Repartition a FAT32 drive

JGF621 · 12-01-2006, 07:29 PM

I am brand new to this and want to do the following without destroying data and Windows XP components on a 250GB hard drive using FAT32.

I understand there are ways to create a partition for Linux but have not seen the simple step by step proceudre. Assuming I want to dedicate 50 GB for Linux, how do I proceed?

OS is Windows XP, SP2. Machines is HP, running dual core (AMD 4200) with 1.5 gb RAM.

Thanks for any and all help.

sn68 · 12-01-2006, 09:31 PM

Use Partition magic or Gparted liveCD, I prefer gparted..

pixellany · 12-02-2006, 08:18 AM

I think QTParted (on the Knoppix live CD) will also resize FAT32 or NTFS.

One way to go:

Backup important data
de-frag the Windows partition
Re-size down to ~ 10-15GB
Create a new FAT32 partition for sharing data (maybe 100GB)
Create Linux swap space ~1GB
Create extended partition filling the rest of the disk
Create a new Linux partition ~10GB
Leave the rest empty (unpartitioned) for future growth

JGF621 · 12-02-2006, 09:06 AM

Thanks for both replies. I'll give it a try.