LinuxQuestions.org
Download your favorite Linux distribution at LQ ISO.
Go Back   LinuxQuestions.org > Forums > Linux Forums > Linux - Newbie
User Name
Password
Linux - Newbie This Linux forum is for members that are new to Linux.
Just starting out and have a question? If it is not in the man pages or the how-to's this is the place!

Notices


Reply
  Search this Thread
Old 12-24-2005, 11:11 PM   #16
liamoboyle
Member
 
Registered: Mar 2004
Location: Wellington, New Zealand
Distribution: Debian
Posts: 127

Rep: Reputation: 15

First up, merry christmas

Second, linux will happily read NTFS partitions, so you will be able to read all your data with no problem. Write support is possible, but dodgy - I've never enabled it, someone may be able to help you here.

Your suggestion regarding the FAT32 partition is certainly the safest way to do this, and is the way that I do sharing with my dual boot system. It is possible to install the entire XP system on FAT32 if you really want, you do lose a few nifty things (worse user permission system, less notes etc. for files), but no major harm done for a personal system.
 
Old 12-24-2005, 11:32 PM   #17
Trio3b
Member
 
Registered: Oct 2004
Location: Texas, USA
Distribution: MDV 2008.1, PCLinuxOS,
Posts: 315

Rep: Reputation: 30
dual boot

If you are queasy about touching the Wxp drive, then put your boot onto a floppy, or install linux onto the 13gb and put the boot loader also onto the 13gb drive. This will be a hassle though, because assuming your BIOS has the option, you will have to enter the BIOS every time, and select from which drive to boot.

I can only give you my experience. I have loaded Mandrake 10.0 and 10.2 onto many combinations of single and dual drive setups, some with all Windows NTFS partitions, some part NTFS part FAT32, master- slave HD combos, etc. I can say that Mandrake has an excellent installer and has NEVER screwed up an install for me. I always put LILO onto the MBR of the Windows partition.

IF you decide to put linux on the 160gb drive, make sure you defrag, and BACKUP-BACKUP-BACKUP. If you put it on the 13gb drive, this will work, just select hdb for the OS install and put the bootloader on MBR of hda so you don't have to enter BIOS every time. You can also install a third HD onto the slave of the secondary IDE channel (if your bus speed is slow and the hd is old you can get away with the old IDE ribbon cable, if not, upgrade to 80 wire), but you will still have to enter BIOS if you don't put LILO on MBR of hda.

I believe linux sees NTFS and FAT 32 and writes to FAT but apparently writing to NTFS is possible but not totally safe yet. I don't think Wxp can see linux partitions. (Correct me if nec.)

liamoboyle is correct about using a FAT share. I normally divide a HD into thirds. 1/3 NTFS WIndows, 1/3 FAT32, 1/3 linux.

good luck!

Last edited by Trio3b; 12-24-2005 at 11:36 PM.
 
Old 12-27-2005, 06:10 PM   #18
soupnazi.tar.gz
Newbie
 
Registered: Nov 2005
Location: MN, USA
Distribution: Slackware-Current, WinXP Pro SP2
Posts: 20

Rep: Reputation: 0
Cant you just open up the case and switch the linux drive to be the master, and make the windows drive the slave? Wouldn't you then be able to install lilo or grub on the MBR of the linux drive without having to touch the windows drive MBR? Then you also wouldn't have to go into the bios every time?

I just hate the thought of using a floppy disk. I would have to make like 20 of them, they always seem to dissappear

Would the above scenario work? I am also trying to do a multi-boot with winxp on a 100 GB and a couple of linux distros and maybe free BSD on a 200 GB.
 
Old 02-25-2006, 05:06 PM   #19
Strykaas
LQ Newbie
 
Registered: Dec 2005
Posts: 15

Original Poster
Rep: Reputation: 0
Hello all !

I have finally done the job here. I have installed the Mandriva 2006 Edition on my second hard drive. Installation was flawless. Boot on floppy, no mbr mess . I have struggled a bit to connect to the internet (ADSL) because I had selected too high a security level... and disabled several services (paranoid me).
I have noticed a slow DNS, may this be linked to firewall ?
I am now moving on to a Suse 10.0 since I need Kdevelop.
thx
 
  


Reply


Thread Tools Search this Thread
Search this Thread:

Advanced Search

Posting Rules
You may not post new threads
You may not post replies
You may not post attachments
You may not edit your posts

BB code is On
Smilies are On
[IMG] code is Off
HTML code is Off



Similar Threads
Thread Thread Starter Forum Replies Last Post
are all USB hard disks linux-compatible? ekirlu Linux - Hardware 13 08-05-2005 12:28 AM
want to run 2 Linux distros and winXP from two hard disks anoopsinha Linux - General 3 03-23-2005 09:32 PM
Installation Disks not recognized as official disks when booting with floppy coal-fire-ice Mandriva 13 12-09-2004 04:29 PM
linux doesn't see my other 2 hard disks tr6boy Linux - Hardware 5 07-19-2004 04:09 PM
Hard disks faliure after linux mounting emadasfour Linux - Software 2 10-22-2003 07:05 AM

LinuxQuestions.org > Forums > Linux Forums > Linux - Newbie

All times are GMT -5. The time now is 09:07 AM.

Main Menu
Advertisement
My LQ
Write for LQ
LinuxQuestions.org is looking for people interested in writing Editorials, Articles, Reviews, and more. If you'd like to contribute content, let us know.
Main Menu
Syndicate
RSS1  Latest Threads
RSS1  LQ News
Twitter: @linuxquestions
Open Source Consulting | Domain Registration