Hi all,

I think im ready to finally install Mepis or Ubuntu to my HD.

The installation part if fairly straight forward but how would i un-install the dist.? just incase i want to try another ect?

Also, what will happen to any files (mp3's ect) i would have on the same HD as the Linux?

Thanks all

to get rid of it you would simply reformat the partition you installed it on.

If possible make a seperate partition for "/home" this way you can install over root partition. Most distro's will let you keep your /home partition. Also could format /home as fat32 to use for Linux and Windows.

Installing /home as a FAT32 partition is a BAD idea. IT will not support executable files, nor will it support symlinks. I highly recommend against doing that. Instead make another partition called /data which is fat32 and keep /home is a linux partition.

I agree with linux-rulz.
If you have a large hdd JediDB you could create an extra partition for testing various distros and dual/triple-boot.

Exactly. Stick with the distro you feel most comfortable with at the moment, and make yet another Linux partition so you can boot a second Linux. If you end up finding a distro you like even more, than switch to it and use the original linux partition to test even more if you want. Keep a seperate /home partition formatted with a Linux file system (most likely Reiser or Ext3) that way your personal files and settings will stay with you no matter what you are running. Make sure you do not tell whatever new distro you are testing to format the /home partition, because they most likely will by default.

Sometimes, personal config files are different between distros. I recommend storing in a directory not in your home directory but on your home partition (example. /home/storage) all of your config files from your home directory, in-case a distro messes up your config files. To do this, enter these commands.

That way you can be sure your settings will be safe when trying new distros. I also recommend (though this doesn't have anything to do with trying different distros) backing up everything in your /etc/ directory every once in a while, just in case. I back this up once every two weeks to /home/etcbackup .

Hi,

Thanks for all the quick responses.

Ok, if im reading the posts right and remember im new to all the programing ect, i need to:

1) Make 1 Partition just for my Linux Dist.,
2) 2nd Partition for all my files i use such as MP3's ecxt,
3) 3rd partition for other Linux Dist. i may want to install to try,

4) a partition for FAT32.

The above correct?

Also, why would i need to make a partition a FAT32 one and would i need to install my MP3's ect there? so my Windows and Linux can read thoses files?

Thanks all

FAT32 is both readable and writable by Linux whereas NTFS is not. You can read NTFS partitions from Linux but not write to them (technically, there is experimental NTFS write support.). If you want a partition where you can read and write files from Linux and Windows, FAT32 is your best bet. If not, then don't worry about it.

You can only have 4 primary partitions on one drive, any more need to be extended. Also hda1 is the first harddrive and the number after is the partition on that harddrive. This is probaly what you want:
hda1 as " / " (root) about 10 gigs
hda2 as " / " (other distro root) about 10 gigs
hda3 "swap" double installed RAM
hda4 "/home" as FAT32 for all distro's just make sure you don't format over when installing new distro, check manual partition option when installing.
You can get reiserfs plugins for windows to write to linux partitions, but FAT32 is probaly better.
Your /home partition can be used for Linux home dir and Windows My Documents dir.

As we have already said, using FAT32 for /home is a bad idea. Many distros won't even let you do it. It limits a lot of the things you may possibly need to do. You won't be able to run shell scripts from your home directory or anything like that. Also, the file size limit is pretty low compared to something like ext3. Plus, how would he use all 4 primary partitions for Linux and have Windows installed at the same time?

Hey guys,

I just hoping that on my 2nd HD that i can partition some just for my Linux dist and use the rest for all my media files. I just need to know how to set up my partitions so Mepis and WinXP can read my mp3 files ect as well as viewing pictures.

Thanks again for the quick responses

Can you give me the sizes of both harddrives and what is already on them please? Thank you.

Also, we may have confused you earlier. You can have more than four partitions on a drive, just not windows partitions. Linux can live in an extended partition.

Hi,

I have 2 HD's

1st - is 40g which currently has WinXp installed, along with all my mp3's as well as various games.

2nd - is 120g which is blank.

My biggest concern is making sure Linux (Mepis) can read my mp3's files if i move them to the 120g HD as well as WinXP been also able to read that drive.

How do i need to partition this drive and more importantly, which file system to use and why

I also want to have a partition just for Linux on that 120g drive so i can uninstall it so i dont lose anything else on that drive.

Thanks,

Sorry, I should have been more clear. How are your partitions laid out? But, I'll take a guess and say you have a single partition on the first harddrive that is NTFS. This is what I think you should do.

Use a tool such as partition magic or qtparted (available on Knoppix for free) to shrink your C: and then put a primary 150 MB ext2 partition at the end of the first harddrive. Mount it as /boot when you install Linux. (Make sure you scandisk and defrag your windows partitions before resizing or moving). (Partition Magic is the best and much more featureful than qtparted, it is a good $70 investment, even if you drop Linux later on).

For the second harddrive, make a primary partition that is 20 GB with ext3 and mount it as / when you install. Then make another primary partition that is however big you want (depending on how many mp3's you have, etc.) that is fat32. Using Windows, move your mp3's to this partition. Mount this as /data when you install Linux, but make sure you DO NOT format it . Then make another partition covering as much as you want (depending on how much room you want for your personal files and settings in Linux) and mount it as /home using ext3. Then, make an extended partition covering the rest of the 2nd drive. Inside that, make a logical partition named /otheros which you can use to install more Linux distros. You can even make another partition in the extended partition named /otheros2 for a third distro, or fourth, fifth, etc. Use ext3 for these partitions.

Let me know if you have anymore questions.

EDIT : You use ext2 for boot just because . It is common practise. IT is small and quick. ext3 is an extension to ext2 that has journalling capabilities, which can save your ass if your power goes out, which is why you use it on your other partitions. Reiser also works well, you can replace all instances of ext3 in my post with reiser if you wish, but don't replace the ext2 boot partition with reiser.

Hi,

Thanks for the fast response.

I was told though that if i install Linux on a 2nd HD (secondry on the IDE cable) that the GRUB boot loader would load up anyhow for me to select what OS to boot into. Is this true?

As for you advising me to make my partitions such as , what do you mean by ext3?

I am a complete new person to Linux and this is my 4th experimenting with it. I know 0 Linux comands apart from the ones i have wrote donw from this website.
All i can do is build P.C's and fly around windows. So, i have some computer knowledge but not alot.

I have tested alot fo CDLive versiosn on Linux and so far i really like Mepis and Ubuntu. I will probably install Mepis as my dist. as that seems to have alot more codecs installed for me to view and play multimedia.

Thanks.