hello im currently running "redhat 9" with "win me" im interested in trying out mandrake 9 im wandering if i boot comp from cd will mandrake create a partition or will i have to create 1 prior to installing i dont want to boot frrom cd and ruin any of my "os" i allready have.
thanks nige

If you choose the "custom partitioning" option, you can choose which partitions to make and where to put them.

Well if you accept the default setting, Mandrake will partition your harddisk.

it does not ask me if i want to accept a default setting it gives me the choice to use either
existing partitions
erase entire hard disk
use free space on windows partition
or custom disk partition
now i havent messed with partitioning that much so i am looking for an easy option thanks for both replys

You need to have enough free space (ie unused by any OS) on your disk to install Mdk, otherwise you have to resize or delete existing partitions. If you have enough space, choose "custom disk partition" and set up a partition each on the free space for /, /home and swap (unless you want to use your existing RH swap).

The process is very straightforward and nothing is permanent until you choose to write to partition table

hello im back again iv been realy busy so could not reply earlier this is how things look
device=hda1
type jounalized fs:ext3 (0x483)
start sector63
sise 101mb (0%)208782 sectors
partition booted by default (for ms-dos not for lilo

device hda2
type:journalised fs:ext3 0x483)
start sector 208845
size 55GB (98%) 115973232 sectors
cylinder 13 to 7231

device hda5
type linux swap (0x82)
start sector 116182143
size 509mb (0%) 1044162 sectors
cylinder 7232 to 7296
considering im not running windows am i right in saying device hda1 can be deleted allso
can i delete hda5 and install mandrake there instead
thanks nige

allso if i can delete hda5 and its not enough space can i resize hda2 ie shrink it a bit and how do i make sure im not deleting data from hda2 if i can shrink it

as long as you do the custom partitioning you can get it set up correctly, as a suggestion, perhaps purchase the isos that have burned to a cd if you have a dial up connection, as upgrading kde requires 300+megs of files, and the auto update for 9.0 from what i can tell has been disabled. but of course, if you like 9.0 as it is, by all means.

ross.

hello rossAINTfakin
i have absoloutley no idea what ur talking about can u be more specific in answering my question above please thanks 4 ur time nige

what i am saying is that when you do the set up for mdk 9, you should set it o do custom partitioning, then you can use that interface to get it situated the way you like.

for me, i noticed after installing mdk 9.0 it did not have alot that i had hoped, i was wanting kde 3.2 and also the newer versions of mozilla and open office, when i went to update these files through the automated system, it said that the system could nopt be updated either because the servers were down, or that updating on 9.0 was no longer supported. so, i was suggesting that if you were on dialup, it might be better to purchase a pre-burned distro from linuxcd.org or another site, and go from there.

how do i know if i can use my swap "ie"how do i make sure there is no data on it befor i tell mdk to use it

A swap partition is used to temprarily store information while your pc is running. Data doesn't get saved to it like when you wompose a file in MS Word or OpenOffice.org and do a "File | Save As". It only needs to be formatted the first time it's set up, so you can tell your Mandrake install to use it as swap space without affecting Redhat, as they will both use it quite happily.

When you install Mandrake you should choose 'Custom Disk Partitioning". Then you can go in and re-size hda2 to give you room for Mandrake, letting you keep Windows and RedHat. If it asks you what type of partition you should choose "primary" so your mandrake partition ends up as hda3.

DiskDrake will ask you then what partitions you want to format. Make sure that you only mark the boxes beside hda3, as this is your new Mandrake area, and the only place that needs formatting.

Hope that helps :-)

hello nafan i resized hda2 like u suggested it worked like a dream thanks very much all i needed was a push in the right direction am i right in sayimg i can only have 4 primary partitions on a hard drve or am i talking out of my .... thanks again
master

you can have 4 primary partitions on the one hard disk, and they will get numbered hda1, hda2, hda3, hda4 or you can have up to 3 primary partitions and an extended partition, carved up into as many bits as you want

e.g. 3 primary and 4 extended would give you
hda1, hda2, hda3, hda5, hda6, hda7 & hda8

cheers mate just out of interest do u know of a good or should i say easy partition tool
nige