Hey,

I want to put the Fedora Core 2 on my laptop, but I can't have any data loss. Currently I have to partitions on it, C: and M: (for music), how do I install it so that I can keep these two partitions and not have any data loss?

resize your partitions (if you dont have any free space). If you have free space, i think, FC2 installation will allow you to install in free space. But before you begin dont forget to backup you data from windows.

also check-out this link issues specific to various models of laptops.

I have partition magic, so what should I srink, because i have C: and them M: in extended. Once I have free space I dont format it correct? When I install, do I pick Automatically partition or Manually partition with Disk Druid?

Oh, and I also want to change Mandrake to Fedora core on my other comptuer how do I go about doin that?

Frankly I havent tried linux and windows on the same harddrive (always used seperate drives). Search this forum and google for partition questions as there a ton of them. But first you can give your exact disk geometry (size, partitions) so that other people can also help you.
Tux,

as far as changing from mdk to fc2 just pop in your fc2 install cd and select the partition that you used for mandrake to install. You dont have to uninstall, you just overwrite and you'll be good to go.

so for the computer that alredy has mdk just choose the option "remove all linux partitions on this system" and that will keep the sizes just over write the data?

If you can, shrink and create your partitions before you install FC2. If I remember correctly, Disk Druid can't resize partitions without destroying them. The new version of Partition Magic can handle Linux partition formats. If you don't have it, then use the included parted utility on the FC2 disc by entering the installation program, then pressing Alt+Control+F1, logging in as root (there shouldn't be a password), and typing "parted". Choose a partition to shrink. Leave at least 4GB of empty space. From this empty space, create your partitions. Different people partition in different ways but this is how I did it: create a small ~90MB ext3/ext2/reiserfs partition for your /boot/ directory, a swap partition 1.5x to 2x the size of your RAM, and some small ext2/ext3/reiserfs partitions to store individual users' settings and documents (forget these partitions if there's only going to be less than 4 or so users). Dedicate the rest of your space to a big ext2/ext3/reiserfs partition.When you're done, exit the console by typing Alt+Control+F6 (or is it +F7?). When you get to where the installation program asks you to partition, use Disk Druid. Then set the big partition to mount at "/", the boot partition to mount at "/boot", and the various small partitions to mount at "/home/USERNAME", where USERNAME are the names of the users of your computer. Then let Disk Druid format the new partitions (and ONLY the new partitions) you created.

I didn't have the FC2 installation program (Anaconda) with me when I wrote this message so the steps might not correspond exactly but they should be easy to figure out.

Linux has trouble interacting with Windows NT/XP's NTFS file system, so partitioning might be more difficult with those operating systems installed.

Hope I helped, and if I made any errors in my steps, tell me!

Bye,

Vince

If it says "Remove all Linux partitions", I'm suspecting that it will just turn the Linux partitions into empty space. Then you can repartition. Even if the installation program has an option to keep the existing partition sizes, everything will be erased.

i do have the newest version of partition magic so if i creat 3 partitions and format them with the linux file system i could chose the option where it over writes previous instalations of linux? does that sound right. (btw thanks to every 1 for all of the help)

This will delete the partitions and create a free space. If i remember correctly, manual disk druid will take you to a screen where you can view the partitions, just select a hard drive (BE VERY CAFEFUL TO SELECT A DRIVE THAT HAS LINUX) and edit the partitions. That would format and make them ready for install.

refer this link. It should tell you what you need. Its for redhat 9 but its good for FC2 as well.

I found a newer version of that manual here: http://www.redhat.com/docs/manuals/l...titioning.html

Since you have Partition Magic 8, you might want to convert your Windows partitions (well, at least your M:, probably labeled in Linux as /dev/hda2) into FAT32 instead of NTFS. This will allow Linux programs to write to that partition so that you can save music you want to share with Windows there.

Ok, I just installed it on the comptuer that used to have MDK - every thing went perfect thanks so much every1.