as I can tell. I have downloaded Partition Wizard Home Edition and have sorted out the D drive and now going to look at the F drive. My advice to anyone who thinks of downloading Mint make sure only have the C drive hooked up and only reconnect the other drives once you have ensured that Mint has completed downloading. But thankfully it is all peaches and cream now

 

[floppybootstomp]

Not quite sure what you're doing there bootneck but when I download something I usually get the choice where I want to save it to - don't you?

I'm using Mint 12 KDE atm and I downloaded it to a storage drive then burnt the distro (in ISO form) to a DVD and used that for my install.

A blank DVD-R typically costs about 10p and the convenience it offers for installation is certainly worth ten of our new pence. In my opinion

From your post above I gather you have Mint installed ok now - is that so? Dual boot ok?

 

[bootneck02]

Well now theres a thing I wrote the last message to you, now I am on the wifes PC ad I rebooted my PC and the message I have got is as follows:- error: no such partision.
grub rescue.

HELP cannot log in to anything

 

[bootneck02]

yes floppy I downloaded Mint on a DVD
But at the moment nothing will boot I Have tried the Windows 7 Repair disc and the Mint DVD the machine will not boot from any disc, I am just going to try XPE disc and see what happens

 

[bootneck02]

To complete the saga eventually the hard drive is trashed it now will not load or boot. I have removed it from the PC and replaced it. Using a docking station and partition software have checked the disc but cannot locate the partition but there is about 9.5 gigs of drive missing so am confused to what has happened. I don't think I will try to dual boot again.

 

[floppybootstomp]

In your post before last bootneck you said the machine wouldn't boot. Do you mean it wouldn't boot from a DVD/CD? after changing BIOS setting to boot from optical drive.

The normal way to dual boot two or more operating systems is to boot straight from the disk not within Windows. That way you can first try the Distro 'live' from within memory then if you like it, do a permanent install by selecting the 'install' option from within the live setup.

There then follows a set of questions prior to install one of which will be similar to 'Dual boot with Windows?' and when you select that there shouldn't be any problems.

From reading your posts I honestly can't work out quite what you've done but I'm sorry to hear you've trashed your MBR and now can't boot Windows.

If you're going to do a fresh Windows install you can use your 'trashed' hard disk as Windows will detect it and give the option to format it. If you're feeling really adventurous, once you've installed Windows but prior to registration try booting from the Linux Disk via BIOS and try for dual install/boot. If it fails then you can just install Windows again, then register.

One final thought - before you burnt the Mint ISO to disk did you check it's md5sum to make sure it wasn't corrupted?

 

[bootneck02]

Hi Tony, I cannot boot ether the windows or Mint all I get is a message "cannot find boot strap" and unable to boot ether OS. I removed the disc and fitted a new HD installed Windows and a partition manager put the old HD in a docking station only to find that all that showed up was one partition and that 9.5 gigs was missing from the total usable disc space. I think I will take that to where I used to work and get the techies there to have a look as they have all the professional software tools and expertise to do the job and sort out the drive, if that don't work just throw the thing away and put it down to experience Any way thank you for your help. What I was thinking was that I would install Mint on a separate drive so that I would not cock up again and waste a couple of days trying to sort it out.

 

[floppybootstomp]

I understand you can't boot Windows or Mint, sounds like the MBR (Master Boot Record) of Windows is hosed. I'm guessing it's because you maybe attempted a Mint install from within Windows. For a clean Linux Distro installation it's usually advisable to boot from the Distro Disk.

So, I'll ask again - how did you attempt the install? And can you boot into Mint from the disk by setting the boot from disk option in the BIOS?

If you have a floppy disk drive or if your machine boots from a usb stick I could host a small piece of freebie software, lite version of Paragon Disk manager, which would enable you to format that hard disk. It's very unlikely there's anything wrong with the hard disk, sounds like it just needs formatting.

 

[Abarbarian]

Bit late in the day but this might be of interest.

http://www.linuxbsdos.com/2012/06/06/how-to-dual-boot-linux-mint-13-cinnamonmate-and-windows-7/

Linux Mint 13 Cinnamon and Linux Mint 13 MATE are the latest editions of the popular Linux desktop distribution based on Ubuntu Desktop. This tutorial presents a step-by-step guide on how to dual-boot either one with Windows 7 on a computer with a single hard drive.

 

[bootneck02]

Thanks Abarbarian and Tony for all your help, I have put the link as a favourite on my internet explorer and will look at it later, Well how far have I got I installed a new 1 gig hard drive and reinstalled windows but as I had the side panels off I thought I woulg give the PC a good dung out, I thought it was pretty good but this time I removed the CPU cooler, the VGA card and all the fans and I was supprised how much crap there was in there any way it is running cooler now. I have a mate comming around tonight to show me how to install Mint as a vertial machine so that will be interesting. He is a member of PCR but only dips in and out occasionly and not a regular, so has not seen my posts on here, anyway hopefully I should be sorted tonight. As far as the old C drive I am hoping it can be rescued but not holding out much hope. I will let you know the result tomoz.

 

[Abarbarian]

Handy tip.

Install windows 7
Then create partitions for your GNU/Linux with something like Parted Magick.
Then install your GNU/Linux.

This might be a better guide

http://http://www.linuxbsdos.com/2012/05/17/how-to-dual-boot-ubuntu-12-04-and-windows-7/http://www.linuxbsdos.com/2012/05/17/how-to-dual-boot-ubuntu-12-04-and-windows-7/2/

Hopefully you will end up with a partitioning scheme as above.
Having a dedicated "/boot" partition for GNU/Linux is a very good idea.
Hdd's can only have four Primary partitions.
Two of those are used for Windows 7.
Pay attention to the Primary and Logical flags for the partitions.

Following the guide should do what you want and hopefully be stress free.

This may be worth investigating.

http://neosmart.net/wiki/display/EBCD/EasyBCD+Basics

Enjoy.