Dual-Boot Partitioning a 6TB HDD

The VCR King

Well-Known Member
I want to build a dual-boot mini workstation PC, and in Paint I made a "diagram" of how I want to partition the 6TB hard drive which will sometime be in said workstation.
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If I partition it this way will it work or will I need to get a separate drive for both OS's?
 
It'll work just fine.

The only problem with your plan is that I don't think 6TB disks exist. I think 4TB is the biggest you can get and you'll need to make sure that your BIOS supports them. Some BIOSes don't work with any disks larger than 2TB or 3TB.
 
it'll work. just KEEP IN MIND the partitions wont look like slices physically on the drive. it'll look more like a few inside rings and a few outside rings. and the outside rings, because the drive spins at the same speed, yet the outside actually moves faster, your outside partition will actually perform better and faster.

a little more information on the subject:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=toLYV7th0L8

by this i mean to say whichever you mean to do the most productivity and hard disk accessing, make sure you put that on the outter ring.
 
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Alright, first off, what program should I use to partition the drive? Second, I plan on putting this drive into a Usb enclosure. Can I boot off an external drive?
 
That will be fine, I'm just curious why you want a 1TB partition for each OS as well. Why not just have two 3TB partitions?
 
That will be fine, I'm just curious why you want a 1TB partition for each OS as well. Why not just have two 3TB partitions?

It allows reinstallation of each OS without risking or needing to destroy file directories.

That being said, a single 2TB partition for files is better than two 1TB partitions.

I would simply have

1TB for each partition, rest for files.

You can also use minitool partition wizard for this as it is much better and you can set it all up in one go.
 
Why not just set up 120 GB for Windows (or 500 GB if you have a ton of games/programs just to be safe) and 10 GB for Ubuntu, then use the rest of the space as a single storage? You can still mount it in Ubuntu and you don't have to fuss with two separate storage areas? :confused:
 
It allows reinstallation of each OS without risking or needing to destroy file directories.

That being said, a single 2TB partition for files is better than two 1TB partitions.

I would simply have

1TB for each partition, rest for files.

You can also use minitool partition wizard for this as it is much better and you can set it all up in one go.
I fully understand the reasoning for partitioning off your data and OS, but if that was the case you wouldn't need, or want 2TB for the OS and apps and only 1TB for the data. He also never said that was his intention, so it leads me to believe the 2TB would contain the OS, apps, and his data.
 
Alright, here it is again:
1. a 2TB partition for the Windows OS, user files, programs, etc.
2. a 1TB partition for the Windows OS, additional storage or maybe a backup space.
3. a 2TB partition for the Ubuntu/Linux OS, user files, programs, etc.
4. a 1TB partition for the Ubuntu/Linux OS, additional storage or maybe a backup space.
 
Alright, here it is again:
1. a 2TB partition for the Windows OS, user files, programs, etc.
2. a 1TB partition for the Windows OS, additional storage or maybe a backup space.
3. a 2TB partition for the Ubuntu/Linux OS, user files, programs, etc.
4. a 1TB partition for the Ubuntu/Linux OS, additional storage or maybe a backup space.
Why not 1TB for the Windows OS and programs, and 2TB for data?
 
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