Hello.. first time post from linux n00b.

Anyways, I'm looking to load FC5 on my system and be able to dual boot it. My question is specifically on partitioning the drive so that I am able to do this.

My current setup is as follows:

2 HDDs
1 - XP install directory; 20 GB free space
2 - just a place to put misc docs, music, etc.. ; 20 GB free space

I would like to install FC on the first drive, but would prefer not to lose any data. What kind of setup would I be looking for when I go through the installation?

Thanks in advance.

Just to add some additional information. Both physical disks have just a single partition on them. I have not done any formatting, but form reading other threads it sounds like I should be ok to only install the linux OS on the first HD and add the /boot part to the MBR. Maybe I'm wrong.

This is what I did, slightly different but effective (for me anyway)

I use removable hard drive bays. The hd bays allow you to chop & change hd's without having to pull your computer apart. Once installed that is Cost $15 (AUD) each. They work for IDE drives - I assume that is what you have given the size 20GB. If you aren't happy pulling your machine to bits then have done @ the computer shop - just have to watch out for static electricity.

Doing things this way allows you to choose which system to boot in case there are any problems with boot loaders, graphic cards etc

You can also boot with 1 system only, or boot 1 & have access to the other.

As an example I have FC5 on 1 hd & FC3 on the other hd. I can remove the FC3 disk & put in My Win2000 Disk and have access to it from FC5, or I can boot Win2000 & copy files from there to a vfat partition on the FC5 disk. So, I can boot any 1 of the 3 Operating Systems & access which ever other one that I choose.

Some advice
Firstly, Always back everything up, yeah I know - but it needs to be said !!!
Read up bigtime !!
Read the book that came with FC5 DVD - I have FC5 Bible by Chris Negus & FC3 Unleashed by Bill Ball & Hoyt Duff.
Read posts & articles in this forum for advice about partitioning, mounting filesystems & ntfs kernel modules.
Check this forum's Hardware Compatibility List for you hardware - especially the graphics card. Also check the manufacture's web site for any info about linux - although it might not mention anything the hardware will probably still work.
With modems - a serial modem will always work straight away whereas PCI may be a little trickier to configure.
I found that HP Printers & camera's work straight away, along as they are turned on during installation of FC5.
Note down all your settings for ISP's & email, sreen resoultion etc.


1. Buy 2 removable hard drive bays.
2. Remove existing hd's from the 5 inch slots in the front of your computer.
3. Install the hd bays into the 5 inch slots.
4. Set the jumpers on each hd to cable select if not already that way.
5. Plug the IDE ribbon into the back of each of the removable hd bay. The pink line aligns with the 1 on hd bay. Note which one is the Master & which is the Slave
6. plug the power supplys into the back of the hd bays.
7. install the hd's into the hd bays.
8. Enter the BIOS setup while booting and set the hard disk boot priority to the disk which has your windows system on it. Save changes & continue to boot. Windows should boot exactly as it was before.

To install FC5 on the same disk as XP you would need to partition that drive - This can be done during the install of FC5 or by using partitioning software, But I propose that you do the following:
You have about the same amount of free space on each drive, so why not devote one drive to XP & the other to FC5 ?

9. Copy all your existing docs & files onto the XP drive using explorer.
10. Put the FC5 install DVD or CD into the DVD/CD drive
11. Shutdown & remove the XP disk from the removable hd bay.
12. Install the hd which will have FC5 on it, into the master hd bay. Now there is only 1 hd attached to the computer.
13. Set hd boot priority for the FC5 drive. (Similar to step 8.)
14. Install FC5. Create a boot partition with a size of 100MB.Say yes to install Master Boot Record onto the hard drive.

If you have any problems at all with the installation, you can shutdown, put the XP drive back in, set the boot priority, and your XP will still work as before. This is alot better than having no system at all. The FC5 installation should be fine, except for example the graphics card isn't recognised or resolution is set too high, in which case you might only have a text console at best, or see nothing at all (at worst).

15. Shutdown FC5, Put XP disk into Slave hd bay, reboot (Don't change the boot priority)

At this stage FC5 should boot OK

16. Edit the /boot/grub/grub.conf file as root, so that you can have an option to choose whether to boot FC5 or XP. Add these lines. This Assumes that the FC5 is first in boot priority (hd0) so the XP hd is hd1.

Modified excerpt from FC 5 & RHEL 4 Bible, Christoher Negus pp75-76

17. Restart and press Enter to see the GRUB boot screen with a choice of FC5 or XP
18. Download & install ntfs kernel module. FC5 is capable of reading vfat filesystem which is fine if you have Win98 etc, but Win2000, XP & others require ntfs.
19. Open a terminal window. Use substitute user command to gain root priveliges
Enter the root passowrd

20. make a directory to mount your XP drive on.
the hdb directory can be named anything you want - say XP if that suits you better. I would use hdb
because it is still meaningful if you are mounting a drive that could have 1 of a variety of filesystems on it.

21. Use the mount command to mount the XP drive.

22. Look at your files on the XP disk

So there you have it - seems long & complicated (I have explained a lot), but it only needs to be done once, and in practice it is easy once GRUB has been setup.