Triple boot 98,XP,Linux

[DoGG]

Triple boot 98,XP,Linux....is it possible on the same hard drive different partitions?Tried with system commander 7,didnt seem to like the idea.....

[KronoLeginaire]

its seems like fine ideal to me, nothing wrong with it. You could do like this: Install 98, XP then Linux and have Linux use its's (Grub?) bootloader to select which OS to boot. Pre-Partiton the HD first using something like Partition Magic so that when you go to install the installation programs see the various drives instead of having to do that stuff there.

[reboot]

Make 3 partitions, but don't format the 3rd.
Install 98 on D, XP on C, then Linux on E, and you end up with a nice way of doing things.
Although I prefer Lilo for a boot loader, you can get a 3rd party one if you like.

[DoGG]

ok that sounds good,ferget sys command 7 an use the linux one.Now ive double booted for quite some time and always find it real messy when one of the os's has problems.I usually have to reinstall 98 over top then reistall XP and sometimes have to edit the boot.ini file to get things back in order.Is there an easier way?Also am I asking for more headaches having linux thrown into the fray?Thanks...

[reboot]

It's possible you can have headaches with any multiple boot system. If you have to reinstall 98, then you are going to have to run a repair on XP, or simply make a backup of the XP boot files (ntldr, boot.ini, etc.), then replace them after the 98 install.
Adding Linux into the equation, you won't quite have the same problems, as a 98 install won't remove lilo or grub, so you'll still be able to boot 98 and Linux, but as I stated above, the XP boot will be messed up (probably). I've never had the problem you describe, so I can't really say for sure.

[mairving]

Always make a Linux boot disk so that you can recover your install if necessary.

I would forget System Commander. It used to be a great program but it is getting a little long in the tooth.

[ssahl]

I have that very same setup (98_SE, XP pro, red hat linux 8.0)
all on one hard drive, so far no problems, and I just used the boot loader that comes with Linux

[DoGG]

Thats great,thanks for the input everyone....

[mrstirs]

I'd like to dual boot XP and Linux, with a 3rd FAT partition to store my music and photos on, so I can access them from either OS. Only problem is, I can only have 4 primary partitions - when I install Linux after installing XP, it creates 3 primary partitions for itself, so there is no space left for the storage one I want.

How come you can install 3 OSs, when I can't have the 2 I want and then a spare partition?

[Computer Hobbyist]

Creating partitions is something you can control. You can also vary the size of partitions you create. You don't have to simply accept the number and size of the partitions automatically created by your install program.

CH

[mrstirs]

But when I set up the 3 I wanted, then tried to install Linux on one of them, it wouldn't let me cause it wanted to make more partitions that the system would let it.

[Computer Hobbyist]

The simple solution is only partition as much of your harddrive as you want to use XP and install XP there. You then create additional partitons when you install Linux. I am still trying to figure out why you want a Fat 32 partition for your music / photo files.

CH

[mrstirs]

So that I can access my music and photos from Linux or from XP.

[Computer Hobbyist]

OK, who told you that you can only have four partitions on your hard drive?

You can cut up the partition where you want to install Linux into as many partitions as you want (of course you need to make sure they are of sufficient size to do the job. )


CH

[mrstirs]

Partition magic 8 - will only let you have 4 PRIMARY partitions

[reboot]

FYI, you can have 24 partitions on one drive. One for each letter of the alphabet, minus A and B. If you have any optical devices taking up a letter, then that number drops. There are ways to have more, but only on server software (AFAIK).

[Computer Hobbyist]

This is a link to Redhat's install guide for RedHat 7.3. This page discusses partitioning for a dual boot system. It is general enough to give you a good idea of what I am talking about.

You might also want to read the discussion of how hard drives are organized and how room is made for Linux found in Appendix E of the same install guide.

I would guess that when you are trying to install Linux you are told that Linux needs three partitions and asked where you want to put them. Next time you run Partition Magic, create a partition for XP and your Fat 32 partition in the appropriate sizes. Leave some unassigned disk space for Linux. After you install XP you then install Linux. When the install program asks you where you to put Linux, use the unpartitioned space. Tell the install program to leave the XP and Fat 32 partitions alone.


CH

[Computer Hobbyist]

I went back and reread your posts, and think I know why we are not really communicating effectively. You said the Partition Magic would only let you divide the hard drive into "four primary partitions." The term "primary partition" is a term of art. A primary partition is one that is bootable (dos drive c, for example, is a primary partition.) Bios restrictions limit the number of primary partitions to 4.

There is no effective limit (maybe 23) on the number of logical partitions. What you have been doing is assigning 3 primary partitions to Linux. Linux doesn't need a primary partition at all, it runs happily in 3 or more logical partitions. (You need a boot loader GRUB, LILO etc.) Your fat32 partition doesn't need to be a primary partiton either. It doesn't have an operating system. It is not supposed to be bootable.

CH

[David_Jones]

Hi,

I don't think that a primary partition has to be bootable (although it can be).

The 'four primary partition' limit was originally (?) due to the limitations of FDISK.

In reality, you can have lots more than four primary partitions if you use a different tool, although how different builds, BIOSs, OSs, and even apps might be affected I could not say. However, I do not believe that the limit of four is applicable across all (or even most) BIOSs by any means.

The benefit of a primary partition (over creating an extended partition that then contains sub-divisions - 'logical partitions') is that primary partitions are as independent of each other as you can get on a single physical disk.

The issue that I think Re-boot was getting at is that Windows (at least) needs to assign dirve letters to logical partitions, and hence you are limited by the alphabet.

However, you can 'hide' partitions, so that Windows (or another OS) cannot see them, and thus have more than the 'letter limit'.

As Computer Hobbyist says above, your data partition (FAT32 is accessible by Win98), does not *need* to be a primary, but it can be. It definately does not need to be bootable!

Hope I haven't confused things any more!

David.

[Computer Hobbyist]

I have done a little more reseach on the entire issue of Primary Partitions. If you want to know more than you ever thought you needed to know about 4 primary partitions you might want to read Appendix E from the same Redhat install guide.

It is very interesting reading. As I read the article, It seems that technically both David_Jones and I are both a little bit right and a little bit wrong.

The bottom line, however, is that as David_Jones said the Fat 32 partition doesn't "need" to be primary and definately doesn't need to be bootable.

God, this is deep stuff.

The problem is one of language. We use the word partition too freely. We need other words to avoid the confusion created by the multiple modified meanings of the word. Primary, Extended, and Logical are all modifiers for the noun "Partition." Partition is also used as a verb as well. Mostly when we talk about partitioning we are talking about creating logical partitions in an extended partition and not creating one of four possible primary (active, bootable?) partitions.

All because some bios and hard drive manufacturers couldn't imagine that we would ever need more than four partitions on the same physical disk drive (another screwy word is "drive" but that is a whole different story.)

Another site discussing this topic has some equally boring or interesting information (depending on your point of view.)

CH