I wanted to mess around with linux. But being a gamer I don't want to leave Windows at the moment. I was wondering is it possible for me to partition my secondary hard drive and install linux on one partition and use the other for storage in windows? And if so how would I go about doing that?
Thanks
This is one way to do it:
http://apcmag.com/how-to-dual-boot-windows-8-and-linux.htm
But consult your Linux distro's documentation to find a more efficient way. As long as you use the MBR partition scheme, you can install Linux on a partition alongside your Windows partition.
As A5H said, you'll need an MBR partition table, or MS-DOS as it is sometimes referred to in Linux. Depending on whether you're doing a text or graphical install, you'll have some options when you're on live disk or usb. If you're using text (i.e. vanilla Arch install), I would use fdisk. As for graphical, it all depends on what your distro gives you - if it does allow you the option of setting up your partitions, I would take it and flash it as MSDOS, and add the necessary partitions (swap [by standard twice the RAM you have, though I don't think it matters much], ext4 for root, ext4 for home if you really want, and most graphical distros won't care if you don't set up a boot partition). Just make sure you flash the right drive.
Granted, you could use GPT partition and *probably* be fine, but you'll have to manually switch the bootloader in BIOS every time you start your computer. If you use a MBR partition table in Linux with GRUB, GRUB will be able to see the Windows bootloader, and you can start Windows from inside Linux.
If you need more help, let me know.
Thanks for the reply and useful information. Let me explain my situation in more detail I have a hdd for my windows install and a 1tb hdd for programs and files. What I was thinking was could I partion this drive to install Manjaro xfce ISO onto (that answers your question on whether its a text install or a graphical install). That way manjaro can run on that partition happily and I can keep my files as they are too. I feel I am repeating myself but I just want to clear things up incase some things aren't clear(I'm new to posting on forums). What kind of partook would I need for this too work? And is it quite simple to do? This install is not a must and if its too hard I may not bother. So what is best to do in your oppinion? Sorry for the long reply, I am new too both Linux and partitioning I have only ever used a partition tool once too partition an SD card.
Thank you very much
I actually just set up a dual boot with Manjaro. The way I did it shouldn't be to different from how you would, even though I only have one hdd on my laptop. I just logged into to windows went to the disk partitioning tool and shrunk the space on my HDD to about what I wanted for Linux. It then became unallocated space and I left it. I then booted into my Manjaro live USB and went through all the instillation options till I got to the "where to install option ". I selected to do custom partitioning and divided them up accordingly with root and home partitions. After that the install auto detected win 7 and added it to the grub menu. Now I choose what to boot to. I hope this helps. I don't imagine it'd be much different using two hdd's but I could be wrong. Also I'm typing this on my phone so I apologize for any grammification malifucation
I'll just write you a guide for installing - a first time install is a little nerve-wracking, but after that time (especially if you do it a lot, like me) it becomes like second nature. If you spend some time looking around with it, you'll probably learn a bit about partitions and how installations and booting works. You'll also learn about your BIOS or UEFI, which is a pretty key step in interacting with your computer at a lower level.
Manjaro is a great place to start! It's pretty easy to install, so there's that. We might as well just jump in.
First things first - you'll need some prep. In Windows, in File Explorer, right click on Computer, select Manage, and when the new window pops up, select Disk Management from the menu on the left. Here you'll see your two HDDs, with a convenient graphic on the bottom that shows your partitions as Windows sees them. Your partitions, since they're already configured with Windows, are probably already MBR, so you won't have to worry about that. You said you have files on that HDD, right? Here you can right click on the HDD and "shrink" the volume to how much space you think you'll need, and leave the rest unallocated for Linux. You should be able to get away with as little as 40~ GB for Linux, but I would recommend 128GB so that you have a lot of room for applications and whatnot as you see fit.
Now that that's over with, I'll assume you have now downloaded Manjaro XFCE from the website. If you have a flash drive, plug it in and format it in Windows (easy as right clicking and formatting it as fat32). Get an image installer like UNetbootin and follow its instructions to get the distro onto your USB drive.
Now that that's done, once you're ready, restart your computer. If you haven't already, go into your BIOS and enable booting from USB, and make sure that your flash drive is on top of the boot order. That's probably a lot to take in at once, but as long as you can get into your BIOS or UEFI from the start, you are in a good position. It's usually a good idea to look around at all of your BIOS options anyways to get an idea of what you can do with it, and set a password on it if you're paranoid.
Finally you can restart your computer and boot into your USB. Select 'Default' or 'Start Manjaro' (not sure what options UNetbootin would have here; I usually compile the image directly in Linux), and Manjaro will spend some time starting some of its services and will bring you to the desktop, if nothing goes wrong. If you want to jump straight into the installation, on the right side of the window that comes up are the buttons "Install Manjaro" and "Install Manjaro (cli)" (they're also on the desktop if you want to play around a little bit first). Click on the first one for an easy graphical install, and follow the instructions until it asks for where it installs, where I will get back to you below.
Now, it should ask whether you want to erase everything on your HDD and install Manjaro, or install your partitions manually. Select the latter, and it will come up with a menu where you can see your partitions for your HDD. Chances are, it's on your Windows drive (probably /dev/sda), so select your other drive instead (probably /dev/sdb). Make a partition for your swap (8 or 16GB will do fine) and partition the rest (minus about 300MB) for your root partition. ('/' is your mount point, if you're wondering.) Make sure at the bottom you change where GRUB installs to the second drive as well. That will fill some of the unallocated space you have at the end of your drive. Continue, fill out any other questions it has for you, finish the installation, and restart your computer. (Don't forget to take your flash drive out. :P)
You might have to go into BIOS one more time to make sure that your new Manjaro installation is first in your boot order. Beyond that, you should get into GRUB with the options 'Start Manjaro [...] Windows (loader).' Congratulations; you are now running a native Linux distribution. :D
Thanks for the time you have put into that tutorial Jeol. I will give it a go doesn't seem too hard :P. I have installed a number of linux distributions on a laptop I had before but they were just fresh installs that wiped all the data so this will be interesting.
Right I have done all the instructions that were posted above and all was well until I set my 1tb hdd as first in the boot order and I get a message saying please select a valid boot device (something along those lines) when I try and boot. I'm guessing there was a problem with the GRUB install because that 300mb unallocated space was not taken up. Suggestions?
Thanks
Did you make sure to install GRUB on your 1TB? I don't think GRUB takes up all that much space, but it's more of a precaution. I would try just installing it again and seeing if whatever issue there existed fixed with the reinstall.
Worst case scenario, you'll have to back up your drive, reformat and repartition, but I wouldn't worry about that until you know it's a problem.