Partition Order?

supernoob

Member
Hi,

I'm thinking of creating a triple-booting system using Windows 7, Mac OSX and Ubuntu 10.10.

In terms of the partition table, what would be the appropriate order? I will primarily be using Windows 7, so am I right in thinking that if W7 is placed closest to the MBR (as in, first partition) that it will be quickest for booting?

Does Linux need to be at the end? I'm really unsure :wtf:

Any help would be fantastic
 
Hi supernoob,

The ordering of partitions is unnecessary for these operating systems and makes zero difference with regards to loading speed.
 
I would recommend installing Windows 7 first. From within the Windows 7 installation do manual partitioning and assign 55 GB or more to a partition for Windows seven. Windows 7 will create a hidden boot partition in front of the partition you made of approximately 100 MB as a hidden boot partition.

After you have Windows 7 loaded you can use a partition editor such as Gparted on a Ubuntu disc or alternatively the Linux partition editor on the Ultimate Boot 5.0.3 disc available at the link below.

Download:
Click whare is say’s “Softpedia Secure Download (US)” for a direct download
http://www.softpedia.com/progDownload/Ultimate-Boot-CD-Download-5992.html

Either will work just fine but the ultimate boot disk saves about a minute.

Then I would make a partition for Ubuntu of say 10 GB or more. You also probably want to make a swap file. The swap file should be approximately twice the size of installed memory and it cannot be moved with a partition editor. Personally I would make an extended partition and stick the swap file at the very back of the hard drive. Note that if you have multiple Ubuntu installations they can all utilize the same swap file.

With regards to partitioning you can have either four primary partitions or three primary partitions and an extended partition. Within the extended partition you can have as many logical partitions as you wish up to a total of 24 partitions on a system. Ubuntu partitions and Ubuntu swapfile partitions can be logical. Also Windows XP installations can be logical.

Then install Ubuntu into the partition that you made for Ubuntu. Once done you can select from the Grub-2 boot loader the option to boot into Windows 7. From there you can add an option to boot into the Ubuntu OS in the Easy BCD boot loader program.

Later on you can edit the Grub-2 boot loader to time equal zero so you don’t see the Grub-2 boot loader screen anymore.

I haven’t figure out how to do the Hackintosh load yet but with regards to partitioning I would say after you get the first two OS’s happily booting I would go back and manually make another partition for Mac OS X.

Regarding the hackintosh partition try the links below:

http://www.hackint0sh.org

http://www.hackint0sh.org/f181
 
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