Recommend a BiBM partition scheme?

hi, i have a 60 GB Win 7 partition on a 256 GB SSD and 15 GB unallocated before it and the rest unallocated after it. Wondering what kind of partitions to make and where to place BiBM and also i thought i read that all Windows OS partitions need to be primary - is this true? i would like to put a Win XP on there later as well and maybe Win 8 or 10 and some Linux OSes and wondering how best to construct.

Also, if i were to make a partition for the page file for Windows on the SSD - would that wear out too quick or? maybe its not needed on SSD? if i had several Windows OSes it seems like i could save space by having a separate Page File partition and use it for all of them. the system has 8 GB RAM if it matters.

 

Snoop3,

To create a BIBM boot disk...

To install BIBM (it will create its own partition at the front or end of the SSD) (it doesn't matter which one)...

See this page for installing Windows OS...

http://www.terabyteunlimited.com/howto/index.htm

See this page for installing Ubuntu...

http://www.terabyteunlimited.com/kb/article.php?id=279

Basically, to install an OS with BIBM as the boot manager you...

Create a partition
Create a Boot Item
Attempt to boot the Boot Item. It won't boot as there is no OS but this sets the partition active and creates partition tables for that Boot Item. Press Ctrl Alt Delete and...
Boot from the OS disk and install the OS
After the OS is running to your satisfaction you will have to boot from the BIBM media and "Reactivate BIBM" as the Windows install inactivates the boot manager.

 

Thanks Brian. kind of complicated, will take me a while to figure out. If i install BiBM with Win 7 already on there, will it detect it and then just take over the booting (kind of like GRUB does when u install linux from live CD) or will i have to re-install Win 7 after BiBM?

 

Easy. Install BIBM and it will create a Win7 Boot Item. Click the Boot Item to boot Win7.

 

Just a reminder, it is in the Ubuntu web page I mentioned in a recent post, install Grub to the Ubuntu partition and not to the MBR.

You can have multiple Windows and Linux OS on the SSD. I think the maximum is over 200 but you will need a big SSD to hold that many.

 

Thanks Brian. its gonna take me a while to work on this, still moving programs and stuff from an older computer to this one, grab the licenses from email etc..

 

No problems. Let us know if you have any questions.

 

worked perfect.

with this setting of more than 4 primary partitions, could i still view partitions with other apps like GParted but dont move or change the partitions unless its with BiBM? also, would other imaging software still work or only use IFL and IFW?

 

Snoop3,

Let's say you have 10 primary partitions on your SSD and you have chosen 3 partitions to be in the LBA-0 partition table (the standard partition table we all use). Then 7 primary partitions will be in the EMBR, the extended MBR, LBA-1, LBA-2 and beyond. BIBM, IFW, IFD and IFL see all 10 primary partitions. Windows Explorer, Windows Disk Management, Diskpart and other partitioning software see only 3 primary partitions; the ones that are in LBA-0. The other 7 primary partitions, if they are contiguous, are shown as a single chunk of unallocated free space. Or as areas of unallocated free space if they aren't contiguous.

Regarding other imaging software, they should work fine in backing up the partitions they can see. But an entire drive image would not be possible.

 

Say your SSD has 5 primary partitions, 4 OS and a common data partition. When you set up a boot item the partitions you choose will be entered in the LBA-0 partition table and all other partitions will be in the EMBR. So the LBA-0 partition table will change each time you boot a different boot item. Your boot items would be...

OS1, Data
OS2, Data
OS3, Data
OS4, Data

When an OS is booted it will not see any of the other OS partitions. No chance of cross talk.

 

Brian, is there a way to let Windows see these other partitions? i usually create a bunch of partitions like Documents, Downloads, Portable Apps, Page File, etc and Windows sees them even on that extended LVM(?) thing that linux does. the file manager can only see 2 of them now.

 

Yes, you can create an Extended Partition containing multiple logical volumes. The Extended Partition counts as one Primary Partition. Windows and other software would be able to see all of the Logical Volumes.

BIBM allows you to hide any Logical Volume you don't want seen by a particular OS.

Remember, BIBM allows you to have over 200 Primary Partitions but Windows can only see a maximum of 4 Primary partitions on any drive. You choose which 4 Primary partitions you want Windows to see on any drive.

Edit... Since installing BIBM have some of your partitions "disappeared"?

 

no, i just had one data partition that i had to move into correct position and i added several before and a few after it. i created most of them with BiBM and then i could only see 2 after reboot.

do i have to start over or can i convert one existing partition to an Extended partition and then convert these others to logical volumes and drag them into the extended partition?

maybe a better question is how would you recommend i structure these partitions?

