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

[gold_finger]

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).

To change ownership of a root owned folder to yourself you need to do so with root/administrator privileges.  Some Linux distros have you set-up a separate root user account to do admin activities in.  Others like LL (and all Ubuntu-based distros) don't do that.  Instead they have the main user (the one you set-up during installation) set-up to conduct admin activities as needed, on a per command basis using "sudo" at the beginning of the command.  Then it asks for your password as confirmation that you really want to run the admin command.  (If you don't close the terminal, it will remember the password for 10-15 minutes so you don't have to enter it each time when running a series of admin commands.  When you close the terminal, the password is cleared and you'll need to enter it again if you decide to open terminal again and run more sudo commands.)  Here's a link that might help explain a bit better:  http://www.howtogeek.com/111479/htg-expl...n-sudo-su/

Like I said before, if you use "Ext4" file system on that partition and use the same username on all distros you install, you'll only need to take ownership of that partition once.  The Ext4 file system retains the ownership info along with the files.  When/If you upgrade or replace distros, as long as you continue to use the same username you'll have immediate access to that data partition without having to mess with the chown command again.

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.

Based on above I can't be sure exactly why it worked, but if it now shows you as owner we'll leave it at that.

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?

Every time you open the terminal it will be as you.  (Exception:  sometimes there may be a right-click choice shown to open a terminal as root, when in file manager for example.)  Also, the prompt you'll see right before the cursor will have a "#" at the end when you're running as a normal user.  You could use the "su" command to switch to running as root during entire terminal session, but it's safer to stick to using the "sudo" command on an as needed basis instead of running as root.  (If you were to run a terminal as root, you'd see a "$" at end of prompt instead of the "#" sign, which is another way to tell you're running as root.  Open a terminal and run "su", enter password, and you'll see the prompt change.  Then type "exit" to get out of root terminal.)

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?

Once you've taken ownership, you can create folders in and copy files to the data partition any time you like.  Timing wise, the only thing you need to make sure of is that you delete any folders in Home that have the same name as a folder you plan to symlink in /mnt/DATA.  If you didn't do that then the symlink attempt would fail because it would be trying to create something with the same name as one that already exists.  If you've got no files stored in those Home folders, then you can just delete them right away.  If you do, and they are files you want to save, then make sure you copy them over to the data partition first, otherwise they'll be gone when you delete the folders.

Eg.  I've got a data partition on computer that I've used for a few years.  Periodically I change distros installed to the computer and/or install updated versions.  When I do that I immediately delete the standard Home folders (except Desktop) and create symlinks to the data partition where all my files are.  Nothing needs to be done on data partition because everything is already there and I always use the same username.  So in about 1-2 minutes my files are back to same setup I had before.

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?

If those are folders you use, yes put them on the data partition too.  I personally don't use either of them, so I just delete them and don't have them anywhere.

In addition to standard folders like "Documents, Music, Pictures", etc., you can create folders of any name you wish on the data partition and symlink them to home also.  I have 4-5 others symlinked in addition to standard named folders.  You can set it up any way you want really.

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!

Ok, this is embarrassing, but I'm sure you'll get a laugh out of this (along with everyone else). :-[  I've been using Linux for about 6 years now.  In that time I've tried a few times to figure out how to do symlinks with the GUI, but never succeeded.  I knew how to do it in the terminal, so I didn't bother spending time looking up how to do it -- but the point is I still can't do it now.  Someone else will need to explain that and I'm sure it will be something ridiculously easy and I'll feel like a complete moron for not figuring it out.