dual operating systems

[dstich]

run linux mandrake and xp on the same comp i waswondering how you do this i have never used linux before i want to use i also want windows and linux to be able to share files and beable to modify eachothers files

[dragonxx4]

Are you running more than 1 harddrive?

[dstich]

no im not but i am runing a 80 gig hd o yeah i know how to partation a hard drive but i dont know how to change the file system that partation uses

[mikeL]

After you partition the HD, and you boot from the linux CD you will be able to select which partition you want linux installed on for example

/dev/hda = primary master
/dev/hdb = primary slave
/dev/hdc = secondary master
/dev/hdd = secondary slave

/dev/hda1 = first partition on drive, and continue in numerical order.

Although when I would use a single HD to dual Windows / Linux, I my partitions would go from hda1 then jump to hda5, just something to be aware of when you install linux.

Mike

[kilgoretrout]

There's generally no need to repartition up front. Defrag your hard drive and the resize your windows partition down to give you some room for your linux install. Some linux distros can resize NTFS partitions(mandrake) but I think your better off using a native windows partitioning utility like Partition Magic for that. Leave the space you've reclaimed unallocated. Most linux distros have an option to install on unallocated space. Just choose that and the installation program will automatically partition and format the unallocated space for you and do the install to there.
Windows cannot read or even recognize a native linux partition. I say "cannot" but it's really more like will not. The native linux file systems are all open code and MS could easily implement that capability if they wanted to. They don't for obvious competitive reasons.
Linux can read and write to FAT and FAT32 but has only read only capability for NTFS. Most people that dual boot with linux and windows with NTFS set up a FAT32 partition for transferiing file between the two OSes since both can read an write to FAT32.

[QuickSilver]

Thanks for explaining the file system interaction. I was wondering how that would work. :)

[dstich]

ok but how do i tell the computer what file format to use so i can make a data partition fat32

[neouser99]

You can either use a builtin (fdisk) partitioner, the linux partitioner, or some other external or bootable partitioner. My recommendation, if you have been using windows xp for a while, backup all your files.

Wipe out the entire hard drive. Setup partitions this way

hda1 - Windows XP (size depends, but you won't need more then 15gigs, XP uses like 1.5gigs with sp1, and all the patches. take into accounts software and games)
hda2 - FAT32 for shared files (size can be anything)
hda3 - unallocated, but leave at least 4-5gigs for linux.

The linux partitioner should set it up as follows:

extended partition - /boot at 128megs, swap at 1024megs, / (root) at anything left on the drive

All you have to do after that is setup linux to mount hda2 when it boots, and you have your system.

One other note, you MUST install windows on the first partition, and it must be installed before linux...that way it can write its own MBR. After that, you can setup linux...which you can use a boot disk or have the MBR point at the linux /boot partition, which will set itself up to boot what you want. (if you are using RedHat, Fedora, Mandrake, Suse) Some others are a pain to setup (Gentoo, not recommend for first time linux)

-neo