[SOLVED] Dual-boot or multi-boot of Linux Lite (and others) with Windows 7

[br1anstorm]

It's a little while since this earlier conversation took place, and other things have distracted me from setting up this dual/multi-boot arrangement.

But I have just about cracked it.  One minor hiccup, in that during the install process I "forgot" to set up and mount the shared Data partition. But I was able to go back and sort that out.  I kept it as Ext4 and plan to use it only with the Linux distros.  As suggested, it is at  /mnt/DATA.

So I now have my first Linux OS all set up, with its grub in the same partition as its / (root) , and I have successfully configured the boot arrangements using EasyBCD, and it all works!

All that remains is (a) to make sure I have taken ownership of the DATA partition, and then (b) to create, organise and symlink the folders.  This advice from gold_finger earlier was pretty clear, but I have a couple of queries, mainly because of my unfamiliarity with working with terminal commands....

.....
4.  Setup DATA partition for use with all operating systems.

• If you did not set DATA partition during install, follow this tutorial to do it after install.
  
• In the Linux distros, ownership of the mount point will probably be set to Root initially.  You'll need to change that so your user is the owner.  Open a terminal and enter this command to take ownership of the mount point.  (Substitute your real username in place of "username" in the command.  And change "/mnt/DATA" to your mount point if that is not what you used.)
  

Code:

sudo chown -R username: /mnt/DATA

• Open file manager and navigate to the data partition.  (You can do this in any Linux distro, or from Windows.)
  
• Create the folders you want to use for data files.  Eg. Documents, Downloads, Music, etc.
  
• Create symlinks from the DATA partition folders to your Home in each Linux distro.  You'll need to boot into each distro one-by-one and perform same basic steps:
  
• Navigate to Home folder and delete all current folders except the "Desktop" folder.
  
• Create symlinks from the DATA partition folders to your Home.  (Embarrassed to say that I don't know how to use GUI method for this, so can only give you command line method.)  Open a terminal.  You can enter a separate command for each folder that you want to link to Home using format like this:
  

Code:

ln -s /mnt/DATA/Documents /home/username

• Or, you can create all of the symlinks at once with a command like this:
  

Code:

ln -s /mnt/DATA/{Documents,Downloads,Music,Pictures,Videos} /home/username

• Just make sure that the folder names in the command are spelled out exactly as you made them on the DATA partition.
  
  
• When you're done with symlinks, you will now see those folders when you open your Home in the file manager and when you save things to them the data will end up on the DATA partition and be useable by all operation systems.
  

My first question is...... can I carry out the "chown" command simply as me?  Or do I have to go through some process to go into the terminal as "root" (ie like running as an Administrator in Windows).

I was able to navigate to the shared DATA partition via the file manager.  It already has one folder in it called "lost+found" (presumably a default) .  I checked the properties>permissions and this suggested that Root was indeed the owner.  So I went into the terminal and did "chown"using the command code provided.  I hit enter..... and then the terminal asked for my password! Not quite understanding why this request came up after I had done the "chown" command, I simply typed in "exit" and the terminal closed.

However, it does appear that the command worked - because the permission for the DATA folder now shows my username and me as the owner. 

But I still have more work to do in the terminal, to set up the symlinks once I have created the new Docs/Pics/etc folders in the shared DATA partition.  So this query is mainly to ask:  when using commands in the terminal, is there any password/login process that determines whether I am in the terminal just as me, the user, or as root?  Or does it make no difference?

Finally, and just to be clear:  what exactly is the sequence for creating the symlinks?  Do I (i) delete the Docs/Pics/Downloads/Music folders in my Home area first, and then (ii) create folders with those names in the DATA folder, and then (iii) run the command(s) as explained already?  Or do I create the new folders first in DATA, and then delete the equivalent ones in my Home area, then run the command(s)?  Does it matter which way round I do the deletion/creation of folders?

I know to leave the Desktop folder in Home untouched.  What about the folders labelled "Public" and "Templates"?  Leave them alone, or have them too set up (and symlinked) in the DATA area?

I'm game to do it using the terminal.... but I did notice that if you right-click on a folder in either Home or in the DATA partition, then one of the drop-down options is "Create a link".  I guess this is the GUI alternative?  It seems to be the equivalent to a shortcut in Windows, but I can't see how you specify the path, or destination, for whatever link you are creating.  Seems simpler to stick with the command line formula suggested earlier!

Anyway, we're almost there.  Just need a bit of reassurance/clarification about using the terminal and whether/when it needs a password;  and then which folders to set up and which to leave alone...