New to me Lenovo X201 ~2010. Want 3 partitions, W7P64, Data & Linux Mint 18.1 64 Mate LTS. With the ability to read, write, add or remove files from the Data partition from both OS. W7P64 is installed with a current backup image. I searched & couldn't find anything simple enough to follow. Let me say I've done this a few times successfully. That was years ago maybe XP years ago & I forget how to do it. Thinking shrink W7P64 partition through Windows Disk Management to 60GB. Then run a Chk Dsc. What's next is a tossup in my mind. Either boot to Mint & partition the non W7P64 partition then install Mint. Or use GParted to split the empty partition then install Mint. Don't want to blow it, got older T61's to install only Mint on & redistribute. If I'm wrong or you got something simple let me know. Also simple concise correct linkage would be nice. Thanks. Moderator if wrong Forum please move.
zapjb, I just searched and saw lots of tutorials. They weren't to my liking as they produced intertwined, dependent OS. I use BIBM as you can multi-boot dozens of OS and each OS is independent. But no-one would say using BIBM is simple.
I have the exact same system plus Windows 10. The X201 is pre UEFI and uses mbr partitioning so it is pretty easy. My partitioning software is Aomei Partition Assistant Pro. Mint will be happy on 32gb and will work on 20. Windows needs at least 64gb. I have the OS partitions on the ends of the data partition in the middle. I use the Windows boot loader to boot them. They aren't intertwined. I could boot them from Linux and grub has an easier time booting Windows than the Windows BCD has booting Linux. The easiest way to do it is to install Windows first and then install Linux and put grub in the mbr. Booting Linux from Windows involves saving the grub mbr to a file. It is just 512 bytes. Then the Windows MBR has to be restored. You can either save it before installing Linux or build a new one. I use Aomei Partition Assistant Pro's "rebuild mbr" function for that. Then the Windows BCD has to be edited to load it. A new entry has to be created that loads the grub mbr file and it will boot Linux. I name that file something like grb.bin and put it in the Windows boot folder where the BCD is stored. That folder is both hidden and system so you have to enable Windows Explorer to see both hidden and system files if you want to see it in Explorer. I use a small utility called "Bootice" to edit BCDs. It can also backup and restore mbrs and boot sectors. It is the swiss army knife boot utility and has lots of other useful functions and is freeware. http://www.majorgeeks.com/files/details/bootice.html That is the outline. There are a lot of details I've omitted.
MisterB, Thanks for the info. Sounds complicated and makes BIBM sound easy. With BIBM you... Create the partitions Create a Boot Menu item Install the new OS That's it. Each OS boots from the BIBM Boot Menu and is independent. No OS contains booting files from other OS. That's what I meant by "intertwined".
@MisterB Does this have the ability to read, write, add or remove files from the Data partition from both OS?
Yes, that is standard for all my computers. Linux has no problems with NTFS these days. It doesn't respect NTFS file permissions but that isn't a problem because the permissions are set for read/write deny execute in Windows and I don't use Wine so the result is the same. The data partition is a logical volume in an extended partition and I have a 9gb swap partition in the extended partition. I set them up with Partition Assistant before installing Linux and then do a custom install and format them and set mount points with the Linux install program. The mounts are / and swap. The default in Mint is that the data partition is mounted as removable media at login in the /media folder. I change that with the Mint/Ubuntu "Disks" program to mount at startup in the /mnt folder. Not absolutely necessary but it makes the mount more stable and the same for all logged in users. I also set the Windows system partitions to never mount so Linux only sees the data partition. @Brian K It sounds complicated but all either OS is doing is loading a 512 byte boot sector or mbr with its boot loader. That is the extent of intertwining. Linux does this automatically upon installation while Windows requires BCD editing. It sound like that is what BIBM is doing, once you select an OS, it loads the proper boot sector code. Once the boot sector code executes, the OS doesn't know or care how it was loaded. Things get more complicated with Windows 8 and 10 and UEFI and GPT disks but Windows 7 and an MBR disk is still relatively simple. In any case, the complicated part is setting it up. Once that is done, it is just a boot menu with the different OSes available.
MisterB, Thanks for the explanation. I appreciate the detail. Let me explain how BIBM works, or at least try to explain. BIBM allows over 200 primary partitions per drive on a MBR disk. BIBM can't be installed on a GPT disk. Partition information is stored in the First Track, LBA 0 to LBA 62. A MBR disk only allows 4 primary partitions to be seen when the OS boots so even though you might have lots of primary partitions you have to select 4 or less for any particular Boot Item. Let's say you had these primary partitions... WinXP Win7 Vista Win8 Win10 Win10b Win10c Data Mint Ubuntu Swap DOS WinPE BIBM A Boot Item for Win10 might be... Win10 Data When you select the Win10 Boot Item these 2 partitions will be placed in the LBA 0 partition table and other partitions removed. When Win10 boots and you look in Disk Management you will only see 2 partitions. The remainder of the space shows as Unallocated. It seems only Win10 and the Data partition are on the drive. Similarly, when you select the Mint Boot Item you would be selecting these partitions for the LBA 0 partition table... Mint Swap Data In Mint, only 3 partitions will be seen. (Grub has been installed to the Mint partition)
Well I've been fooling with this. Not getting the results I want. MisterB I understand you're getting this done. But it's as clear as mud to me. I can dual boot, even resize partitions before or after installing Mint. Haven't got W7 to see other partitions. I also dislike the GUI of the boot menu. Years ago I used PCLOS & it was less cold. Just frustrated LOL. Disproportionately important to me. At least I'm aware.
Another option that only works on the X201 as far as I know, is to install Linux to a SD card. The X201 sees the SD card as a USB storage device and it is bootable. I have the tablet version so I can't confirm that it is the same on the standard X201 but I would suspect that it is. This was my first Linux install on the X201 with Mint 17.2. I used a 32gb SD card. All that is necessary is to choose the SD card as the install drive and do a standard install. The Mint install program will partition the card and create a swap partition. Grub will be installed to the SD card's MBR and the card can be selected by pressing F12 at startup. Every other Thinkpad I've had has had a Ricoh card reader that wasn't bootable.
zapjb, In Win7, can you see the Data partition in Disk Management? If it doesn't have a drive letter, give it one.
@MisterB I like that suggestion. Got to buy a SD card. I misplace SD & MicroSD cards like crazy. Probably have 6 or more that I can't find. @briank I think I mispoke. Don't recall, combo of I do things real quick & change things around fast. Also the 1970's didn't help either. I resized the Storage partition in both W7 & Mint at different times. When I resized the W7 partition in Mint I think W7 couldn't see it. Other way no problem.
Happy with the results. Boot order is USB CD (external drive when needed), SDCard then SSD. I removed my SSD 1st just as an CYA. External CD installed Mint to SDCard. When I want to boot to Linux I leave the SDCard fully inserted. When I want to boot W7 I unengage the SDCard but leave it in the slot.
Many thanks for explaining how BIBM works. I'd tried to understand it before but this makes a lot more sense.
