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Curious Apprentice
Asked: 2012-05-13 09:32:40 +0800 CST

Can I install Ubuntu on a logical partition ? What will be the advantage or disadvantage of using a logical partition to install Ubuntu 12.04?

  • 772

Here are the screen-shots of what I have done so far using GParted.

Before editing the File system:

After editing the File System:

File system view from Windows 7 x64.

Now my question is ,should I install Ubuntu 12.04 in this partition or shrink the C: drive (sda1) to free up some space and install Ubuntu there ?

Is there any advantage of installing Ubuntu on a Primary drive or is there any disadvantage of installing Ubuntu on a Logical Drive ?

partitioning 12.04

3 Answers

  1. Best Answer

    There is no advantage or disadvantage of installing Ubuntu on a primary or logical partition. The only "drawback" if you can call it that way is that if you select logical, the names of the /dev/sd will start at 5. But if you select primary they will start at 1.

    For example:

    Primary

    /dev/sda1
    /dev/sda2
    ...

    Logical

    /dev/sda5
    /dev/sda6
    ...

    Basically is nothing to worry about.

    As far as I can see, you are good to go installing Ubuntu on that 55GB space you have left in your logical space. The one I mean is this:

    enter image description here

    So no need to worry about it. Just install it and enjoy.

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  2. Logical partitions exist to overcome the limitation of MBR (Master Boot Record) which only permits 4 "physical" (IE non logical) partitions. There is no difference in operation between logical and physical partitions.

    It's arguably better to use logical partitions as it allows the creation of more than 4 partitions in the future. 1 logical partition group takes up one physical partition space but can hold lots (don't know the limit) of logical partitions.

    • 6

  3. You can install Ubuntu on any partition. In fact, I never create primary partitions at all; I create one big extended partition, and all installations are installed in this extended partition (I don't have Windows, though).

    Using this method, you are not limited to 4 partitions, and it's much easier to resize partitions if needed. I don't know of any downside to not using primary partitions at all.

    • 2