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ZFR: So... having an ntfs hdd/partition with photos, documents... etc that's shared between Linux and Windows is OK? But if I actually install games/programs on it I should use a Linux file system instead?
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adamhm: Yes (also in addition to the above, Windows filesystems will be a bit slower and case sensitivity may be an issue with Linux software as Linux file systems are case-sensitive while Windows file systems aren't)
Thanks!

hmmm... hypothetically, if I save image.png and Image.png on the shared partition on Linux, then view the files on Windows 7, what happens?
Post edited January 05, 2020 by ZFR
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adamhm: Yes (also in addition to the above, Windows filesystems will be a bit slower and case sensitivity may be an issue with Linux software as Linux file systems are case-sensitive while Windows file systems aren't)
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ZFR: Thanks!

hmmm... hypothetically, if I save image.png and Image.png on the shared partition on Linux, then view the files on Windows 7, what happens?
To make a quick test, I created 2 text files on Linux test.txt and Test.txt
test.txt: "This is a lower case file"
Test.txt: "This is a upper case file"

Saved them both as windows coding to avoid any possible problems there.

I booted Windows 10 and while it saw both files, it didn't allow me to open the lower case file test.txt. Everytime I tried to open it or view its content, it opened the Test.txt.

So I might say that for this experiment windows saw both files but treated them as same, choosing the upper case file even when I tried to open the lower case.

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BTW, allow me to share my own configuration. 1TB disk, with triple booting: Linux Mint 19.3, Windows 10 and Manjaro Linux.

I have a DATA partition which is 400 GB in size that is shared by all those operating systems and haven't had a problem so far (lucky?). Advantages of that is:

1. I can work on the same files (docs, excel, etc) on all operating systems.
2. I can install a program on windows and run that program on Linux simply by double clicking using WINE. Games like Baldur's Gate series(all infinity engine games in fact), Neverwinter series, Dragon Age: Origins, work perfectly that way and I can continue my saved games in any operating system... (when I find time that is)
3. For 2, if I want to "fine-tune" the wine or use a special wine configuration, I simply create a Play on Linux (POL) partition and direct it to the executable. I find this super handy since I can do any configuration without actually changing the program or even installing it.
Attachments:
Another quick question. Will I need an antivirus software?
Was reading through old posts here and found this:


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Engerek01: ...
sda4 40 GB / (root)
sda5 restGB /home
...
Is it necessary to have a separate partition for /home? Why can't it use same partition as root?

I've got about 160GB for Linux Mint. If I make a separate partition for /home, how much space should I give root?
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ZFR: Is it necessary to have a separate partition for /home? Why can't it use same partition as root?
You can keep everything under / if you want, including /home. I tend to do that too on my home Linux PCs.

These are about preferences, everything has benefits and drawbacks. I guess the benefit of keeping your /home on a different partition is that you can wipe and reinstall Linux more easily then, without affecting your personal files in the /home directory.

The benefit of having everything under / is the same as having only one partition/drive on Windows: you get to use all your available hard drive space more optimally, and moving files around is much faster within a partition than across partitions.

Not sure if you are going to use LVM with your partitions, it gives certain perks like you can combine several hard drives into one partition, increase partition sizes with more flexibility (many times not needing a system reboot) etc. but I guess these are more relevant to production systems in companies than home users...? I don't recall if most Linuxes nowadays install LVM by default or if you have to select it.
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timppu: These are about preferences, everything has benefits and drawbacks.
Thanks. I ended up having to use separate partitions anyway. Reason: when repartitioning on Widows, I took some free space off C, where Widows is installed, and then off D where my games are installed. So I had:

Windows (C) - Free 40GB taken off C - Games (D) - Free 120GB taken off D

I've installed root on the 40GB space and /home on the 120.

It won't affect performance / (root) and /home partitions are not next to each other, will it? Neither on Windows that C and D are not next to each other, right? It's an SSD, so it shouldn't matter.
You won't need an antivirus software.

Is it required to have /home in a different partition? Short answer is NO. Root partition (/) is the operating system and Home partition (/home) is everything rest.

Benefits of having /home as different partition
* Root partition is protected from rest of the system. You (or a program) will need root privileges to change anything there so your Linux operating system will be safe.
* It makes re installing OS very easy (tho remember to use the same username and password? Not sure about that). For example it is not possible to upgrade from Mint 18.3 to 19 by the usual update manager so installing 19 from scratch is the only option.

