Hey I have NTFS partitioned location which I use intermediately between linux and windows.. I want to install a software (MATLAB) on an NTFS partition as there is not enough space on my ext 3 partitions for linux.. How can I do that. Please tell step by step.. Thanx

Installing to a different location in itself is easy enough; just use the --prefix= switch or $DESTDIR variable to set the installation path to wherever you want the package installed to. See the README file or try "./configure --help" for the software for exact details on how it sets the installation destination.

As for installing to an NTFS partition, that may be a different story. You need to have NTFS write support enabled/built into your Linux OS. I believe this ability is in the NTFS-3G package, and apparently works but comes with no guarantee (does anything though? ) but don't quote me. You'll need to research that yourself, to check the current status of NTFS writing from Linux, and see if the NTFS-3G package is available for your Linux, and if not, build and install it.

If it were me, I would arrange some more space in a Linux filesystem, or use a FAT partition instead.

SVA

Btw I am using fedora 8 which has built in support for writing ntfs using the same driver ntfs-3g... about giving space is that I don't know how to give more space to the linux partitions without having to repartition all the ntfs drive is there a way i can seperate some free space from the ntfs drive and add it to the linux partitions.. kindly guide me in this regard..Thanx

You can indeed shrink the NTFS partition, and subsequently enlarge the EXT partition by the same amount.

As with any partitioning operation, note two things: 1) There is never a guarantee of success, particularly when doing operations on partitions containing data. And 2) I advise you to have a BACKUP, particularly of the NTFS data, before beginning. 3) While I have had great success and no failures doing what I will advise, it is entirely your responsibility if you decide to do this.

Step one: Defragment the NTFS partition.

Now.. Get yourself the Gparted LiveCD (download it and burn it) OR if you have something else with Gparted in it, like an Ubuntu LiveCD, you can boot that instead.

Start Gparted. Follow the simple menu driven command menus to shrink the NTFS partition FROM THE RIGHT HAND END. Do not try to move the START of the NTFS partition. This would beg big problems. You can shrink it down to somewhere just past the occupied area (usually indicated in YELLOW color).

Next, (and again in this case it is not super-recommended to move the start of any partition) enlarge the EXT partition into the empty space created when you shrunk the NTFS partition. Probably it would be best to MOVE the EXT partition to the left first, and THEN enlarge it. But maybe it makes no difference.

Presto! You now have a larger EXT partition, provided things went well.

Again, no guarantees, and no responsibility or warranty is expressed on my part. NTFS is sketchy stuff.

Best of success,

Sasha