Installation recommendation for newbie
 

I've two disks:

40.0GB IDE 7200RPM WD
80.0GB S-ATA 7200RPM 8MB Seagate.

I need to run both MDK10.0 and WinXP Pro SP1.

What disk/partition configuration can recommend me?

There are any problems with SATA and MDK Linux 10.0?

To avoid any problem, my idea is to install WXP on the SATA drive (Sil3112 chip) and MDK on the good ol' 40gb WD drive.

thank you


**** also I've a NFORCE2 Ultra400 Mobo... must force the kernel at install boot to disable APIC ??****

I would suggest you make a good-sized partition formatted FAT32 for any files you plan on using in both OSes... This is includes anything you don't want to waste space with two copies on either OS. Both OSes can read/write FAT32 without any problems.

Windows was written with support for only a very few filesystems... NTFS, FAT32, and CD are the main ones. Windows cannot read/write any Linux partitions. There are programs that you can use in Windows to read/write EXT2, and thereby, maybe, EXT3, but I've not used them so I cannot recommend them.

Linus has support for many more filesystems. There is really good support for FAT32. The specs for NTFS are secret, so reading/writing to them from Linux is still considered experimental (read-as: "might work fine, might erase everything on the partition").

I don't know about SATA support. Might be a hardware guide on the official website listing which cards/boards are supported.

So i'll use FAT32 on the Windows XP Drive.

I'll seek info about support for SATA+ Sil3112 chip

thank you

Which filesystem is recommended: Ext3 or ReiserFS?

Reiser is okay, but I'd go with ext3 these days...

Since I've not installed the 80.0GB SATA now... my setup will be (this is what I'm thinking to do in the next days...)


80GB DRIVE -----> 15GB NTFS BOOT PARTITION FOR XP
30GB FAT32 PARTITION
35GB SPACE FOR LINUX PARTITIONS (/boot,/root,etc)

40GB IDE ---------> 20GB FAT32 / 20GB EXT3 for both OSes

I want to use the enhanced speed of SATA for both Linux / XP so that's the reason I'm planning to boot both OSes from the SATA drive.

Do you think this configuration is correct?

What you would do if you want to boot Linux/XP from SATA (but not throwing out the 40g)?

(may be it's safer to leave Linux with the full 40GB IDE and don't mess with SATA)

I successfully installed WinXP on my 80GB Serial ATA drive.
My partition scheme is 55GB NTFS and 25GB FAt32 to share with Linux.

Now, my 40GB ATA100 (WD400BB) is ready waiting for Linux.

I will follow those steps (and tell me if this is correct, please):

* Connect the 40GB IDE as primary, install MDK10 on it choosing auto partitioning scheme.
* Overwrite the SATA drive MBR.
* Choose LILO as boot manager (I've read that GRUB Destroys XP partition?)

I'm fearing problems:rolleyes: with SATA (specifically with the Silicon Image SiI3112 SATA-RAID controller... )

Thanks.

I have 4 HD's and I have set them up like this:

Ide Primary Master, Seagate ATA IV 80Gb, 20Gb for windows and stuff and the rest mainly for games (NTFS).
Ide Primary Slave, Western Digital 80Gb, linux installation (/, /usr, /home and swap)
Ide Secondary Master, cdrom
Ide Secondary Slave, cdrom2
S-ATA 0 (IDE-disk with SATA=>Ide-adapter), Western Digital 160Gb, big NTFS part. mainly for video editing (have to use windows for that... :rolleyes: )
S-ATA 1 (IDE-disk with SATA=>Ide-adapter), Western Digital 200Gb, 10Gb FAT32 for use with both OS's and big ext3 part. for general purpose.. music etc.

good.

no problems with SATA ? What SATA controller are using?
I need to download any driver for the 2.6.3 kernel?

thank you.


another question (somewhat related) is if it's worth to compile a new kernel (2.6.7)

Hmm.. I can't remember the sata controllers name... I have D865PERL (Rock Lake) mobo if that helps you.. :rolleyes:

But no problems at all with SATA :D

It is my understanding that Linux has no problems reading an NTFS partition. In all the Linux installs that I've done (not many, but a fair enough amount), some of them being on dual-boot systems, the Linux partition software never seemed to have a problem recognizing the NTFS partitions. In fact, I've been told that you can even install Linux on an NTFS partition. Am I wrong?

If that's the case, I highly recommend you convert your FAT32 partition to NTFS. It's far more secure, and that's what everyone always complains about with WIndows, right? Security?

Maybe I'm just completely out of it, over here, but I'd stick with NTFS if at all possible.

-Schadeboy

but I can securely write on NTFS partitions?

It's 100% tested like FAT32 support?

I've installed 80GB SATA drive with XP and 25g FAT32 for sharing with LINUX.

Now if I begin the installation on the 40GB drive (connected to UltraATA/100 port) the MDK setup will ask me where to locate GRUB...
Should I choose the SATA drive or the IDE one?
SHould I choose LILO or GRUB?

thank you very much

Personally, I prefer LILO. I don't think it really matters, except for personal choice. And, if I"m not mistaken, like most stuff in Linux, you can change between the two to see which you like better (someone correct me on this, if I'm wrong).

I'm not going to say 100%, but I think you can write securly to NTFS partitions. If you can install to one, I don't see why you can't write to one. I usually don't like mixing my OSes, though, and try to avoid the dual-boot situation.

-Schadeboy