Hi brothers and systers linux lovers,

Let's get down to business - I am trying to install SUSE 9.2 onto my desktop PC. Note that it alredy has Mandrake 10.1 on it and that where my problem starts.
Originaly back in the days when I installed MDK it partitioned my hard into three parts:
hda1 - 5.8 GB (the original MDK system partition)
hda6 - 32.4 GB (personal files of mien)
hda5 - linux swap partition

Now YaST has an option to update an existing system and it detects MDK and asks if I would like to update it. However if I try to the system dies and stops respanding ( I have patiently waited for almost 2 hours with no result what so ever). Otherwise, if I try to install a SUSE anew (without updating) it want's to format my hda6 which is my personal data partition and not hda1 which is original MDK system partition.

I have tried to customize partitioning but upon the partition detection it somehow finds for partitions on my HD:

hda1 - 5.8 GB (system one)
hda2 - 32.4 GB (Yast calls it - extended - and I don't know that is this one)
hda5 - 499.5 MB (Linux swap)
hda6 - 31.9 GB (This one is called Linux native (Reiser) and I think it's my personal data parition)

and again it want's to format hda6 and not 1

If I try to redo the partitioning if finds only three partitions (which is what it supposed to be

1 - 5.8 GB
2 - 499.5 MB
3 - 31.9 GB

and asks me which one I would like to format to make room for SUSE installation, yet, if I select only 1 and 2 and click 'NEXT' it saes:

The current selection is invalid.
You must start your selection with the highest numbered list entry.

and doesn't let me contimue.

Does anyone knows how to work this around. I don't want to loose all my data.

Thank's

Hi it-s

I can only asnwer some of your questions.

Harddisk-Partitions:
hda1 is your first primary partition, means it is listed as such in your partition table on your harddisk hda
hda2 is your extended partition, means it is a container to be filled with other partitions. It is your second primary partition, thats why it is called hda2
hda5 is your first logical partition, means, it is inside the hda2-Container an takes part of it for its addressing. It's called hda5, because it is the first logical partition on your harddisk. hda1-hda4 are reserved for the primary partitions. Because there is only 4 primary partitions possible on one disk, the extended partition got introduced to allow more partitions.
hda6 is the second logical partition inside hda2

Because hda2 is only a container for partitions, it is not shown as a harddisk on your Desktop or in the Suse-Dialog you mention.

1 is hda1
2 is hda5
3 is hda6

If suse fails with the partitioning, try the Expert... Button in the partition setup screen. There you can delete your hda1 an create it again. Read about in your instruction, if you don't know this tool).


YOUR DATA ON HDA1 WILL BE LOST, IF YOU USE IT FOR INSTALLATION.
Just to make sure you know... ;-)

Thank's mad4linux,
finaly I'm beginnign to understand something there. However I still don't get it why doesn't SUSE want to installl onto hda1? How much a space does SUSE require? I have 5GB there. As for loosing all data - so I don't care it's old MDK files there, that's all.

mad4linux, if I delete hda1 partition wouldn't it affect the rest of my hard? I mean (I have no idea how does it all work) where would all the freed space go?

Just trying to make sure that the data on dha6 won't be hurt.

Thanks

it-s

Your hda1 is big enough to install suse. Mine (SuSE9.2) uses 2.9 GB at the moment without /home and /var which is another 350 MB (you don't need an own partition for /var). You should be able to install suse using hda1 for /, hda5 for /swap, and hda6 for /home (or use hda1 for /home too).

Maybe you have to free the space in hda1, i.e. deleting the existing hda1 partition and then define a new partition hda1 with the same size, before entering suse installation setup. One can do this on command line by entering fdisk (the linux/unix tool, not ms-dos prompt). But that's the rather ugly way.
As far as i remember my last installation using yast, i think there is a stage where you have a list of planned installation steps in the main window and where you are able to change the installation. If one klicks on the Partition-Settings, there should be a button called something like "expert settings" or "advanced partitioning". If you enter there, you should be able to change the partition table i. e. change your harddisk partitions. Write down the information about the starting block, the size of the partition, and the ending block of partition hda1. Delete hda1 and create a primary partition number 1 (hda1) starting and ending at the same blocks as the old one. Use ReiserFS as File System. Now write the changes to disk (maybe format, read the hints and the manual too before starting anyway) and your hd is changed. Maybe you could only format hda1, too. But it's It's better to recreate and to use reiserFs then your old FS.
although hda2 is stored on different blocks then hda1, you can safely change hda1 without affecting hda5 or hda6.

Thank you mad4linux!!!
I did what you suggested and it all went through just fine

I'AM BACK TO LINUX !!!!!!!!! YAHOOO

Nice to hear

Have fun