Do linux partitions need to be next to one another?

Hey everyone, gotta question here.

I'm attempting to dual boot Ubuntu with my current Vista install, preferably without reinstalling Vista. I'm having trouble with the current partitions set by dell though. Here's what it looks like currently:

80 MB Dell Diagnostics
10 GB Empty ext3 formatted partition (used to be Dell Recovery)
136 GB Windows Vista partition
2.5 GB Unallocated extended partition (used to contain Media Direct)

So here is my question, can I install Ubuntu to the 10 GB partition and put the swap in the extended partition or will Ubuntu balk at having them not next to each other on the disk? Obviously its not the most elegant solution but I think if I can do it, it's the safest for keeping my Vista partition from accidental destruction if I start to move partitions around.

Thanks!

 

Nope, I've had a similar set up before.

 

That should be fine, although I wonder whether the drive would be a little noisier as a result of the R/W heads zipping between the ext3 and swap partition; still, it shouldn't be an issue. Just in case though, you can always reduce the kernel's tendency to swap.

 

Thanks, got my Ubuntu install up and running! Enjoying exploring it at the moment.

As for the hard drive being noisier/moving between partitions alot, I'm hoping that won't be too big of a deal since I have 2GB of ram so I hope it won't be using swap too often. If it does turn out to be an issue, I'll have to look into what you suggested

 

That's correct—I have 2GB of RAM as well, and I almost never need to use swap.

 

I also have 2GB and almost never swap, but if you ever hear it you can turn down swapiness.