Three OS on a hard disk

ravi_chobey · 01-07-2009, 02:56 AM

Hi All,

I want to have three operating systems on a single 160 GB HDD.Is is possible to have that?
If yes,then how i have to partition my HDD.Please support.

Regards,
Ravi

billymayday · 01-07-2009, 03:09 AM

Yes, but partitioning depends on what OSs and how you would like to set it up. You could do it with 3 or 13 easily.

ravi_chobey · 01-07-2009, 03:18 AM

i want to set it like Windows,Linux and Solaris.Least to windows and most to linux.
Thanks for your quick reply.

Regards,
Ravi

linuxlover.chaitanya · 01-07-2009, 03:37 AM

Then you would want to install windows first and then when you are done installing windows move to linux and install as you would normally do. I do not know if solaris would support linux as well as linux supports solaris. It would be wise enough to install linux after you are done with all the installation. You could give whatever space you like to those three depending on what is your requirement.

salasi · 01-07-2009, 05:05 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by ravi_chobey

Hi All,

I want to have three operating systems on a single 160 GB HDD.Is is possible to have that?

Yes

Quote:

If yes,then how i have to partition my HDD.Please support.

Use a partitioner; the easiest is to use the partitioner supplied with the software that you are installing. Give enough space to each OS, so that you can work with it.

ravi_chobey · 01-07-2009, 05:25 AM

Thank you to you all for your support.

I am thinking of using partition magic,any more suggestions are welcomed.

Will it be possible for me share my data in between the three operating systems.For example program codes and binary files generated in linux etc.

Regards,
Ravi

billymayday · 01-07-2009, 01:44 PM

If you want a free and open solution, look at either the parted magic or gparted live CDs (se www.distrowatch.com)

If you want to share stuff, I'm not sure what solaris supports, but FAT32 is probably your best bet. Linux can read an write NTFS, and you can get windows to read ext3 (not sure about write), but I'm not sure on the solaris front.

dquick1 · 01-07-2009, 06:28 PM

Hi Ravi,

Have you thought of using virtualisation to give maximum flexibility?

For example VirtualBox will run on XP,Vista and Linux, and will host almost anything from DOS, through to linux.

Has some nice advantages in terms of taking snap shots, and making copies of a complete system.
I am using quite successfully on Linux, although I had to build the binaries myself to get them to install.

Check this out http://www.virtualbox.org/

Regards

Damien

ravi_chobey · 01-08-2009, 04:42 AM

Hi All,

Ealier i have used Gparted for partitioning a HDD.But i used it for partitioning,as per requirements.But i haven't tried of installing WinXP and Linux using that.
Damien, i have gone through the link,i find it really quite intersting,as i have seen various snapshots of virtualbox.As it is quite new to me.
Thanks you all for sharing your knowledge and time to sort the issues,which i am facing.

Regards,
Ravi Chobey

linuxlover.chaitanya · 01-08-2009, 05:05 AM

Gparted is used to partition and format the HDD. You will need to install Linux and Xp using the respective cds.