Struggling with extending volume

@337harvey When following the steps,

Once that's done you're going to create a fat32

I created the fat32

click edit then uncheck the boot box

checked for any boot flag

Then select that partition and hit the minus sign next to the gears, this will delete the partition.

and then deleted the fat32 again.

thats why the fat32 no longer shows up. The fat32 you see on the screenshot was already there originally (just to clear up some confusion)

I did not, there is nothing to safe, both my operating systems are basically empty at this point.

I am honestly just considering biting the bullet and going for a clean wipe. I have no reason for my windows to be around anymore. This disk partitioning is quite a hassle, I can only screw things up, even with your incredible guidance. If I ever need windows I have a beefy laptop just for that, or I can install a virtual machine. If I don't enjoy my time with zorin, I can always set back my pc. It just seems like a safer and more practical option right now.

Ok... then you are going to boot into your live cd when your ready (16 core or pro). Hit the install. Choose the something else method. This will allow you to select all the partitions and delete them. Create three partitions, one fat32 at 500mb this is your efi partition, one ext4 at 60+ gb this is your root partition mounted at /, and another ext4 at 60+ gb this is your home partition mounted at /home.

Optional: create one or two partitions for data storage and backup. These two partitions can be mounted at boot, you just have to think of the mount name. Then choose the mount option for each and it will be under /mnt/[mount name] (without the square brackets).

If you want to use hibernation, create a swap partition which will mount on /swap.

Under the partition window is a drop down list for boot installation location. Click that and choose the efi you created. Hit ok. After you reboot copy over your home directory into home, merging the files/ directories.

If you choose the wipe drive option, your home folder will be in the system partition. This will matter when you want to reinstall or install and use other versions of Linux.

Recommend you use a seperate home partition.

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Thank you again for the excelent explanation, just some quick questions: Where should the bulk of the storage go? to the root or /home? Why does root need 60+ GB? Lastly, what would be your recommended way of ordering the partitions?

Root is where the applications are installed as well as leaving room for upgrades of the os and apps. home is where the configuration files and some applications are installed, so this should be as large if not larger than your system directory. Home stores all your documents and videos, music and settings....with a data partition for storage it reduces the need of a large home partition.

If done all in one, you will be looking up how to extend your system partition unless you use the entire 1TB. By separating them, you have an easier time upgrading or repairing/reinstalling os's.

order: EFI | SYS | ?SWAP? | HOME | ?DATA? | ?BACKUP?

The ones surrounded with question marks are optional (as is home but highly recommended).

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Just to verify, my current setup is:

500 mb fat32 efi
700000 mb root
17408 mb swap (I have 16 gb ram)
282300 mb /home + 1 tb of my hdd

I would guess having a data partition would help with separation, but I am not quite sure how to go about that. Backups are simply not needed in my case. Overall, does that setup seem alright? I have not installed yet, its just a draft

My recommendation:

500mb fat32 | EFI
300000mb ext4 | ROOT
32000mb ext4 | SWAP (should be double your RAM)
300000mb ext4 | HOME

400000mb ntfs | DATA

You should not span your home partition across devices. The Data partition on the same drive would give the best performance since the others are SSD and this is NVMe. This setup allows for all that you could throw at it on a regular. Unless you get a hobby or career in programming, media or gaming, this setup is more than adequate.

My own machine is setup as a dual boot.

SYS | ROOT | HOME | DATA

is my partitioning. I have another drive with:

EFI | WIN | BACKUP

It shares my efi partition for both os's
The data and backup are nice. I share between os's and have no problem with long term storage now.

Setting a data partition would be simple. Create the size you want, format as NTFS, and mount on /mnt/data during installation. I call mine vault, but it's whatever you decide to name it. I can not make it any more simpler. If you don't want to mount it on boot, don't worry about including it in the partitioning of installation. You can access it by file browser -> others. You will have to mount it every time you want to use it though.

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My hobbies are making mods for videogames, making videos and I have a carreer in programming :sweat_smile: I could definitely use the extra disk space, Is moving your files to a seperate ntsf partition just like moving files to the D: drive in windows?

yes. Just copy and pasting. I program also. I also game...that's the only reason I have windows. Here is my partitioning:

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My system partition is only 60gb, my home partition is 300gb and my data partition is 640gb. I also don't use hibernation...my system is fast enough that I can be booted and coding in less than 2 minutes. I may expand my root later, but it works for what I am doing right now.

100Gb would be more than sufficient. I didn't know all your uses of the computer, so am giving 'safe' general advice. Having that little bit of information

I can say that a 60 - 80gb root, 300+ home and the rest in a data partition would work great for you.

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Thank you! Sorry for dragging on, this is the last bit I swear, I am unable to convert partitions into NTFS during my installation. Is there something else I could use?

your sys and home and swap need to be ext4 fs.

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I mean for the data partition

you can use ext4, but it won't be visible by windows. That is why I use the ntfs

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Works like a charm, thank you so much for your guidance.

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