Hi,

I just bought/built a new system and now I want to install Mandrake 9.1 on it.

My questions are about the partitions. For now, I have 2x40gig partitions (on the same drive). The fist is NTFS and holds Winblows xp. The second is FAT32 and is for data. I have 2 questions:

1)Is it save to resize a NTFS to install mandrake or should I install it on the FAT32 partition.

2) I'm considering making my linux partitions about 10 or 15 gig totally (should be enough?). I know that I have to do multiple partitions(swap, / , /home , others?). How many partitions should I make and what size should they have? Finally I would like to be able to use my data (FAT32) partition with linux and windows.

If you need more info, just ask for it.

Edit: Just want to ask what file system should I use. Hope this won't become a flame war

Cheers,
Spy5600

Hi spy5600

Mandrake needs to go on a Linux filesystem - don't install it on FAT32.

Backing up and defragging is always a good idea before re-sizing any Windows partition.

The way to install Mabdrake after XP is already on your machine - is to leave some completly free space at the end of the drive (no filesystem on it in advance)

Then - you have the choice of letting Mandrake Automatically install into the free space or manually installing it in the free space

For starters - I'd let it automatically install itself - Once youve got some free space though.

You can use a FAT32 partition as a shared data partition.

Personally I'd do it like this:

/dev/hda1 - - XP main install NTFS
/dev/hda2 - - FAT32 shared data partition

Free space on the rest of your drive to let Mandrake automatically install into

When your a little more comfortable with Linux - then maybe think about a fancier partitining scheme - but for starters, an automatic install is sufficient.

Thanks for the info Skyline,

I know that I can't install directly on FAT32. Just wanted to know which between NTFS and FAT32 was the safest to resize.

But is there a tool, other than Partition Magic, to make free space? Is it possible to do it during the install?

Yes - you can use Mandrake's disk 1 install disk to re-size partitions when installing Mandrake

Hi spy5600

On a separate issue - I've just noticed you,ve got over 1 giabyte of memory.

Mandrake 9.1 has a known problem with this.

After you've installed, on your 1st reboot you might have to press F1 to go to advanced options and enter the code

Linux vga = 0

Jusr something to keep in mind when you get to that point.

Thanks for the tip. But what is the link between memory and video (vga) and what kind of bug is it (just for personal knowlege). Also, when sould I exactly press F1.

While we're on the memory subject. I've read somewhere that swap should be twice the size of the RAM. But I have 1gig of RAM and it makes no sens to use a 2gig swap partition. With 1 gig of memory, is it really needed to have a big swap partition?

Thanks for all the reply so far Skyline,
Spy5600

You can find out the specific info on Mandrakes Errata pages - I dont know what the specific bug is.

With that much memory you wont need 2 gig's worth of Swap space - 1 gig would be more than adequate

Another question,

Since I want to use my FAT32 partition for my data, I don't need a huge /home partition (well, I think). So, if I let Mandrake choose the partitions sizes, by default the /home size is probably "big". Do you have an idea what size my /home directory should be?