Plz help w/ file formats for dual boot Win7-Ubuntu

Maximenya

Hi,

I'm new to Linux and I decided to dual boot W7 and Ubuntu. I already installed and set up my W7 and made a spare partition for Linux (also have 3rd partition for files) and i made them all NTFS (by default so to speak, besides when i tried linux out i think it worked fine under NTFS as well).

But now im not so sure... so here are my questions:

- How should I set up my dual boot file formats? Which ones should I use (NTFS, ext3, ext4...)? Same for all partitions or different for each system?

I think thats all.. if you need more info plz ask..

Thx in advance!

P.S. Just decided to wipe my 32 bit OS and install 64 bit... so yea...

Another P.S. Just to confirm... like i said i made 3 partitions 1-primary (for windows), 2-primary (for linux), 3-logical (for files)... did i do everything right? i mean the primary-logical part?

Goineasy9

There is nothing wrong with the logic you used for the partitions. Especially the data partition that can be shared between Windows and Linux. I've been using Linux for quite a while, and I am still refining how I setup my HD partitions when I do a new setup.

mfillpot

It is advisable for you to setup your Ubuntu system and home partitions as ext4 to maintain the file system security and user rights. You can setup your other partitions as NTFS, but preferably fat32 (the max filesize is 2GB ) to allow you to share data between the two systems using those partitions. This will maintain security on both sides, but also lock the system and application data in separate spaces which will keep either system from interfering with the other.

woboyle

Use NTFS for Windows and ext3 for Linux. You'll be able to access and write data to the NTFS partition from Linux, but not to the ext3 partition from Windows. However, for running Linux it is best to use an ext2/ext3 file system (ext4 is now available, but not all versions support it yet though it is supposed to be more efficient than ext2/ext3).

Goineasy9

I've been using ext4 on my /boot and / partitions, and still use ext3 on my home and data partitions. Ext4 has come a long way and is very much stable at present, but I still don't trust it 100% for my important data. I must admit, even through power failures, I haven't had an ext4 filesystem blow up on me.