LinuxQuestions.org

LinuxQuestions.org (/questions/)
-   Linux - Newbie (https://www.linuxquestions.org/questions/linux-newbie-8/)
-   -   partition troubles galore with linux/windows quad boot (https://www.linuxquestions.org/questions/linux-newbie-8/partition-troubles-galore-with-linux-windows-quad-boot-516818/)

suicideguy 01-06-2007 01:21 AM

partition troubles galore with linux/windows quad boot
 
In my main box, I have two HD'd, a 320 gig and a 160 gig. I had Windows 32 and 64 bit, plus SuSE 10.1 and Kubuntu 64 bit on there.

On the 160 gig I had: 50 GB primary Windows 32 bit partition, 90 GB Windows 32 bit storage partition, and a 20 GB partition for SuSE.

On the 320 gig I had: 180 GB primary Windows 64 bit partition, 140 GB to Kubuntu 64 bit

I planned on restructuring my hard drives to:

The 160: 60 GB for Kubuntu 32 bit, 100 GB Windows 32 bit storage

The 320: All for Windows 32 bit primary partition

When I went into Kubuntu to get rid of my old Linux partitions with QTParted, Windows doesn't want to recognize whatever QTParted does to the drives.

The most space Windows will detect is ~130 GB on my 320 GB drive (before and after an install of Windows 32 bit). I then went into QTParted and resized the drive to all but 12 MB and now Windows says that it is still ~130 GB but the partition type is unknown. I then deleted the partition and just created a new one (I did the same with the 50 GB left on the 160 gig drive). I now get a DISK BOOT FAILURE message (obviously). I then went into QTParted to see what that had to say and it says that on my 320 gig I have a 130 gig partition of type unknown and the rest is listed as free. On the 160 gig, the new partition is also of type unknown - 50 GB.

At this point I am totally lost as to what to do and any help will be greatly appreciated.

Thank you.:)

sn68 01-06-2007 01:52 AM

If there is no data worth saving on these drives then you can do following
Connect the 320GB as primary master & the second hdd as slave
The 320 GB First
Since its going to be solely windows
Boot with windows install cd & proceed with install till you reach where the installer asks you where to install OS. The delete all partitions create a new 320 gb partition & proceed with the install.
for the other disk you can partition it as 100 gb fat32/ntfs & 60 gb unpartitioned space after partitioning 320 gb hdd. Then proceed with install
After install you can install linux on the other disk & happily dual boot with grub

suicideguy 01-06-2007 01:58 AM

I need to keep my 90 GB 32 bit storage partition though which makes everything a lot harder. I don't have access to an external to make a backup of that one.

sn68 01-06-2007 02:10 AM

No problem
Dont touch the 90GB partition, delete the remaining & convert to single partition(possible only if 90gb partition is not in the middle)
Once you have installed windows & kubuntu, then use gparted to resize

suicideguy 01-06-2007 02:20 AM

QTParted lists it as in the middle under /dev/sda2 which is of type extended. :-/

sn68 01-06-2007 07:29 AM

Then leave that disk alone till you partition & format the 320 gb disk, once you have done that, copy your data to 320 gb disk and then partition the 160 gb disk before loading linux

Junior Hacker 01-06-2007 03:19 PM

Or........
You can go to bootitng.com and download their "bootit" software kit which is small, make a floppy or CD as instructed, use it to manage your partition schemes for free unless you really like what this software does and install it directly to HDD, then you can pay them for it. But quite frankly, you need not have to pay for it at all and just keep using it and put up with the warnings after the 30 day trial period.
This software does everything that Norton Ghost will do as well as some features other types of costly partitioning software will do.
The best part about this software is that all partitions you create (up to 120 partitions) are primary partitions and NO extended partitions as it will create an extended MBR, with a Windows partitioning scheme you only have one MBR that can become corrupt leaving you with allot of useless hard drive space because you can't boot nothing as all your OS's are depending on that one MBR. Also, with windows partitioning scheme you should be loading Windows XP after every other OS you want to install, with bootit you can install any type of OS in complete random order as they do not depend on one MBR, you can make compressed images of your partitions after a fresh install with all your settings and fully updated OS to restore it in a few minutes instead of spending a day or so when things go bad and you need to re-build.
If you choose not to install it directly to HDD you are limited to 4 partitions because you are only using a regular MBR, when installed to HDD it takes up 7MB of space for it's own partition (the EMBR) --> extended MBR.

For example: one of my computers has a 30GB master HDD and a 80GB slave, on the 30GB master I have Mandrake, Red Hat 9, Debian, Windows ME, Windows 98se, Windows 2000 pro, Windows XP pro. The 80GB HDD is formatted with Vfat 32 and carries all my data (music, pictures, partition images, etc.) and is accessible from all the operating systems. The computer is only 850Mghz processor but is faster than most 1Ghz processor because the operating systems are on small partitions which help performance, I don't store any data in them, all data goes to 80GB data drive, all large downloads get directed to it also, when doing video editing which requires allot of space I set the editing software to use the data drive also.
With bootitng, multi-booting becomes fun and hassle free after you learn how to use it, it comes with lots of documentation.

saikee 01-06-2007 03:38 PM

You can take a look at my 152 partitions system here which shows it can be done and pretty easy too. There are 145 systems there being booted.

My guess of the root cause of your problem is too dependent on the graphic partitioning tool QTParted, to a point that you may not known your fat32 partition type "b" or "c". The latter is in LBA mode and that can let you cross the 137Gb barrier. My guess is if you force type b fat32 partition to break the 137 Gb barrier all OS will have nothing to do with it.

I suggest cfdisk program in terminal mode because if a partition cannot be created it will warn you. Also you will be more alert with the partition types. I bet you didn't reboot everytime after you altered a fat partition. An alteration to a Dos partition can only be validated after a reboot. If you try to write something on it immediatelt after the alteration when the Bios is still using the old partition table then all hell will break losse in you data.

suicideguy 01-07-2007 11:40 AM

Hey I finally got it fixed. Thanks for your help guys. :)


All times are GMT -5. The time now is 07:13 AM.