want to save some files but replace windows with linux
 

i am desiring to replace windows with mandrake 9 but i have almost 1 gig of files that i want to save and i cannot burn them to a cd yet because my cd rw isn't supported by win 98. i have one FAT partition on my hard drive (6 gig). when i tried the linux install, it told me that i did not have enough room on my hard drive to use available space. i have about 3 gig of my drive used up by win 98 stuff. can i make another FAT partition from windows or disk drake without sacrificing the files i want to keep ?
The resize windows partition failed in the mandrake start up.
Please help. i am quite the newbee.
thanks

Ok, what I think you want to do is:
Defrag your hard drive, so your current data doesnt have odd pieces scattered in areas we're going to erase.

Use something to resize your current windows partition to just hold the data it currently has on it. Partition Magic is often mentioned.

Try installing again, but this time not selecting so many packages, or maybe setting the new partition sizes yourself in the config.
I'm a newbie but I dont think you should be pushing 3-5 gigs unless you installed every window manager and all other packages etc.

I'm no where near sure of this, but I think I've made a few of the right noises and pushed you in the correct direction. ;)
Or do what I did, get a second harddrive, then have two working OSs on one pc (providing you dont screw up the Master Boot Record like me too :o ) ;)

aye
i'm going with Proud
"i have about 3 gig of my drive used up by win 98 stuff"
"i have almost 1 gig of files that i want to save"

does that mean that you are only at like 4/6 gigs? or do you have more junk stuff?

you probably do want to defragment beforehand, just because :P, but i would make a partition under windows with something like partition magic for 1 gig, or the amount of stuff you want to keep (if you have room to make a 1 gig partition) and move the stuff over
then you should be able to use disk drake in the mandrake 9 setup and have it remove the first partition (5 gigs) and install linux there, then you can move the stuff back (no way mandrake takes up more than 4 gigs with 2 install cds :P), reformat the 1 gig partition, and merge it in
that may mean that you might want to create the swap before root directory/home/whatever so you can merge the 1 gig partition into the root/home/etc (i think? someone correct me if that is bad :P)
and if you do not know how to setup the partitions for linux, have it do the auto partition thing, see what it does, go back, and set it up manually in disk drake (without removing the 1 gig partition)

if you do not have any room to create the 1 gig partition out of windows, delete all that you can (you have to have junk files somewhere if you have 3 gig for win, 1 gig of stuff, and 6 gig hard drive) without messing things up, and then try
or move, resize, move (lots of time and may get crazy)

About the only thing I would add is DO NOT under ANY circumstances use the Microsoft FDISK program if there is ANYTHING under MSWindows/MSDOS that you want to keep!!! Linux (Mandrake, Red Hat, Slackware -- all of them) ALSO have a utility called FDISK and it can be confusing in some manuals! The Microsoft FDISK utility is a LOT more destructive and no where near as flexible as it's Linux cousin, so beware! This is real powerfull stuff you are messing with so BE SURE you know what you're doing before you do anything...

Erm well I dunno about never using MS FDISK because when I fecked Lilo Linux boot loader, I had to use MS's FDISK /mbr command to restore my Master Boot Record to enable windows again. I guess it has it's uses. ;)

Yes -- NEVER! (sort of). The "switch" you use with Microsoft's FDISK utility is used to basically "reset" the master boot record (/mbr). It is NOT typically used except in situations where you have mutiple OS's and have altered the MBR somehow (or VERY RARELY used; like in a case where a "preloading" utility is used to "patch" the system BIOS and is no longer wanted -- I can't even think of ANY other time that would even apply in a pure MS environment). "Lilo" is probably the best known offender when it comes to altering the MBR for a "pure" Microsoft OS and THAT would really be about the ONLY EXCEPTION -- and as you pointed out. If it helps to put things into perspective, low-level formatting an IDE hard drive is about as "common" as using the MS FDISK/MBR utility in a pure Microsoft world (that's not to say "never" but it's pretty close).

All the same, your question appears to deal with KEEPING data on a MS partition while adjusting the ONLY partiton you have to allow Linux to be installed. Presumeably, you are using something like FIPS or Partition Magic or something else INSTEAD of either FDISK utility. But since you CAN use either FDISK utility to do the same thing, you CAN'T use the MS-FDISK to "resize" a partition without completely wiping out whatever is already there and THAT can be confusing and dangerous! (hence, my warning). Linux's FDISK can see FAT & FAT32 partitions and even resize around them so it's probably safer but not really all that "user friendly" or all that "uninstallable". Probably the most safe approach would be to use Partition Magic since that very same "utility" can be used to UNinstall with, and get things back to the way they were before (no need to use MS's "FDISK /MBR" either IF you did it right -- and last time I looked, Mandrake DID come with Partition Magic). I hope that explains it better...

(The fact that you even KNOW about the /mbr switch suggests that you're well on your way of moving out of the "newbie" world! -- or Mandrake is documenting their product a LOT better :-) ).