Linux with XP Pro & Partition Magic

[saturnotaku]

Hey guys,

I got my grubby little mitts on a copy of Partition Magic 8 (totally legit). I want to use it to set up my laptop to install Mandrake 9. My current hard drive setup is as follows (more or less):

C: - NTFS @ 28 GB
D: - NTFS @ 1 GB (backup partition)

Partition Magic 8 includes a new feature called the install a new operating system wizard. One of the questions the wizard poses is where I need help from you Windows/Linux dual booting gurus. I know I wouldn't establish my Linux space after the D: partition. But would I set it up before C:? Or between C: and D:?

Also, how much space should I allocate to everything? My laptop has 512 mb RAM. The maximum amount of HD space I feel comfortable dedicating to Linux is about 10 gigs including swap, /usr, boot, etc.

Whatever guidance you folks can give me will be much appreciated.

[Ryo-Ohki]

Using a reasonably recent version of LILO (21.3 & above) (Mdk 9 should be all right), you can set up your Linux distro wherever you see fit. You can boot past the cylinder limitation with no problem (using the lba32 parameter in lilo.conf).

As for dual-boot, I highly recommend XOSL v1.4 (http://www.xosl.org).

I would also strongly suggest to clearly separate Windows from your data.

For example :

Primary 1 - 6 GB NTFS for Windows XP.
Primary 2 - 6 GB for Linux ("/")
Extended - the rest of your drive
--> logical 1 : XOSL dedicated partition (smallest you can set ~8MB)
--> logical 2 : Linux SWAP (512 MB should be okay)
--> ... (a data partition for Windows, a data partition for Linux you could use for /home for example... Your choice : you're not limited by the number of logical drives, while you can only setup four primary partitions, or three primaries + one extended).

Then install LILO to the superblock of the root partition (NOT the MBR !!), install XOSL to its dedicated partition, and set up the boot menu accordingly.

Good luck !

[mythryll]

Hi I have followed your link but I don't seem to find version 1.4.
The latest is 1.1.4. I am using XP Pro and want to support dual boot with either RH8 or MDK 9. Is it possible ? (It is not mentionned in the site you provided the link for).
Mythryll

[Ryo-Ohki]

Originally posted by mythryll
Hi I have followed your link but I don't seem to find version 1.4.
The latest is 1.1.4. I am using XP Pro and want to support dual boot with either RH8 or MDK 9. Is it possible ? (It is not mentionned in the site you provided the link for).
Mythryll

That's 1.1.4 of course (my bad!). You could use 1.1.5, but it has nothing really interesting over the previous version. And you can dual-boot with XP, no problem. ;)

[HateEternal]

hmmm... Well i used partition magic 8 and my windows partition got completely messed over. If you already have xp installed, i would suggest just creating a partition with the windows partitioner. Then boot off the linux cd Delete that new partition and partition it into the swap and root partitions. Then install. Im not sure about mandrake, but RedHat 8 automaticly makes a boot chooser dealy.