please help me
 

hi, all linux gurus.

I have few questions ....i am stuck and so i afraid of installing Fedora core 4.

i dont understand linux partion.

I confuse with windows partion...after reading tutorial.....i have become much more confused.

here is a graphical tutorial i am following..

http://www.howtoforge.com/book/print/128


However,

I have windows XP installed in C:\.....i have other partions as "d:\","e:\" and "f:\"

Now i want to install Fedora core 4 in my machine as a dual boot....how do i go about it ?


so, i have few questions...

(Q1)
when i read this tutorial i find at the disk set up ....there is "/dev/sda" .
but in some other tutorial i found there is "/dev/hda" .....why this two are different ? does it get differed depend upon machine ?


(Q2) suppose, i am on the disk set up wizard of fedora core 4 linux and i see a drive as "/dev/hda" ......how do i know whether its C:\,D:\,E:\...is it possible to know from the GUI of the FC4 linux disk set up ?


(Q3)i see , in the tutorial ....they are making extra partion in "/dev/hda" as {/boot,/ etc etc } .....but in windows we did not do any extra partion under a partion....i.e there is no extra partion under c:\ in windows.......all there is just 4 individual partion as c:\,d:\,e:\,f:

why linux makes a partion under a partion ? (like /dev/hda is divided into "/boot,"/" etc etc } ??


can you please help me to understand these concepts

I'm not sure if you've got this far, but it's going to be much easier for you if you just stick the fc4 cd into the machine and start.. the installer will tell you what partitions you have and how much free space you have and it will guide you through the process of creating a new linux and swap partition for your fc4 installation.. By the way, fc5 is out now, so you might consider installing that for it's new features.. Regarding the difference between /dev/sda and /dev/sda, that's just different types of device on different machines. A normal hard disk starts with 'hd'. A different sort of storage device starts with 'sd' - so there is a sort of convention to the confusion. You should be dealing with /dev/hda[number] where [number] is the partition number on that device - so you might find that you're installing to /dev/hda5 or something.


christo

suggest
 

Hi,

sda and hda confuse
sda = SCSI harddrive
hda = IDE harddrive
hda1,hda2 (partitions)
hdb1,hdb2

if u are novice let partition hard drive to automatically.
(don't hestitate for windows partition)
before partition it will identified ur windows partition
vfat,ntfs (don't chose these for format)

:newbie:

(A1)
/dev/hdax is the master hard drive (hdb is for the slave) connected to your 1st IDE (hdc and hdd are for the 2nd IDE) (x is the partition number).
/dev/sdax is for SCSI drives.

(A2)
I'm not sure how windows attribute letters, but I believe C is the primary partition in the master hard drive of the 1st IDE -> /dev/hda1

(A3)
/ and /boot are mount points and not necessarily a partition. You can assign a partition to a mount point or several depending on your need. You probably don't need to understand that just yet. Like the previous poster said, just put the CD and follow the instructions, it is pretty straightforward and you'll learn with time step after step.

but "partion automatically" might overwrite my windows XP in C:\ !!! so., i want to choose "manual partion".



do you mean ? hda1=c:\ ? hda2=D:\, hda3=E:\ partion ?

ok....but how could i be so sure ? may be hda2=E:\ ? whats the diagonastic check ?

my F:\ is completely empty....i want to install linux in F:\....so according to your formla it would be hda5 ....is not it ? but does it really main the sequesnce {a1,a2,a3,a4,a5==>hda1,hda2,hda3,hda4,hda5}


what are hdb1,hdb2 ?

i am confused ?

In one tutorial it says, you might get {hda,hdb,hdc,hdd,hdf ...like this }

please explain .

thank you

I am still new to this, but I know that if you only have one hard drive, then all you'll see is hda(1,2,3,etc...) or sda. hdb, hdc, etc...are for more than one physical hard drive.

sda can also be SATA ( I think that is a type of SCSI, but I'm not sure).

One way to check which drive is which is to note the size of your windows partitions, then when you're making your Linux partition, just make sure you're not changing any of them.

>One way to check which drive is which is to note the size of your windows partitions.

Yes...i know this...but trouble comes when you have all the partions are of same size.

and look at this tutorial

http://img64.imageshack.us/my.php?image=size4ub.jpg

they have /dev/hda1,/dev/hda2,/dev/hda3,/dev/hda4

and they are making /boot in /dev/hda1 ,swap in /dev/hda2 , / in /dev/hda3 and video in /dev/hda5


linux is heavily confusing OS

Not really. It is confusing because you have windows + linux. Try installing Windows after Linux for instance. Windows won't confuse you : it will just screw up linux. Linux is more powerful because you can do such things as dual booting it with another OS. Doing the same with linux would be as easy : tell Fedora to take all the hard drive. The confusion here is because nobody knows how Windows assign letters. I believe Windows is more confusing here. You are just used to windows and believe that it is a simple OS. Learn linux and you will see it is much less confusing and much more logical than Windows.

Anyway, I don't know how Windows assign letters, so I don't know how to map the letters to the linux way of naming partitions, but what you can do is boot using a linux live cd and browse the partitions. It will tell you which partition is what.

If you don't already have a linux live CD, download this : http://www.knoppix.net/get.php
This CD is a must have as it can save your data in case of virus (especially on Windows).
Burn the CD and boot your system with the CD.
All your partitions will appear on the desktop. Browse them in order to know which is what.

suggest
 

hi,

hda(disk 1) 1 (partition 1)
hda(disk 1) 2 (partition 2)

but this is basic concept. When RAID small drive, virtually one dirve.

But for your situation,
first u boot with FC4 boot disk.
follow instruction
don't hesistate for windows partition.
Bootable disk will detect windows partition and separate for you.
Yours responsible is read carefully step by step.
Who say windows is better?

novice06
:newbie: