Dual Booting WinXP/SUSE 9.2pro?
 

Hi I have just built a new system and I would like to start becomming an avid linux user. I've played around with some live CD's and I am impressed.
So anyway, I would like to install both OS's winXPpro and SuSE 9.2 pro, however, I am not sure how big to create the partitions on my HD (160gb). Should I make two small partitions (eg. 5 or so gb) for the OS's and the programs associated with them and leave the rest of the HD for storing files which i can access from both OS's, is that possible? Or should I just partition the HD in half or some ratio of how much I feel I'll be using one or the other OS?
Please some advice would be nice. Thank You.

I like the idea of setting aside smaller partitions for the OS's and leaving the rest as shared storage. Since you have a large drive I'd recommend each OS getting about 8 gigs to allow for updates, package installation and the like. Keep in mind that Windows must be installed first -- otherwise it will erase your linux bootloader and installation. Also, when you format, you have to format your Windows partitions as FAT32, otherwise all you can is mount your data as READ-ONLY in Linux. There is now NTFS write support yet.

My company is transitioning to a complete Linux shop utilizing SuSE 9.2 Pro for distrobution. We do offer dual-boot with Windows XP for the hesitant users and this will tend to be our method of doing things when it comes to addressing the dual-boot issues.

Good luck and should you have any questions just ask!

If you know that you will shift a lot of data between Windows and Linux, your idea with a separate data partition is good. On the other hand, Linux likes to have its /home partition formated with a Linux-format. FAT32 does not work very well (if at all).

I guess there are as many well-reasoned suggestions as suggestors, so I tell you about my solution:

Take as much space as you think you may need for Windows on one partition for programs and data. I would recommend not to use too much, since you won't work with Windows much longer ;)

Leave the rest unpartitioned (cause this is better to be done with Yast). Devide Linux into four partitions:

1. 4-8GB for the OS and software (depending on your needs)
2. 500MB for swap (the Linux pagefile)
3. 1-2GB as FAT32 formated partition for data exchange with Windows
(Linux can read NTFS, but not write. Windows data is therefore alway accessible, even without this exchange partition)
4. the rest for /home (your data)

What I do on my personal machine's at home is:

1. share out a folder on my Windows XP machine that serves as a drop box. Anything I want shared to Linux will be dropped in there.

2. create a smbmnt folder inside my home directory on my Linux machine.

3. smbmount -t smbfs -o username=user,password=pass //server/share /home/smbmnt

By doing this I can move data from my Windows XP machine to my laptop, and vice-versa. My XP box is formatted with NTFS but since I am not editing files directly from the share -- instead I move them to categorized folders in Linux -- I don't have to worry about the lack of NTFS write support or insufficient permissions. Same scenario applies for when I move files from Linux to Windows with NTFS because the files will inherit the permissions of their parent folder.

So far this method is working flawlessly for my needs and it saved me hours of time of having to burn CDs just for data transfer. :D

But I think you should mention that you need two machines for this scenario. ;) Doesn't apply to a dual-boot system.

[HIJACKMODE]: Would it be possible to exchange data through SAMBA, if you run windows on VMware ? [/HIJACKMODE]

Here's how I set my system up.

Note the 2.6 GB vfat partition: a simple work around the NTFS problem using leftover space.

So, first, what is the 500mb swap file (linux page file) for?
Second, is the 2-3 gb FET32 partition a partition to save linux files to when you know you will want to access them from windows? and can you save a file that was originally saved in a linux partition to the 2-3 gb FET32 partition by simply doing a "save to"? or is there more to it?

Swap is a part of the harddisk that may be used as memory. But I see that you have sufficient RAM, so it may not be used ever. On the other hand, one never knows how much RAM a badly programmed application will use.
Yes and yes and no, there is not more to it! You may need to adjust one parameter in /etc/fstab once, to give all users on your system access rights. But have a try first ;)

I get better performance out of this computer with a swap partition over 1.2 GB, so I just made it 5 GB to make the partitions a little more even. I have 256 MB of ram, but access speed isn't as high as it should be.

Yes, Windows can't read ext2 partitions, and Linux can't write to NTFS partitions, but both can read & write FAT32 partitions.


There's a tiny bit more. I have to mount hda9 to access it in Linux. Knoppix makes that easy with a file I can click to mount it and display it in one step. It's just a drag 'n drop of the files then. In other cases, mount /dev/hda9 /mnt/hda9 does the mounting. Once mounted I don't have to mount it again untill I reboot or manually unmount it.

So should I create a NTFS or FAT32 partition for the winXP OS and programs?

Windows XP unfortunatly doesn't give you that option. The partition the OS and software is on will be NTFS. There's no way to change that.

You'd need a small FAT32 partition in addition to the partition Windows is run from.

You can reformat the NTFS partition as FAT32. I think this is done through Disk Management.

No, you can install Evil OS on a FAT32 partition, so you don't need an NTFS partition at all.

I generally give Windows three partitions,
C Drive for Windows & programmes
D Drive for Data
E Drive for windows, HW drivers etc backups
on a drive that big ( 160 gig )
your E would only need to be 5 -10 g
C about the same
and D whatever - depending on what you are going to put in there
however if you are doing any video editing
either make C bigger or create an F drive for that
thats what I generally do.

Suse on the other hand should be able to figure it out for itself
unless you're into custom partitioning

HTH
live long and prosper
floppy