Installing Ubuntu on a Toshiba laptop with Windows 8

[Jim Byrnes]

On 10/07/2013 04:04 PM, chris wrote:
> On 08/10/13 08:37, Liam Proven wrote:
>> On 7 October 2013 20:14, Jim Byrnes <jf_byrnes at comcast.net> wrote:
>>> Which is why I came here seeking help.  The partition figures I
>>> posted came
>>> from the Ubuntu installer screen.  Earlier when I had Ubuntu running
>>> from
>>> the live dvd I looked at it with gpartd and all the partitions I listed
>>> where displayed next to each other across the top of the screen.
>>>
>>> My goal is to leave Windows 8 on the disk, not setup and unactivated
>>> so if I
>>> need it in the future I could just set it up.  Maybe that is not even
>>> possible, I couldn't find any info about that by googling, but then I
>>> am a
>>> poor googler.
>> OK. Well, it's a 64-bit machine with EFI, we can tell that. And the
>> fact that it has 5 primary partitions means it /can't/ be a standard
>> MBR-partitioned hard disk.
>>
>> https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Master_boot_record#Disk_partitioning
>>
>> MBR is the old PC and DOS partitioning scheme. It is the one with the
>> 4-primaries limit.
>>
>> So I think it must be GPT format, although one generally only sees
>> that on disks over 2TB in size.
>>
>> https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/GUID_Partition_Table
>>
>> With GPT you can have as many partitions as you want.
>>
>> So, first question. Boot off the Live DVD, pick "try" not "install."
>>
>> Now, look inside those partitions. What's in the root directories?
>>
>> There are 5 - as I read it:
>>
>> /dev/sda1      ntfs      ~1GB
>>
>> /dev/sda2      efi       1/4 GB *leave this alone - vitally important*
>>
>> /dev/sda3      ntfs      ~ 1/8 GB - Windows System Reserved I think
>>
>> /dev/sda4      ntfs      ~5 3/4 GB - that's your C drive
>>
>> /dev/sda5      ntfs      ~11 GB - that's interesting. What's in there?
>> Anything?
>>
>> I would suggest, depending on what's in there, this:
>>
>> If #5 is empty, remove it. Shrink #4 down so that it is about 50% full.
> with a Toshiba, 5 is the recovery partition.  DO NOT TOUCH, unless you
> intend to wipe win 8 entirely.

I want to keep Win 8 for the reasons I mentioned to Ric in another post 
so I will leave it alone.


>> In the remaining space, make new primaries for Ubuntu. I'd suggest:
>>
>> 16GB ext4 for "/" i.e. root
>>
>> On the end, one about the same size as your physical RAM for swap.
>>
>> And in between, give all the remaining space to /home.
>>
>> Because it's GPT - I am guessing this because it seems to have 5 on
>> its already and it's a modern EFI PC laptop - then all the
>> old-fashioned primary/extended/secondary/logical stuff goes in the
>> bin. It's just primaries all the way on GPT.
>>

Regards,  Jim