BiBM - at the start of SSD
15 GB unallocated space
60 GB Win 7
15 GB Win XP (empty)
10 GB Linux 1 (empty)
10 GB Linux 2 (empty)
10 GB Documents
20 GB Downloads
40 GB Media Files
10 GB Sync
20 GB Portable Apps
5 GB Browsers
5-10 GB Page File (not sure if necessary on SSD)
rest of drive unallocated or maybe a MISC partition or SWAP for Linux
all partitions are NTFS except the linux ones (maybe FAT32 is better?)

i just want to be able to access those last 7 partitions from any Windows OS started and maybe some for linux too

edit: except for Win7 and Portable Apps all the partitions are still empty so it will be easy for me to move stuff here and there

 

When I first started using partitioning software I had multiple data partitions. I now feel this is counterproductive. In my system your Documents, Downloads, Media Files, Sync, Portable Apps, Browsers would be folders inside a single partition I'd call Data. I backup this partition with data backup software and not imaging software. The page file is in the OS partition. Logical Volumes in an Extended Partition aren't used in my computers as these Volumes aren't as robust as Primary Partitions.

So my setup would be...

BiBM - at the start of SSD
15 GB unallocated space
60 GB Win 7
15 GB Win XP (empty)
10 GB Linux 1 (empty)
10 GB Linux 2 (empty)
105 GB Data
Free Space

All your data files would be visible to each OS.

 

Let's say you have the above partitions and you restart your computer. You will see the Boot Menu containing Win7. Click Maintenance, then click Boot Edit.
Select Win7 and click Edit
In the MBR Details on the right hand side is your partition table (LBA-0) for each drive
In HD 0 (your SSD) there are 4 slots. If BIBM is there select it and click Clear
You only want Win7 and Data so if any other slots are occupied, select and Clear
Move Win7 into the 0) slot and Data into the 1) slot
Click OK, OK again
Done

Now when you boot Win7 only your selected 2 partitions will be in Disk Management.

For a Linux Boot you would have the below items in the MBR Details section of the Menu Item

Linux
Swap
Data

 

ok, ill have to think about. i've been told before about putting them in folders on a single partition but i just dont like things that way.

am i limited to just 4 slots for each OS in the bootup menu? i saw that and thought maybe thats the answer but i was afraid to make a mistake.

 

If you don't want a single data partition then create an Extended Partition with Logical Volumes. The Extended Partition will be in the MBR Details slot instead of Data.

 

It is a limitation of MBR disks and has nothing to do with Windows or Linux. LBA-0 on each drive can only contain a maximum of 4 primary partitions.

 

GPT disks will enable Windows to see up to 128 primary partitions on the drive. But booting multiple OS on a GPT disk is interesting to say the least. It's not for a beginner.

https://www.wilderssecurity.com/threads/dual-boot-os-in-uefi-mode.376522/

 

i think i understand this a little bit now. there are still some limitations that BiBM cant get past yet.

 

Yes, BIBM lets you have lots of Primary Partitions but only 4 of those Primary Partitions can be in use at any one time.

Edit... "In use at any one time by Windows or Linux". The TeraByte apps can see and access all the primary partitions on the drive. For example, you might have a partition that contains needed files but it's not in the partition table so Windows can't see it. There is an app called TeraByte Explorer (installed when you install IFW) which can access those files while you are in Windows. You can copy files out of a partition Windows can't see.

 

For later. You can setup BIBM to do single click restores. Click the Run icon and click your prepared restore script.

Instead of initiating the restore in BIBM you can initiate the process in Windows. The computer will restart into BIBM and auto run the restore.

 

i set up the extended partition and like 6 volumes off of it. only slight drawback i notice is that the names of the volumes seem to be limited to 8 characters - is this because i gave the extended partition too long of a name (i called it "Extended Data")? if i shortened the ext part name would i get more characters for the volume names?

also, the copy/paste is very fast - i think it was working at about 4-6 GB/min. might be worthwhile if they had a verify option since its so quick. maybe its not necessary though?

 

Snoop3,

Creating a primary partition in BIBM on an EMBR disk. eg an Extended partition on your SSD. The primary partition label can have up to 15 characters. The logical volume label can have up to 8 characters. In Windows you can then edit the logical volume label up to 32 characters. That's OK to do on your SSD.

In BIBM you can copy partitions using either of two methods. Copy/paste as you have used. Or IFD (Disk Imaging). IFD has the Validate option.

 

this worked - and then when i went back into BiBM it showed the longer volume label.

thanks for all the help Brian.