Hi all,

I recently bought an EeePC 1005HA-P, and am loving the computer. I had always planned to install Eeebuntu in addition to WinXP (which the netbook ships with), and to be able to double-boot. I want Windows XP for three things: Skype for Windows (I'm disappointed with Skype for Linux, unless anyone can suggest how to improve call reliability and video performance in that program), iTunes (I have an iPod touch and am unable to sync it with any Linux-based music organizer without jailbreaking the device), and Braid (a great game, only for Windows; I doubt Wine would do the job).

I decided to completely erase the internal drive and begin with a fresh partitioning and Eeebuntu install. I left an NTFS partition free for Windows, and created a FAT-formatted partition for music, so that I can read and write my music collection from Linux and Windows. Then, I figured, I could just use the CD that came with the EeePC to install Windows onto the NTFS partition I'd created, and everything would be complete. I should have tried to do this immediately, but I waited about a week, during which time I did a lot of important and often tough work on getting my Eeebuntu system to my liking.

I found that the disk that comes with the EeePC is not a Windows install CD, but rather a "System Restore"-type volume. In other words, the disk I have is not letting me target a Windows install to an existing partition, but only offering the option of wiping the drive and cleanly installing Windows. I had already invested a week of setup time and was thus reluctant to do this, so I began looking into other solutions.

It sounds like I might be able to use dd or some other Linux utility to create precise copies of my existing partitions - then, I could carefully note the setup of my partition scheme, wipe the drive and reinstall Windows, repartition the drive, and use dd (or some other utility) to restore each partition. This sounds like a fairly involved process, and I have a feeling it might not work. So here are my questions:

1. Does anyone know of a way to directly access the Windows installer on the EeePC 1005HA restore CD?
2. Do people think the backup with dd, wipe, repartition, restore with dd plan sounds like it could work? Any tips there? I'm most concerned about repartitioning precisely as I'd done before?
3. Is there a much better way to go about this that I haven't thought of?
4. (bonus) Any Skype for Linux tips?

I love Eeebuntu and have been a glad adopter (I was formerly a Mac man), but there are times in our lives when we must grudgingly use Windows. I just don't want to destroy my Linux install to get there. I appreciate your help and advice!

Thanks,
- Drew

If you have Eeebuntu on a partition on your drive and have partitions for windows (ntfs) and storage (fat) partition, you should run the fdisk -l command to get your partition information, write it down to make sure you restore the Eeebuntu to the same partition.

You can use clonezilla to create an image of your partition or you can copy it from one partition to another on another disk and restore it. I'd recommend reading through the FAQ and other documentation before starting if you've not used it or anything similar.

http://www.clonezilla.org/