partition
 

hi, how should i partition my hard drive so it will ask me what os i want to load and what is the most suggested seperation i should use. I'm using an 80gig. -Thank you.

if you use a distro like mandrake, for example, it'll detect the windows partition and it'll put it in the boot options for you when it installs the bootloader...

of course i'm only _assuming_ the other os is windows...

=)


as for partitioning, it depends on how much you wanna dedicate to each system...

linux will need at least two partitions, one for the system (root, "/") and one for swap...

the minimum size needed depends on the distro and what you want to install and all that...

for example, a full install of slackware is a little over 2gb, so you gotta figure the 2gb for software and then the space for your documents and data and for more software in the future etc...

you can also of course make a seperate partition for "/home" (the home directory) so that all the user's files/configurations reside in a different partition etc...


an example of a simple setup:

a 40gb disk in which 39gb are for root and 1gb is for swap...


another example of a simple setup:

a 40gb disk in which 3gb are for root ("/"), 1gb is for swap, and 36gb are for "/home"...


you also need to keep in mind that you'll probably have good read-write access to the data stored on your "other operating system" (for example, linux can safely access microsoft windows fat32 drives)...

yeah im trying to partition fedora and xp pro

ok i installed xp pro with 60 gig of my drive (NTFS) and i left the other 20 for linux, i havent done anyhting else yet so its still 20 gig of available space what should i do next for installing fedora

When you start the Fedora install it will ask you about your drive, you will use all the empty space(I would) then it will show you your partitions (in fdisk, I Think) XP is on hda1 and you will use hda2 and hda3 for linux (/-for root) and (/swap) It is pretty easy to follow along the installer. Ask here if you don't understand anything.

ok its all done now all i need to know is how to access windows drive from linux

example:

mkdir /mnt/windows

mount -t ntfs /dev/hda1 /mnt/windows


but you won't get to write to the drive safely using ntfs...

http://www.linuxquestions.org/questi...hreadid=154388

ok im trying to mount:

[root@localhost /]# mount -t ntfs/dev/hda1 /mnt/windisk
Usage: mount -V : print version
mount -h : print this help
mount : list mounted filesystems
mount -l : idem, including volume labels
So far the informational part. Next the mounting.
The command is `mount [-t fstype] something somewhere'.
Details found in /etc/fstab may be omitted.
mount -a [-t|-O] ... : mount all stuff from /etc/fstab
mount device : mount device at the known place
mount directory : mount known device here
mount -t type dev dir : ordinary mount command
Note that one does not really mount a device, one mounts
a filesystem (of the given type) found on the device.
One can also mount an already visible directory tree elsewhere:
mount --bind olddir newdir
or move a subtree:
mount --move olddir newdir
A device can be given by name, say /dev/hda1 or /dev/cdrom,
or by label, using -L label or by uuid, using -U uuid .
Other options: [-nfFrsvw] [-o options].
For many more details, say man 8 mount .


now what do i do and how to i check to mkae sure its mounting correctly

what you got is an error message...

=)


change this:

mount -t ntfs/dev/hda1 /mnt/windisk


to this:

mount -t ntfs /dev/hda1 /mnt/windisk


(notice the space between the filesystem and the device)


you can use this command to see what's mounted:

mount

=)


by the way, you _did_ read the stuff about ntfs and linux not getting along very well, right???

[root@localhost /]# mount -t ntfs /dev/hda1 /mnt/windisk
mount: fs type ntfs not supported by kernel
[root@localhost /]#


by the way i do appreciate all your help and if you have aim it mgiht be easier to chat with me my aim is Moolium

that error would indicate your kernel doesn't have support for ntfs in it...

you could install ntfs support and then try again, but i strongly urge you to switch to fat32 so you won't have any problems...

to mount fat32 it's (example):

mount -t vfat /dev/hda1 /mnt/windows


here's the link to ntfs for linux if you want to go that way:

http://linux-ntfs.sourceforge.net/

thanks ill try fat32