Need some advice

[KillaMuvZ]

Good luck.

Oh btw, you could just make a VM with Open SUSE. You wouldn't need much space.
Anyway, best of luck!

[AceInfinity]

It's visually appealing. Yes.
Running it through VM is extremely difficult and IMO not worth it.

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If 250 is the bare minimum for YOU, please don't state it as if it were a fact.
I only have about 30 GB of files and such, which I keep mainly on my external. I probably should have mentioned that. But I do keep a fair share of school work and GFX saved on my main. Anyway, yes. Those are small OSes. So OP shouldn't have an issue installing Ubuntu.

Sure, you might eventually (read: after MANY years) start running out of room. Re solution? Buy an external HDD, about $50, and save all your stuff on it.

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.

The minimum requirement like I said, is fairly small, but Microsoft does recommend a minimum of 250GB Hard Drive space for a Windows 7 Upgrade/Install. Taking into account all the programs/updates/other files that you will have on your computer, that is the official suggested requirement by Microsoft. However, the requirement stated by Microsoft is 20GB for a 64 bit version of Win7. You can get away with it, but that 250 is the safe zone. That 20GB will basically just get you the OS installed, and maybe a couple updates.

You don't typically store program files on an External hard drive, that's not the ideal place for them, so your primary drive that has the OS installed on it will still keep losing available space. That's assuming he wants to go and buy and External HD as well, unless he already has one.

[Twicks]

Well, to each his own Infinity. I don't believe you need 250 GB for any OS itself. For programs and data maybe. But not just to run the OS.

Regardless, good luck Fragma and let me know if you need anything! I'd life to help :3

[AceInfinity]

Well, to each his own Infinity. I don't believe you need 250 GB for any OS itself. For programs and data maybe. But not just to run the OS.

Regardless, good luck Fragma and let me know if you need anything! I'd life to help :3

That's a more reasonable statement to me To just run the OS you can go pretty much down to the absolute required minimum. But for any OS, you can expect to take up quite a bit more space than that requirement, because they don't take into account what programs you would like to install or how many updates you may have by the time you start your OS from a clean fresh start.

I guess I should stop spamming Fragma's thread though with my nonsense lol

[Alex Last]

Ubuntu is a good starting OS, should be a simple enough task for a newbie to handle. It also is probably one of the best supported systems so should you encounter problems there will be lots of help articles available.

[AceInfinity]

Ubuntu is a good starting OS, should be a simple enough task for a newbie to handle. It also is probably one of the best supported systems so should you encounter problems there will be lots of help articles available.

Ubuntu is the most common for most people. It's compatibility is fairly high for a supported linux system too, but I would recommend Mint for beginners to start out on first. Even if they have to use a virtual machine to run it or run it via, USB drive, or Data CD on boot. The options won't be saved, but at least you'll get to know what you're up against before you start dual booting with that system.

[cfillion]

Ubuntu is very easy to install and it installs in only ~10 minutes.
But choosing a Linux OS is a personal choice; therefore I advise you to try distributions that interest you before you install one.
In most distributions, the 32bit version is more stable than the 64bit versions.

[Fragma]

Thanks for the help guys. I think I'm going to get Ubuntu Netbook Edition. Just need to buy myself a new memory stick.

[AceInfinity]

You can also test it out by burning it to a disc. It's the same thing as putting it onto a USB, you just need to set the boot order to boot from the device before your hard drive.

[Fragma]

You can also test it out by burning it to a disc. It's the same thing as putting it onto a USB, you just need to set the boot order to boot from the device before your hard drive.

I only have an external dvd/cd player and it doesn't burn. I also have a memory stick but because it has fingerprint security, it doesn't run when I boot. So I need to get an normal memory stick.