Installing Ubuntu on a laptop that has Windows 7 and Linux Mint

[taodoe9.amabel at recursor.net]

On Fri, Mar 2, 2012 at 9:55 AM, Pongo  wrote:
>> 3. What's the proper way to make room for Ubuntu? What must I click on
>> the screen?
>>
>> Also, I'd like the 2 distros to share the same "home" folder. By this,
>> I mean that I want both of them to point to the same place for where I
>> save my stuff (same Downloads folder, same Photos folder, same
>> "Recent" stuff, etc)
> This can be very problematic.  If you do this you will have competing
> and conflicting configuration files (often in the form of hidden
> directories in your home).  A better (but somewhat more complicated) way
> to do this is to have a small separate home for each distro and a
> common /data partition with things like Documents and Pictures linked
> with simlinks.  You need to learn more about the basics of partitioning
> before you try any of this.  Please visit the PartedMagic forums as
> indicated above.
>
> In the first instance I'd shrink the Win7 sda2 down to 50 GB or so and
> expand the extended partition to take up the new space.  Then I'd make
> two 20 GB or so partitions for the linux systems and use the rest for
> the two homes.  The swap partition seems about right and can be shared.
> Then install the distros.  Win7 may have to be booted in recovery mode
> the first time after you shrink it.  GRUB will handle the booting.


Thanks again. Ok. I won't bother with having the 2 linux distros
sharing the same home folder. I'll go with your suggestion of having a
common "/data" partition/folder

I'm trying to implement your advice to shrink Win7 sda2 down to 50 GB.
I'm trying to do the shrinking within Win7, using Win7's own Disk
Management. Please see http://i.imgur.com/wCcUe.png
Which is sda2 in this pic?




>> 1. Why is Windows 7 split into sda1 and sda2?
> Sda1 is most likely the recovery image for Win7.
Is there a difference between "recovery image" (what you say sda1 is)
and "Windows Recovery Environment" (sda3's label)?