03-11-2011, 04:59 AM
(This post was last modified: 03-11-2011, 05:01 AM by AceInfinity.)
(03-11-2011, 04:07 AM)Twicks Wrote: Linux is a fairly small operating system, no matter which flavor you choose. And geared toasted what Infinity was saying, 250 GB is NOT the "minimum" for an OS to run. Sure, you can't put 1827389 OSes on a 250 GB, but you can definitely fit two or three. I have a 250 GB HDD and I was booting Windows 7, Ubuntu, Leopard, and Mint all of it! And there were no lagging problems.
Just try not to download a ton of crap. You'll be fine.
Partition your HDD in Windows 7 via the partition manager...make it, the rest of your HDD if you want. Minimum around 50 GB since you can save your files directly to your bigger Windows partition through Linux.
As for the distro, I recommend using either Mint or Ubuntu. You can see lifehackers recent posts...they just covered the "Linux Night School".
Good luck with it and PM me if you run into any issues :]
Of course it's not the bare minimum, but why limit yourself. It should be the minimum for running Windows 7 alone in my opinion. There's a difference between cutting it close, and making sure that you have a decent amount left over. The suggested Hard Drive space is 250GB. How long do you want to have the OS without having to worry about freeing up space in the future for files. Updates and patches for your system don't just stop at a given point in time. Those will take up space if you want your system secure as well, and things add up. You won't run into any lagging problems just from your hard drive in reality. But as you get closer to the limit you run the risk of data loss.
I know Linux is a really small OS to install, but that doesn't mean that Windows 7 isn't.
In your post, Ubuntu, Leopard, and Mint, are all really small Operating Systems, and wouldn't even add up to the amount of space that is recommended for Windows 7 alone to install.
The more partitions you have to boot different operating systems on a single hard drive, the easier it is to fill up the capacity, and in general the less time it takes.