Here is what I did with my test system
[jlap4@jlap4-VBsMJKDE ~]$ sudo fdisk -l
[sudo] password for jlap4:
Disk /dev/sda: 931.5 GiB, 1000204886016 bytes, 1953525168 sectors
Units: sectors of 1 * 512 = 512 bytes
Sector size (logical/physical): 512 bytes / 4096 bytes
I/O size (minimum/optimal): 4096 bytes / 4096 bytes
Disklabel type: dos
Disk identifier: 0x1eae0b38
Device Boot Start End Sectors Size Id Type
/dev/sda1 2048 1953523711 1953521664 931.5G 83 Linux
Disk /dev/sdb: 119.2 GiB, 128035676160 bytes, 250069680 sectors
Units: sectors of 1 * 512 = 512 bytes
Sector size (logical/physical): 512 bytes / 4096 bytes
I/O size (minimum/optimal): 4096 bytes / 4096 bytes
Disklabel type: dos
Disk identifier: 0xd4296781
Device Boot Start End Sectors Size Id Type
/dev/sdb1 616448 41576447 40960000 19.5G 83 Linux
/dev/sdb2 57960448 242280447 184320000 87.9G 83 Linux
/dev/sdb3 2048 616447 614400 300M b W95 FAT32
/dev/sdb4 41576448 57960447 16384000 7.8G 82 Linux swap / Solaris
Are there problems which can arise from sharing a home partition across multiple distros (e.g. with files in .config)? It isn’t something I’ve tried - indeed I don’t use separate partitions for root and home. My approach is to create a shared partition for my data, and to set this up, in the fstab for each distro, to be mounted under home. One reason for doing it this way, for me at least, is the need to have files available to both Linux and Windows, which basically means using NTFS (and I don’t like using NTFS for anything except areas of the system which I need Windows to be able to access).
As I also distro hopper also, I use “MultiBoot USB” app, with a 32GB SD card, to where I dl the iso’s . Then, you just boot, using the flash drive(with the card containing the iso’s), pick the distro you want, and run it as a “LiveCD”.
Makes it easy, and you’re not killing your HDD.
I don’t have a need for Windows and don’t have it on the laptop that I am using to multiboot. With some assistance I can now multiboot LM19 Cinnamon (from my HDD) and Manjaro Gnome from my SSD through a custom.cfg file in /boot/grub in LM (without this I was causing a kernel panic when trying to boot Manjaro). I am now trying to determine the best way to partition and set up my SSD to run a few distros off of it.
Here is my current SSD and HDD set up:
[jlap4@jlap4-vbp-gn ~]$ sudo fdisk -l
sudo] password for jlap4:
Disk /dev/sda: 931.5 GiB, 1000204886016 bytes, 1953525168 sectors
Units: sectors of 1 * 512 = 512 bytes
Sector size (logical/physical): 512 bytes / 4096 bytes
I/O size (minimum/optimal): 4096 bytes / 4096 bytes
Disklabel type: gpt
Disk identifier: 9E8E3CA7-4C1F-4A20-BF7F-B5029D187592
Device Start End Sectors Size Type
/dev/sda1 2048 199999487 199997440 95.4G Linux filesystem
/dev/sda2 199999488 200585215 585728 286M Linux filesystem
/dev/sda3 200585216 259178495 58593280 28G Linux filesystem
/dev/sda4 259178496 290428927 31250432 14.9G Linux swap
/dev/sda5 1724028928 1928828927 204800000 97.7G Linux filesystem
/dev/sda6 1519228928 1724028927 204800000 97.7G Linux filesystem
Partition table entries are not in disk order.
Disk /dev/sdb: 238.5 GiB, 256060514304 bytes, 500118192 sectors
Units: sectors of 1 * 512 = 512 bytes
Sector size (logical/physical): 512 bytes / 512 bytes
I/O size (minimum/optimal): 512 bytes / 512 bytes
Disklabel type: gpt
Disk identifier: 5505A335-5356-4E1F-9D0D-339CC756AD8D
Device Start End Sectors Size Type
/dev/sdb1 4097 618497 614401 300M EFI System
/dev/sdb2 618498 464223331 463604834 221.1G Linux filesystem
/dev/sdb3 464223332 500103449 35880118 17.1G Linux swap
You seem to be a bit over-supplied with swap here. There are no issues with sharing the same swap space across multiple distros, and I doubt you would need any more than 4Gb in total for the swap space. Personally I’d also try to avoid putting swap on the SSD, but it’s not a major issue (SSDs are more robust nowadays regarding frequent writes and rewrites in the same area of the disk, and the swap space doesn’t get that much traffic anyway on a system with a reasonable amount of RAM).
I too had issues with kernel panics multibooting with Manjaro: it’s something to do with how Intel microcode is handled, and it can be fixed by editing the grub config (sorry, it was a while back, and I no longer use Manjaro, so I can’t give you the specifics, but there is info available on the web concerning this).
I got some excellent assistance with the kernel panics from Linux.org. Once I installed LM 19 mint on the HDD was able to create a custom.cfg file in LM that allows me to boot Manjaro from grub on start up.
I am anxious to get at least one more distro on the SSD but also anxious that I will end up crashing the system and having to start over!
Joe Collins is a good “Linux Guru” and teacher. He did a good video on how to install a VM. I’m down to where I can install a distro complete in about 4 minutes. Here is his video for learning how:
I had about 9 distros loaded at one point, yeah I kind of went nuts.
I recommend getting more Hard Drives, as partitioning your SSD is risky to say the least. If you’re after more Distros, get more Hard Drives that is what I have done on mine I have a total of three Hard drives, one is a SSD Hybrid the other two are mechanical. Best to get between 500GB to 1TB drives. SSD’s read differently to mechanical, as there is no moving parts and because they save cache files all the time you’re using it, which is why apps open quicker than a mechanical drive. I’m currently waiting for a 500GB SSD to be delivered from Amazon as they have really come down in price, so will eventually resort back to 500GB SSD with my beloved Peppermint OS 9 on, using 1TB SSD Hybrid as my home partition.
You did’nt say important data as desktop or laptop, UEFI or not and avalaible RAM.
Anyway, common /home for all distros is one of the best wrong things noobs do.
Supposing you are on UEFI and GPT table:
Swap = 2 GB more than RAM (RAM 4 = Swap 6)
Boot = 150 MB (vfat) assuming you are UEFI
Each single distro = 20 or 30 GB
Single partition ext4 (or NTFS if thinking to share with Windows) the remaining space. Use it as storage for all personal files of yours so you can access from all the distros (if you want keep copy on the /home is up to you).
Keep in mind that is better to use SSD for OS and HDD for storage, if yours is a desktop machine the best option is to add one HDD for storage (same for laptop, I suppose).
