i am new to linux . i heard lot about it . so i want to try it. i have pc with 5 partitions. C drive 5 GB and window me install on it. D drive 5GB and window xp pro install on it. E, F and G all 10, 10 GB. i have acronis partition expert 8.0. i heard that / boot partition should be on first 1024 cylinders of hard disk. so i want to know that from which partition i create a new partition so that i get first 1024 cylinders. is it from C and D drive or from E,F,G . and which file system i have to select during partitioning with acronis patition expert. and during installation of red hat 9 . when reached to "disk partitioning set up" chosing automatic partitioning then which option to select
1. remove all linux partition on this system
2. keep all partition and use existing free space.
i find difficulty in this section only.
please tell me something about this .and i does not want to lose any data

Dunno for sure, but I was under the impression that that didn't matter any longer.

As far as I am aware, you should be able to "bung" the install disc in, and tell it where you want the install to go - don't forget the nonclamenture is different.

5 partitions presumes that linux will see the "C" drive as hda, the "D" drive as hdb and so on, so I should think that you would want to install onto hdc or hdd though if like me you have a dvd drive, the linux install might want to call that hdf (although my install labels is cdrom on the desktop - if I want to do anything with it I have to refer to it as hdb.

Erm, also if the 5 partitions are on the same drive, it might want to call the "C" drive hda1, the "D" drive hda2 and so on - you would have to remember the partition sizes and see what the distro install comes up with.

hope this is of some assistance ?

regards

John

p.s. you could try looking here and see if they can point you in the right direction - though it could turn into a mammoth reading session.

Hi guru

Modern BIOS's dont have an issue with the old "1024 limit" - if your'e using a separate boot partition (which you don't have to btw) - it essentially doesn't matter where it is on your hard drive - the key is simply for the BIOS to be able to get access to a bootloader in a BIOS recognised boot sector such as your MBR or the boot sector of a primary partition etc etc etc.

Personally - the only thing I would use Acronis for is to delete your E,F,G partitions to leave some unpartitioned free space at the end of your drive - then simply install Red Hat 9 into this unpatitioned free space.

If you did it this way You'd choose the option to "keep all existing partitions and install Red Hat in the free space"

Install either LILO or GRUB to the MBR

Make a boot disk near the end of the RH install

thank you very much for your reply friends. now i am goining to install .