Partition

desooperdesooper
edited February 2004 in Hardware
I would like some help if possible, I have a DELL 2.4, 1G ram Windows XP Home, This is what I want to do but not sure how. I want to reformat the hard drive with 2 Partitions, I want Windows Xp on the Main but on the other I want to put linux, I have a 40 G Hard Drive I want 35G for Xp and 5G for Linux, can someone help me out with some easy to follow direction, Thank you.

I want to thank everyone in ShortMedia for everything they have done, I have run several problems by you folks and you have helped me a ton, So Thank you very much and keep up the great work.

Comments

  • croc_croc_ New
    edited February 2004
    When you goto install windows from boot (you have to install from boot, and not reinstall from windows) it will ask you what partition to install to. In that menu you have the option to make/delete a partition. Delete your partition. Then create a new one (with half the available size, or however much you want). Once it creates it, create another one with the remaining space. Then choose which one to install to and format (all of this is done in the installer).
  • desooperdesooper
    edited February 2004
    croc_ wrote:
    When you goto install windows from boot (you have to install from boot, and not reinstall from windows) it will ask you what partition to install to. In that menu you have the option to make/delete a partition. Delete your partition. Then create a new one (with half the available size, or however much you want). Once it creates it, create another one with the remaining space. Then choose which one to install to and format (all of this is done in the installer).

    When doing this do I have the option to name each partition like C, D, E ect. Thank you for all your help.
  • croc_croc_ New
    edited February 2004
    desooper wrote:
    When doing this do I have the option to name each partition like C, D, E ect. Thank you for all your help.

    I think it will make the first one C, then go in order after that. I don't remember if you get to choose or not.
  • shwaipshwaip bluffin' with my muffin Icrontian
    edited February 2004
    Are you looking to keep the current windows install on the hard drive? If so, you may want to look into partitionmagic, as it will let you just resize the current partition.
  • Straight_ManStraight_Man Geeky, in my own way Naples, FL Icrontian
    edited February 2004
    croc_ wrote:
    When you goto install windows from boot (you have to install from boot, and not reinstall from windows) it will ask you what partition to install to. In that menu you have the option to make/delete a partition. Delete your partition. Then create a new one (with half the available size, or however much you want). Once it creates it, create another one with the remaining space. Then choose which one to install to and format (all of this is done in the installer).

    Actually, with a Linux and XP dual boot, it is easier these days if you leave part of the HD totally blank-- you CAN use partition magic to resize an XP partition, leave space blank, and let Linux set up the blank part of HD. Linux has problems trying to resize XP style NTFS partitions, and it needs free space to install with XP there already. The installer for a modern Linux distro will try to find enough free space to load itself-- and will figure out what to do with totally blank space on HD usually. Easier to leave it blank, and let Linux installer figure it out. Windows will not see a Linux file system in a way that it can get files from it, and Linux should not write to an XP file system of NTFS type(you will get XP file system journal problems writing to an NTFS file system of version that XP uses from Linux, right now.).

    That said, the BEST way to dual-boot Linux and Widnows of any sort, is to give each of the O\Ss their own HD to "live on." If you mess up Linux bad, you can restore XP to boot by itself easier if Linux is on a separate HD. Linux does partitioning enough different that mixing XP (particularly) and Linux on one HD is harder to recover from if you fubar one operating system accidentally than it is if each O\S has its own HD.

    If at this point, you are not sure about how to work with Linux, try a live CD of Linux first, this does not use the HD at all unless you tell it to install. SuSE's Live CD is a good idea, it is compatible with lots of modern hardware and is a good way to wade before trying to swim in the world space of an O\S you do not know much about.

    If you want to have KDE running, and that is the desktop most like Windows, though not the most accepted one among Linux experienced users, than I would allocate 8-10 GB minimum for Linux. If you are willing to learn gnome instead, then 5 GB is anough to start with, but you will have a Linux file system on two HDs bafore you are done if you do this and stick with it and get serious about Linux-- guaranteed.

    I have three linux distros that I can run right now, each has its own HD. One distro runs at a time, and one is on a 60 GB, one on a 40GB and one on a 80 GB right now. I use IDE cold-swap trays to do this, shut machine down top change HDs. About 90% of the time, I run just one of them, the others are for me to learn how distros vary.

    I have two boxes, one a Barton, one a P4. I have 4 cold-swap bays total, and three HDs are active between the two boxes(one for XP on the Barton box, and in the P4 one Linux HD and one 60 GB HD that is FAT32 formatted for use in getting things to XP from Linux box). On a shelf, are 6 HDs in insertable carrier trays, size ranges from 40 to 80 GB each.

    If you want to really learn how not to set up a dual boot, put XP and Linux on one HD, you will end up learning how the partitioning is different or you will be relaoding whole things from scratch a few to many times with these two particular O\Ss. 98 and Linux are easier to get on one HD, and that is how I did my first dual-boot. In this case, I wish I had not stuck even those two on one HD EVER, as I wiped and reloaded whole HD ten times until I figured out how Partition Magic was messing up my Linux partition ordering and figured out how to size partitions for reality of needs.

    THEN, I ended up wiping the Linux install 20 more times over 3 months. Once I managed to delete every file in a big linux file tree with 30 keystrokes followed by ten minutes of watching HD "empty" itself and not knowing how to stop it. Putting linux on a separate HD is a newbie safety thing, but even seasoned Linux admins (I am an intermediate Linux user after 2+ years of heavy hands-on) say to use separate HDs until you know how the linux file system, file system tools, and partitioners work if you want to dual boot Linux and XP. I will also tell you that I had played with Xenix and Unix before I tried Linux at all-- way back when.

    I will give you an example-- CHKDSK is the lower level file system fixer for XP. If you were to morph an ugly swear word and make it look like 'fsck', you have the name of the Linux file system repair tool most often used-- fsck is short for File System ChecKer.

    John D.
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