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Where can I find a tutorial on repartitioning so I can add Linux?

F

Felecha

Golden Member
Seagate 80GB hard drive, brand new a month ago. I clean-installed XP Pro.

I'm thinking I would like to carve out part of it for a Linux partition. I had RedHat 6.2 long ago, and we're starting to do some Linux stuff at work recently. I used to use PartitionMagic 6, but when I went to install it I got a message saying "Dont try it with XP"

I have grown more comfortable over time with doing things in DOS, and would rather not buy a new version of PM, and I occasionally see folks saying PM is not so great any more.

Basically I'm looking for some website that has sort of tutorial guidance for resizing, going Linux, dual booting, etc. It's more than what I would expect anyone here to walk me through. And it's time for me to learn more about this stuff.

Thanks

 
You can't resize without reformatting unless you use partition magic. And when I use partition magic, everyone complains that block sizes are wrong partition tables are messed up, etc.

If you start over, install linux first with a boot partition, swap partition, root partition, and blank partition for XP. This is part of the install process for most linux distros. Then install XP.
 
Originally posted by: volrath
You can't resize without reformatting unless you use partition magic. And when I use partition magic, everyone complains that block sizes are wrong partition tables are messed up, etc.

If you start over, install linux first with a boot partition, swap partition, root partition, and blank partition for XP. This is part of the install process for most linux distros. Then install XP.
Click to expand...

Knoppix (and maybe other live CD distros) include QTParted, which invokes the partitioning program parted and the NTFS filesystem resizer ntfsresize cleanly to shrink NTFS partitions. Remember to defrag a few times beforehand, to minimize the amount of data at the end of the volume, decreasing the chance of failure.
 
Mandriva linux has an excellent installation routine that includes GNU parted. QTParted? GNU Parted? I cannot remember the difference. Maybe they are the same thing...
Anyways, download the free Mandriva version, start the install routine, resize your windows partition, then install Ubuntu linux. 🙂
Seriously though, it would be easier to purchase a second hard drive for the linux partition because then you do not put your windows data at risk of being lost due to inadvertant partition deletion. Plus, learning how to install linux the right way with numerous partitions for the different parts of the filesystem helps develop a good idea of how the system is structured from the foundation.

The Linux Documentation Project will help, as will the linux version of google.

Oreilly containes excellent books for learning linux
linux.oreilly
linux tutorials
Running linux is a good book.
 
I have always partitioned with linux, installed windows (or you an partiton with windows, making ONLY the win partition) and then installed linux. Lilo/Grub are MUCH better then the MS Bootloader.
 
Originally posted by: birdpup
Mandriva linux has an excellent installation routine that includes GNU parted. QTParted? GNU Parted? I cannot remember the difference. Maybe they are the same thing...
Click to expand...

QTParted is a graphical front-end; GNU Parted does the work, but it does not understand filesystems natively; instead, it places calls out to other programs which do this, but it doesn't know about ntfsresize. But QTParted does.

Besides, I don't trust myself enough to resize a partition and resize a file system in separate steps.
 
Originally posted by: bersl2
Originally posted by: birdpup
Mandriva linux has an excellent installation routine that includes GNU parted. QTParted? GNU Parted? I cannot remember the difference. Maybe they are the same thing...
Click to expand...

QTParted is a graphical front-end; GNU Parted does the work, but it does not understand filesystems natively; instead, it places calls out to other programs which do this, but it doesn't know about ntfsresize. But QTParted does.

Besides, I don't trust myself enough to resize a partition and resize a file system in separate steps.
Click to expand...

Thank you very much bersl2. That was kind of you to fill in my memory and lack of knowledge.
 
I guess I should have specified - since we're using RedHat 9 with what we're doing at work, it would be RedHat 9 i would install here.

So, I can't reaize the Windows partition (which is the whole drive) without PM? Darn!

 
Originally posted by: Felecha
I guess I should have specified - since we're using RedHat 9 with what we're doing at work, it would be RedHat 9 i would install here.

So, I can't reaize the Windows partition (which is the whole drive) without PM? Darn!
Click to expand...

No, you can. You just need to go grab a burnable CD or DVD and get a copy of a Knoppix ISO.
 
But I'm confused here. How can I use Knoppix to carve up my hard drive and then install RedHat 9? Would the Knoppix thing just do the partition work and then I would install RH on the partition created by Knoppix?
 
Originally posted by: bersl2
Originally posted by: Felecha
So, I can't reaize the Windows partition (which is the whole drive) without PM? Darn!
Click to expand...
No, you can. You just need to go grab a burnable CD or DVD and get a copy of a Knoppix ISO.
Click to expand...
QTParted is recommended over Partition Magic. I hear way too numerous complaints from people that Partition Magic ruined a partition setup when they ask for a data recovery solution.

How does Knoppix help for resizing partitions? Does it have QTParted on it?
 
I recommend partition magic. I always thought it was a good product and never had any problems even though I moved things around a bit.
 
Repeating - how does Knoppix play into loading RedHat? RedHat is what I need. Are you saying to use Knoppix for partitioning so I can load RedHat?

 
Originally posted by: Felecha
Repeating - how does Knoppix play into loading RedHat? RedHat is what I need. Are you saying to use Knoppix for partitioning so I can load RedHat?
Click to expand...

They're telling you that this qtparted program comes on teh knoppix disc. The program can supposedly resize partitions for the wierd people that insist on dual-booting.
 
Originally posted by: Felecha
But I'm confused here. How can I use Knoppix to carve up my hard drive and then install RedHat 9? Would the Knoppix thing just do the partition work and then I would install RH on the partition created by Knoppix?
Click to expand...

This is the idea.

Originally posted by: birdpup
Originally posted by: bersl2
Originally posted by: Felecha
So, I can't reaize the Windows partition (which is the whole drive) without PM? Darn!
Click to expand...
No, you can. You just need to go grab a burnable CD or DVD and get a copy of a Knoppix ISO.
Click to expand...
QTParted is recommended over Partition Magic. I hear way too numerous complaints from people that Partition Magic ruined a partition setup when they ask for a data recovery solution.

How does Knoppix help for resizing partitions? Does it have QTParted on it?
Click to expand...

Yes, it has QTParted on it. Any other live CD distro that has QTParted will work as well. I'm just saying Knoppix because it's "the standard" when it comes to the live CD distro.

:thumbsup:
 
If it is on your personal computer I recommend backing up your files, having a few drinks and then throwing caution to the wind. The worst thing that can happen is you need to reinstall Linux and Windows 🙂 which is almost preferred anyway.
 
But I had a crash and had to completely reinstall Windows a month ago. Even with all the precious data available, it took 2 days to complete the restoration. I don't want that for a while if I can help it.

And I don't drink.

 
Felecha,

Dowload and burn Knoppix to a cd. Boot from the CD and use it to shrink the XP partition. Reboot into XP so chkdsk will run and you can verify that everything is good.

Then, at this point boot from the RH 9 installation disks and install it.

The key here is only to use Knoppix to resize the NTFS partition. REMEMBER, whenever doing this type of work, back up your data first.
 
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