I need assistance requiring the partition of my hard disk for my bootable USB stick.

[stark grotto]

Good afternoon I'm currently downloading Linux Mint Xfce on my USB 8Gb however since downloading this for my Parallel and distributed programming course in university so that I can save any work I do there, as my USB is a bit smaller in its capacity.
However, I don't what or where to find any helpful tutorial on how to partition my hard disk safely. I only have a singular laptop, if something happens to this I have an extremely large setback. If anyone can give me guidance on my distress, I would be grateful to you.

[next vapor]

It is advised for beginners to not manually partition. You do need to have enough free space on your existing partition. If you do, the installer will offer to "install alongside", and automatically shrink that partition to make room, keeping it functionally intact. You want at least ~30GB for a functional Mint install with swapspace and room for a few applications and files. More is better, if you can spare it.

[stark grotto]

My local disk (G:) has about 252 GB space free.
How shall I proceed?

[next vapor]

Is that all the same drive?

[stark grotto]

yes, this that is on my windows Harddisk.

[next vapor]

It is not advised to have that many partitions. I am not sure if you even can install Mint on that mess.

[stark grotto]

I don't know it came from the seller like that.

[clear rover]

you can, but the installer will freak out when it's non-standard (usually a 100MB EFI, 16 MB MS reserved and the rest NTFS (sometimes a 4th partition for recovery)

@stark grotto can you open disk management and take a screenshot?

[stark grotto]

ofcourse

[next vapor]

The issue is, you can have only three primary partitons on Windows, so some of these are Logical Partitions in an Extended Partition container probably. I would reinstall Windows first with one partition, manually set to perhaps 700GB, leaving the rest free. Then install Linux and let it use the remaining free space. Of course you need to back up your data first.

But +1 for a screenshot of Disk Management.

[stark grotto]

Excuse me, can I flash my ISO file to my USB stick using Rn, or should I wait till this mess is sorted out.

[clear rover]

you should flash it now. guide:
https://discord.com/channels/628978428019736619/1295816480256163892

[clear rover]

hmm yeah I think reinstalling should be the easiest way there, like curunir said

you could remove the G partition and install Linux Mint there, but it would be in legacy mode like windows. which might not be ideal for future

[stark grotto]

I see. Thank you for your aid, I shall see what I can do about the reinstallation. @clear rover @next vapor

[next vapor]

Careful, these are two drives, and both appear to have been used as Windows system drives at some point. One is MBR, the other GPT, judging from the ESP on it.

[next vapor]

You have two drives, not one. Is that an SSD and an HDD?

[stark grotto]

Oh yes I forgot, my apologies. I have an HDD 1TB and a 256 GB SSD

My windows is installed on the SSD, that's what the seller said.

[next vapor]

What you want to do is back up your data and settings, disconnect the HDD, then reinstall Windows to the SSD, using perhaps 160GB of it. Then reconnect the HDD (while the system is shut down) and install Mint on the remaining free space. It is strongly recommended to use the SSD as the OS drive, for both systems. We can sort out mounting the other partitions later.

It is important to create your install medium for both Windows and Linux with the GPT partition format and UEFI boot method. You are currently probably using MBR, which will cause headaches.

It will be a bit tight on the SSD, but that is enough space if you manage it. But the only way to get a clean, reliable dual boot is remaking the Windows install in a simpler and more straighforward way than it is now.

[stark grotto]

👁️👁️