Downsides: It is usually recommended to have about 20GB for root and ALL the rest for Home. However, some programs love to install under root folders (like (/usr), f*** you Matlab), and if you don't realize this during the installation, it will be really annoying. Also most of the other software dump files pile up in one of those root folders filling it up so having a small root partition will lead to constant cleaning space.

No, not having partitions next to each other will not cause any problems as far as I know.
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ZFR: Another quick question. Will I need an antivirus software?
I'm not sure if there is any actual antivirus software for Linux, besides software meant for Linux mail servers to check that emails don't contain Windows viruses?

No idea if there would a real need either (for Linux antivirus), from a technical perspective.
Thanks!

With 40GB for root and 120 for /home I should be good then.
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ZFR: ...I should be good then.
Yes.

If you have problems deciding on which desktop environment ( = DE eg MATE, xfce, Cinnamon) know you can install others next to whichever you pick in the beginning then you choose on the login screen which is to be the default and whether you would like to use something else for this particular session. Works fine.
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timppu: I'm not sure if there is any actual antivirus software for Linux, besides software meant for Linux mail servers to check that emails don't contain Windows viruses?

No idea if there would a real need either (for Linux antivirus), from a technical perspective.
There is and is helpfull for scanning Windows :D

+1 on the no need for antivirus. Heck even on Windows I dont use antivirus, besides that defender thing.
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ZFR: Thanks!

With 40GB for root and 120 for /home I should be good then.
Since you are low on space, you can even go 30GB (or 25) for root and the rest for /home. I left 40GB for root since I love to experiment a lot and yet still my file system (root) is less than 20.
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ZFR: Another quick question. Will I need an antivirus software?
Most Linux users will say not. However it mostly depends on if you plan to transfer/send files to a windows PC. If that is likely using an AV on Linux will allow you to scan those files before a possible windows machine gets infected.

As for Linux itself, it is designed to be much more resilient to malware etc by default, but nothing is 100% safe.

I use Clam AV (and it's GUI addon) on my Linux Mint install because i do transfer files over to Windows PC's. You can find the software in the Linux Mint 'Software Manager' ('Start'/Linux Mint icon>System>Software Manager).

You should also consider the UFW firwall (and GUI addon). Also available from the software manager.

Both are very easy to set up and run and you can easily find instructions online :)
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ZFR: Is it necessary to have a separate partition for /home? Why can't it use same partition as root?

I've got about 160GB for Linux Mint. If I make a separate partition for /home, how much space should I give root?
It's user preference. There's no problem putting everything on a single partition, and that is actually the default setup.

The benefit to having a separate home partition is it keeps your user data separate so if you decide to reinstall you can just nuke the old root partition and reinstall using the old home partition mounted as home on the new install, and all of your users/settings/etc will be kept on the fresh install.

I prefer giving almost everything a "clean slate" on fresh installs though, except for some specific things like Firefox, Thunderbird etc. so I don't bother putting home on its own partition. It's easy enough to make backups of anything you want to keep as Linux is a lot better structured & tidier with things like this than Windows (plus I keep most of my data on my HDDs rather than in my home directory anyway).
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Engerek01: Benefits of having /home as different partition
* Root partition is protected from rest of the system. You (or a program) will need root privileges to change anything there so your Linux operating system will be safe.
This is the case regardless of where the home directory is located.

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Engerek01: * It makes re installing OS very easy (tho remember to use the same username and password? Not sure about that). For example it is not possible to upgrade from Mint 18.3 to 19 by the usual update manager so installing 19 from scratch is the only option.
You *can* upgrade from Mint 18.3 to 19 (and it should be possible to do the same with 19.3 to 20 when that releases), although it's more complicated due to the extent of changes required: https://community.linuxmint.com/tutorial/view/2416

Personally, I always reinstall for new releases.
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ThorChild: You should also consider the UFW firwall (and GUI addon). Also available from the software manager.
Both are installed by default with Mint and my guide mentions that it should be enabled :)
Post edited January 07, 2020 by adamhm
@ adamhm, ah yes UFW is part of Mint (i had forgotten that), just not 'on' by default so there are those few hoops to go through to get it up and running.

I get the feeling that a lot more people are checking Mint out as Windows 7 nears eol. The Mint Forums seem more busy at any rate?