Is there any real advantage for Ubuntu to be on its own partition over a Wubi install?

Does it make a huge difference in stability and performance?

 

It will make a more or less noticeable difference for performance, depending on usage, and wubi installs can be less stable, especially if the filesystem becomes corrupted by either OS. Also, (at least as of the last time I tried), you need actual root privileges to write to your windows partition, where in a normal ubuntu install you can authenticate once or add it to your /etc/fstab and drag and drop normally across filesystems. As far as I understand it this is a limitation of using a loopback root partition.

You can convert your wubi installation to a normal one, but it might be easier just to back up your /home folder unless you have done a lot of customization.

 

Would you recommend I uninstall the Wubi install and do a normal partition setup?

 

It depends. First off, I'm assuming you'll be resizing your existing partition(s) to make room for a dedicated Ubuntu installation.. this usually goes without a hitch, but you will want to back up ALL of your data just in case something goes wrong, to an external drive or DVDs or something. If the resizing operation goes badly, you may hose your system, so having any important stuff backed up is a must. If you're using windows 7 you can make a backup DVD set that will restore you to your existing setup using the built in Backup and Restore functionality.

Then, yes, I would uninstall wubi from Add/Remove programs in the windows control panel.

Finally, boot off of the CD/DVD and run the Ubuntu installer and resize your partitions and install.

Edit: Also forgot to mention, I usually do a chkdsk /f /r c: on the system before resizing. If you haven't done this before, run the command prompt as administrator (if your user is not an admin, click start->type cmd->press and hold ctrl and shift while you hit enter). Type the command and hit enter, and answer Y for scheduling the check upon reboot. Then reboot. The Ubuntu installer will check the disk for errors, but doing it from windows is usually safer, even if it takes some time. You can skip the /r flag if your drive is relatively new, and you are constrained for time, since it's not likely to have many bad sectors.

 

+1 for what ALLurGroceries said.

I'd also check out the uninstall instructions on the Ubuntu website; wubi uninstalls can sometimes be difficult.

As you use Ubuntu more, you're likely to come across Wubi limitations.

 

Well I noticed that in my Ubuntu directory there is a dedicated Wubi uninstaller program. Not sure if I'd choose that route as everyone I've asked has said just use add/remove programs in windows so I'll do that and then do a proper Ubuntu install.

Edit: My laptop is under a year old and as far as I know there are no HDD issues, although time is not really an issue.

 

You can do it either way, but there are sometimes problems removing it, the directory or data stays, and/or the boot option stays, I've seen the uninstaller do absolutely nothing sometimes. You can use bcdedit or easybcd to remove the boot option if it sticks, and you can just delete the data and program folder if that sticks around.

 

Well I already have the 64 bit ISO downloaded so I just need to burn it to disc....will do that later tonight and then work on the install tomorrow I guess. Thanks guys.

 

I'm not a fan of Wubi for anything but temporary installs to check out a distro when I can't spare a flash drive for a persistent disk. Wubi creates a fake partition within a giant file. If that file gets fragmented and the file system inside gets fragmented too, it acts like it's hosed. Trying to defrag a 20GB file to fix it is a nightmare and usually fails with Windows' native defrag. There's also an annoying interaction between Wubi-installed OSes and disk mount procedure that nearly ensures you'll crash hard if you sleep or hibernate by accident.

 

I uninstalled Ubuntu through the windows add/remove programs option and it went flawlessly. Rebooted and it just went straight into Windows 7. The Ubuntu directory and all remnants are gone. I'll do a normal partition install this weekend. It was at least nice to mess around with 10.10 for a few days. It's rather nice in fact and this coming from a long time Windows user.

 

I'm pleased for you, but also rather jealous. I had to fix everything manually....

BTW, if you machine is less than a year old and in warranty, now might be a good time to wipe everything and test out your reinstall media. I've had problems with partition shrinking in the past, but then, with your luck

 

Sorry you had bad luck with it Nankuru. I have read a few horror stories so I realize now that it can go badly fairly easily. I have made a recovery disc so a full wipe would be ok I guess.