Few questions about linux before switching to Win7
 

hi.

i want to install windows 7 in place of my 10GB root partition . It is just for testing purposes because i know you can't run windows in the long run on a 10GB partition ..

So , before installing winddows , i have a question :

i have a separate /home partition . i also use google chrome web browser.

and firefox 4 beta 9 . these are all my main programs.

does google chrome store it's open tabs and bookmarks somewhere in /home ? i fail to find it.

and also , if i would back the root partition up using ..say partimage because it also saves the MBR restore everything back in place after i uninstall windows?

i just want to give a shot to see how windowss 7 would move on my system before making any major changes.

Yes, I think it does. Its cache is '~/.cache/google-chrome', and '~/.config/google-chrome' has files which include, among other things, your history, extensions, bookmarks, cookies and tabs.

First thing to check is whether you have an ext4 file system - partimage doesn't support this. But any backup tool would work, and you don't need to back up your MBR unless you've done something magical to it. You can re-install grub or lilo when you reinstall your linux OS. However, don't plan on keeping your backup (however you create it) on the same hard-drive. It's more than possible that Windows, in its infinite wisdom, will decide to nuke the rest of your harddrive. I'd hope this is less likely than before, using Windows 7, but I wouldn't bet on it ;)

Why not dual boot... ??? making sure that windoze is on the first partition. !

because i would like to dual boot but i have a huge 207GB ntfs corrupted in which i have essential data(pirated windows 7, vista , XP , photos , linux iso and that kind of stuff.) and i am too scared to let windows put all that in an Windows.old directory as it's supposed to do . i just can't risk it. i don't have external hard drive , cuz i've already asked the guys at the windows 7 forums and all they tell me , even though i said i can't afford a usb harddrive is : oh find someone who has one and put it there : but i dont know anyone . and gparted says it's so corrupted that it can't resize it .

if i lose all those windows iso and music and photos is just bad ... i have a copy of them in a ext4 /home partition just the essential iso and music there , but still i am too afraid to delete it and then put windows 7 in a 40 gb partition .

i haven't heard that so often ... if you know to which partition you want to install i just don't see it doing that ...
the mbr i want to just hesitate to reinstall grub .. it's hard.

Well...what about you get a USB thumb drive and your favourite live Linux distro...boot up the live distro and use the file manager to access the files you want to keep and transfer them to your thumb drive,then from there burn them to a disc or transfer them to your other box... most of us have multiple boxes,at my worst I had eight,I now only have three.

ps Most live distros have full read write access to your ntfs partition... Ubuntu,Puppy,Parted magic,are just three of tons.

I Really wish i had one .. trust me , i'm not rich . i know , for the americans or the ones that use euro as their value buying a computer might be nothing , but here , it's lots of money.

Yes about full ntfs read write support i know they all have , just that i don't trust any other but ubuntu for that job .

how many hard disks u have?
just reinstall everything, windows and linux in separate partitions.

1.

i would do that but i can't resize the ntfs one. gparted says it has at least 1 bad sector and disk utility says that it's got 2 badblock.
i will risk today to install windows 7 on that ntfs.i read on it's what to know before reinstalling windows. it says it's supposed to put everything in a Windows.old directory . i guess i will have to wait a good pair of hours to wait for it to move 120GB of data though. i think i'm going to start right after 40 minutes. perhaps someone gives the killer solution.

PS: oh you guys are awesome. i never saw a linux community helping someone with windows. neither the windows 7 forums gave me as much replies as you . thanks.

Now hard disk is very cheap, i guess u r not using Sata, right?
Still using PATA/IDE old hdd?
Where r u?
Is PC expensive in your country?
if u have budget, get a new hardware upgrade.

no. i use SATA. yes PCs are expensive here . or no . i can buy a harddisk at 100$ (or 1000 pesos mexicanos) but i am 13 years old .

i wish my mom would give me that much money.

we will buy soon another computer but for now only this laptop.

if anyone else is interested windows did install succesfully and it didn't mess up with my partition , just well :)

i am very super happy. thanks all.

If you have a partition containing damaged data you would like to recoer, do not write into this partition. Writing includes placing any file in it, deleting files, and reading or opening files (because the last opened date is updated)

If you want to use this space but keep the data to recover later, or if you want to attempt risky ways of recovery, use linux's dd to clone the partition as is into a file. Some tools cannot recover data from a file, but you'll be able to restore the partition as is from the file. The file will be huge, exactly of the same size as the entire partition

All your personal data is stored in /home/you/, some of it in hidden folders /home/you/.stuff/. Make sure Windows does not delete your home partition, and your data will be ok

Windows loves to be in the first partition (Linux sda1 / Grub (hd0,0)) but you can move the Linux root like anywhere without affecting anything (just update Linux's fstab and Grub's menu.lst to the new locations) to make room for Windows

Well done and we are always interested in solutions... LOL

you are philippine?
13 years old, a boy?
back up your data, format hdd and reinstall