On Installing Multiple Linux Distros on a Computer

[The Incredible]

Guys, I was planning to install Ubuntu, Fedora and Backtrack on the same computer (along with Windows 7). My Specifications are:

2.67 Core i5
4GB DDR3 RAM
500 GB HDD

I have a system running Windows 7 with 3 partitions (240, 130, 130) GBs. And I was planning on freeing out 30GB of space and diving it into 3 new partitions. And, then, installing one linux-distro on each. Will the idea work ?

I've been running Ubuntu on vmware for some time but I'm quite not happy with it. So, I was planning to install it along with Windows. And, then, the idea came to have Fedora and Backtrack too. But, then, came the fear of conflict between these distros...

So, are there any chances of conflict between these distros when installed side-by-side ?

 

[doomgiver]

nope, it wont conflict, if you follow proper procedure.

you need these partitions:
1. /home
2. linux-swap
3. /boot
^^ all 3 will be common between the distros you want to choose.

now, each distro will have its own / "root".
intall the distro in separate roots, and use the above 3 partitions as common.

imo 30 gb for 3 distros sounds congested, better give 5-10 gb for home, <ram size x 2> for swap, and about 4-6 gb each for each distro. if anything remains, give to home.

or you can have a common swap and boot, and merge the home and root together.
this has the disadvantage that you will have to duplicate documents and stuff for each distro.

 

[siddharthx64]

I recommend the same. Just go with at least 1.5 times ram for swap, and Maintain separate partitions for each OS. There won't be any problems

 

[Flake]

There is no need to create SWAP partition. You have more than enough RAM. Sharing /home partition in different distros is not a good idea too. There will be config version conflicts in different distros.

If you are a new user, no need to create a separate /boot partition too. Just create three partitions, 12 - 15 GB each and install Linux distros one by one in each partition. Last installed distro's boot loader, GRUB will take charge of boot menu. You won't have to do anything special for multiboot.