Hi,
i have a few qns to ask b4 i start installing suse linux on my hard disk.

Currently this is the situation. I have a 80gb hard disk. I reserve 50 gig for the installation. The rest of the memory are free space, no partition on that unused space.

Here i have a few things in doubt and i like to list out these qns..

1) The freespace on my hard disk, should i partition the free space on my hard disk, or should i leave it as it is? Because on the forum, some one advice me to delete the partition before installing the suse..

2) I have already install win os onto my hard disk, which is on C:. If i install the suse on the free space or on the new partition, will my machine be able to dual boot both OS, so i can choose which os to boot

3) Do i need to install a program like boot magic so i can dual boot, or after installing suse, there will be a choice to choose which OS to boot without installing any dual boot software?

Sorry to ask so many qns. I still quite new to this area. Please help thanks...

Most distro installation CDs or DVDs will ask you how you want to partition, what space to use, etc. They will also detect any other operating systems so you have a choice of which to boot into. You won't need any extra software for booting.

Start with unpartitioned space on the drive. ("Empty" and "Free" are ambiguous--ie you can have a disk that is fully partitioned but still has lots of free space.) You may have to re-size the Windows partition if it now fills the drive---One good tool is GParted, which comes on a stand-alone bootable CD.

The Linux installer will take care of making new partitions.

The Linux installer will also take care of installing a boot-loader and configuring it to boot Windows and Linux.

The "getting started' link below might also help.

Thanks for your ans. It has help me alot