Installing Debian v3.1(v2.6.8) on Windows XP
 

I would like to install Debian v3.1(v2.6.8) on Windows XP which has NTFS file system. The system description is Compaq Presario 700(2001 model) Laptop with AMD processor, 20GB HD space.

Any clue with steps to proceed ?

Regards,
Mukesh K Srivastava

No. What you propose is impossible. You can not install Linux 'on' Windows.

Now it's possible that you want to install Linux separately on the same computer that uses Windows, if you have enough disk space. I'd say 20 GB is pretty marginal.

I do think that it can be done w.r.t below resources -

http://www.bootdisk.com
http://rooster.stanford.edu/~ben/toshiba/linux.php
http://mlf.linux.rulez.org/mlf/ezaz/ntfsresize.html

I was thinking if anyone had tried before, so that I can proceed. But I think now I should try with above resource.

Regards,
Mukesh K S

Yes with ntfsresize you will be able to resize your windows filesystem so that you have room to install linux, on a separate partition.
And don't try to put linux on ntfs! Put it on ext3 for example.

Something to bear in mind: Linux cannot write to NTFS partitions ( well, not safely yet) and Windows ignores Linux ones.

So if you want to access data from both OSes you may want to create a third, FAT32, partition and put your My Documents folder there ( or just a shared data folder)

There are many NTFS drivers for Linux and the Linux-NTFS project at http://www.linux-ntfs.org did always write safely to NTFS.

It sounds like Cygwin (www.cygwin.com) would probably suit your needs better then Debian would. Unless you plan on doing something that requires a seperate operating system.

You should also check out http://www.colinux.org/

Cooperative Linux is the first working free and open source method for optimally running Linux on Microsoft Windows natively. More generally, Cooperative Linux (short-named coLinux) is a port of the Linux kernel that allows it to run cooperatively alongside another operating system on a single machine. For instance, it allows one to freely run Linux on Windows 2000/XP, without using a commercial PC virtualization software such as VMware, in a way which is much more optimal than using any general purpose PC virtualization software.

igu wrote

.

But on the linux-ntfs.org website you find:
(my Italics)

The built in NTFS Kernel Write drivers (you may need to recompile your Kernel) I have used a multitude of times without any problems.

Yes, they explain that don't use the obsolote ntfs driver, instead one of the ones they wrote: ntfsmount or the new kernel driver. Both they and you argue that people shouldn't use the old, broken driver (which indeed nobody does for a long time) but you ignore the safety of the new ntfs drivers (see the UPDATE part of their ANSWER).

Actually what you quoted is also obsolete since write was disabled even in the old, broken NTFS driver by Anton Altaparmakov in 2002.

I have never even dared try to write to an NTFS partition as I have always been under the impression that the driver is flakey. I don't store any data on it - I use a FAT32 partition accessible from Linux for that, but if never reinstall Windows again it will be too soon.

So, if I read you correctly, I can safely use the kernel driver.

Interesting, I'm also like others scared to write on NTFS from linux.
I think rewriting same sized files is ok for a certain time but it's quite new for complete new files.

You did create new files also? removed files,..
On kernel.org its said its stable so there should be no problem, but still I'm a bit scared to breaking my game and excel OS and that I would be unable to repair it.

I've benchmarked some Filesystems for different record size and NTFS was OK. Sometimes the bandwidth dropped to 0 maybe due to a driver problem but overall it was very quick in reading on several scenarios.

But I only tried read speed since I got these messages:

45mn!! of chkdsk later:


Yeah I had skipped Cooperative Linux as I only need windows to fill a few excel sheets stuffed with macros.

I suppose the only way to settle this is by experiment. In the reasonably near future I will probably be moving a 40GB drive to upgrade another PC. So I can format it under NTFS and do some tests. Not speed but actual write tests.

I'll report back here but if anybody has any suggestions please feel free to make them. The disc will be completely wiped and then partitioned and reformatted.

Yes. But only ntfsmount can do it, not the kernel driver. See it here: http://wiki.linux-ntfs.org/doku.php?id=ntfsmount

If uncertain then make a backup with ntfsclone: http://man.linux-ntfs.org/ntfsclone.8.html

It's at least 4 times faster and more reliable than Norton Ghost :-) You must have backup anyway, in case if your disk would suddenly die.

That's an innocent safety check and the latest driver can handle it.

You must reboot twice into Windows after running chkdsk. You did only once and interrupted the process.

Windows sometimes messes up NTFS and the Linux driver denies to mount the partition if it detects that's the case.