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So I am a new user of Linux Ubuntu 14.04 and I was wondering if its really necessary to partition my HDD. Is my boot up gonna be faster if I do partition it or is it just good practices to do it.

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    Do you intend to install more than one operating system at a time on you computer, e. g. both Linux and Windows? Feb 16, 2015 at 0:19

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All hard drives have a partition table and one or more partitions. When you install Windows it will also install into a partition; in fact it'll probably create the partition for you.

By default if you buy a new hard drive, it'll just have one big partition covering the whole drive.

If you want to install two different operating systems (eg Windows and Linux) on the same disk they will usually need to be in separate partitions. This means that you need to re-partition the drive so that the first partition does not take up the whole drive, then add a second partition (or multiple partitions, if the new OS needs it).

Whenever you install any operating system it always needs to be placed into one or more partitions. The number and arrangement of partitions you need on your disk just depends on whether there are other operating systems on the same disk, and how many partitions each operating system uses.

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  • Ok, so if I don't plan to dual boot I don't need to worry about partitioning? I saw things like swap partitions should I need one?
    – Alex
    Feb 15, 2015 at 23:56
  • If you don't dual-boot you won't need to leave a separate partition for Windows. As for a swap partition, just go with whatever the Ubuntu installer recommends. It will usually set up a small swap partition. Feb 16, 2015 at 0:02
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Following up to the comments to neon_overload's answer, it is necessary that you create a swap partition for Linux, if you intent to use suspend-to-disk, also known as hibernation.

Even if you don't, it is recommended, because a separate swap partition provides at least equal and often better performance than a swap file inside another file system.

For more info see http://www.alexonlinux.com/swap-vs-no-swap. If you need advice to choose an appropriate swap space size, refer to I have 16GB RAM. Do I need 32GB swap?.

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  • Do you know a good way to check if I already have a swap partition, I believe I don't. Since I selected a custom installation to begin with.
    – Alex
    Feb 16, 2015 at 0:32
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    see askubuntu.com/q/159783/175814 Feb 16, 2015 at 0:34

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