Question regarding dual booting Ubuntu and Windows 7

Question

I know there have been many questions regarding this topic, but I am going to put a bit of a different spin on it (hopefully).

So I have a 500 GB hard drive, with some 438 free GB, all through Windows 7. Researching how much space to allocate to Ubuntu and Windows 7 has yielded contradictory results. Through the Ubuntu prompt, will I have access to all 438 GB, or will I only have access to a small portion? Also, with this much space, any recommendations on how much space to allocate to each OS?

One other question. There are two main ways to set up the partition for the dual boot. Either through Ubuntu's prompt or by setting it up yourself. I planned on using Ubuntu's prompt, mainly because it seems like it works, and it seems safer than me poking around my hard drive. Is this method "safer"? In other words, what are the risks of partitioning my hard drive via Ubuntu's prompt?

Thanks for all the help.

Answer 1

• The amount of space to allocate depends on what you want to do with Ubuntu, I recommend 100-150 GB.
• Try windows to partition the hard drive.

Read the section Shrinking your Windows section in the first article below.

• Install Ubuntu 14.04 alongside Windows 8.1 in 10 easy steps
• Easily Shrink a Volume on a Windows 7 Disk

Answer 2

This is how I set up my dual boot for Ubuntu and Windows 7.

1. I used GParted to re-partition the the HD. One partition will stay NTFS, and the other is ext2fs/ext3fs.
2. Once the repartition is done, burn a copy of Ubuntu to either a disk or a USB -- I used ISORecorder to burn it to a CD. There's other software that is found on http://www.ubuntu.com/download/desktop/create-a-usb-stick-on-windows which will provide instructions on how to do so
3. Install Ubuntu.
4. Fix the grub2 loader -- Refer to this page: https://help.ubuntu.com/community/Boot-Repair

EDIT: I forgot to mention the sized partitions. I would recommend the same as the other gentleman -- 100GB-150GB should work.