Disk partition for manual install, dual boot

[Guest]

What is the recommended disk partition for manual install and dual boot with Windows 8.1 64 bit?
My computer has 6GB RAM.
My current disk has 283GB Free Space.

(parted) print free

Model: ATA WDC WD10EZEX-22B (scsi)
Disk /dev/sda: 1000GB
Sector size (logical/physical): 512B/4096B
Partition Table: gpt

Number  Start   End     Size    File system  Name                          Flags
        17.4kB  1049kB  1031kB  Free Space
 1      1049kB  840MB   839MB   ntfs         Basic data partition          hidden, diag
 2      840MB   1113MB  273MB   fat32        EFI system partition          boot
 3      1113MB  1247MB  134MB                Microsoft reserved partition  msftres
 4      1247MB  162GB   161GB   ntfs         Basic data partition          msftdata
 5      162GB   700GB   538GB   ntfs         Basic data partition          msftdata
        700GB   983GB   283GB   Free Space
 6      983GB   1000GB  16.9GB  ntfs         Basic data partition          hidden, diag
        1000GB  1000GB  729kB   Free Space

[Snowhog]

Even though Windows says you have free space, most likely you do not, as all that free space is 'reserved' by Windows. You will want to use the native Windows utility to actually make that space available. See Windows 8 Disk Management – Resize Windows 8 Hard Drive Partition Easily and Safely.

Once you have shrunk the Windows volume to create unused space on the HDD you can set about creating the partitions you'll want for Kubuntu. I strongly suggest you do that using GParted. Afterwards, you can go about installing Kubuntu.

The above is 'generic' advise, and of course, implies knowledge/information of the process details you may not (yet) have. There are guides on installing Kubuntu on an existing Windows setup in a dual-boot configuration, and you should locate, review, and ask questions before you 'do the deed'. As in carpentry: Measure Twice; Cut Once. Saves you all sorts of wasted material.

Welcome to Kubuntu Forums . Net.

[SteveRiley]

parted's space information isn't too useful, as it doesn't report sector boundaries. Please install gdisk and reply here with its output:

sudo apt-get install gdisk

sudo gdisk -l /dev/sda

Also, please boot Windows, run diskmgmt.msc, take a screen shot of that window, and upload it here.

[oshunluvr]

I'm pretty sure windows formats "reserved" space. I could be wrong - but it seems to me there's 283 GB of unused space there. I think the easiest way to tell is to launch windows disk management utility ( diskmgmt.msc from a command window or "Run" or "Open" from the menu). If windows reports that 283 GB section as "Unallocated" it's all yours!

As far as how to partition your free space: a swap partition is needed if you're going to use suspend or hibernate - at least the size of your RAM. With the remaining space your could either use btrfs for the whole partition, or for ext4, split it into root ( / ) and home ( /home ). 20 GB is plenty for most systems and allocate the rest to /home.