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Here are the screen-shots of what I have done so far using GParted.

Before editing the File system:

After editing the File System:

File system view from Windows 7 x64.

Now my question is ,should I install Ubuntu 12.04 in this partition or shrink the C: drive (sda1) to free up some space and install Ubuntu there ?

Is there any advantage of installing Ubuntu on a Primary drive or is there any disadvantage of installing Ubuntu on a Logical Drive ?

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3 Answers 3

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There is no advantage or disadvantage of installing Ubuntu on a primary or logical partition. The only "drawback" if you can call it that way is that if you select logical, the names of the /dev/sd will start at 5. But if you select primary they will start at 1.

For example:

Primary

/dev/sda1
/dev/sda2
...

Logical

/dev/sda5
/dev/sda6
...

Basically is nothing to worry about.

As far as I can see, you are good to go installing Ubuntu on that 55GB space you have left in your logical space. The one I mean is this:

enter image description here

So no need to worry about it. Just install it and enjoy.

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Logical partitions exist to overcome the limitation of MBR (Master Boot Record) which only permits 4 "physical" (IE non logical) partitions. There is no difference in operation between logical and physical partitions.

It's arguably better to use logical partitions as it allows the creation of more than 4 partitions in the future. 1 logical partition group takes up one physical partition space but can hold lots (don't know the limit) of logical partitions.

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  • So you are saying there will be no performance issues !?
    – Curious Apprentice
    May 12, 2012 at 18:19
  • No performance issues at all. I have 12.04 on a logical partition and its as quick as ever :)
    – jackweirdy
    May 12, 2012 at 18:31
  • There are no performance issues because your OS only needs to look up the physical address where the partition starts and how long it is. Once it knows that there is no longer any need to consult the partition table further. So it will have literally zero effect.
    – thomasrutter
    Sep 11, 2014 at 1:49
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You can install Ubuntu on any partition. In fact, I never create primary partitions at all; I create one big extended partition, and all installations are installed in this extended partition (I don't have Windows, though).

Using this method, you are not limited to 4 partitions, and it's much easier to resize partitions if needed. I don't know of any downside to not using primary partitions at all.

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  • Do I need to create separate swap, usr, home etc ? or Just choosing the first option "Install along side of Windows 7" will do everything for me ?
    – Curious Apprentice
    May 13, 2012 at 11:08
  • There is a lot of controversy about how to and whether to have separate partitions. It's easy to add them later if you find a need. I believe that using one partition is fine, and possibly best, especially until you know the ramifications of separate ones. I like to create a separate large personal data partition, with folders for Pictures, Documents, Music, etc. Then, I either mount these in the standard places in my home directory, or create a symbolic link; either works fine. If you format it to FAT32, Windows can also use it. The swap partition will always be separate, though.
    – Marty Fried
    May 13, 2012 at 17:21
  • Swap does not need to be a separate partition, in Linux you can use a swap file, just like Windows tends to do. However, it aids performance to have a dedicated swap partition and have it near the start of the disk (for conventional HDDs). Almost all Linux distros will create a separate swap partition by default in their installer.
    – thomasrutter
    Sep 11, 2014 at 1:51
  • Hi Marty, how do you boot your Linux from logical partitions? as here it says "Your boot partition ought to be a primary partition, not a logical partition. "
    – xpt
    May 15, 2022 at 4:02
  • @xpt: It says a primary partition will "ease recovery in case of disaster, but it is not technically necessary". I used to do it without problems. However, this post is 10 years old; now, we usually use a uefi partition for booting, which is a small FAT primary partition.
    – Marty Fried
    May 17, 2022 at 0:28

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