Moving over to linux- advice please

[Rahim]

The first logical partition you make ALWAYS starts with the number 5 (so you can still accomodate 3 primary, get it )

Now i know why my 1st logical partition would always be sda5 and not sda2 Thanks NucleusKore

, "Choose custom partition and create one ext3 for suse", I believe this instruction is while installation of ubuntu and not during subsequent suse installation, have I correctly understood this?

"Manual" & "Custom" partitioning are the same.,just depends on what different distros call it. In both cases choose them and i think you will be clear about partitions names with that lucid explanation by NucleusKore.

 

[NucleusKore]

Now i know why my 1st logical partition would always be sda5 and not sda2 Thanks NucleusKore

You're welcome
Please read TLDP, it's very informative

 

[Sridhar_Rao]

Thanks to the community here, I am getting some idea. But, the nomenclature is a bit confusing. A PC with only one (master) drive is either IDE or SCSCI, am I right? If so, the nomenclature should be /dev/hda for IDE drives and /dev/sda for SCSCI drives, am I right here?
Assuming my HDD is IDE drive, I can have four primary partitions /dev/hda1 /dev/hda2 /dev/hda3 and /dev/hda4. Each primary partitions can have an extended partition housing several logical partitions, which should be named from /dev/hda5 onwards, right?
My understanding is that while /dev/hda1 represent C drive of windows /dev/hda2 represent the D drive, am I right here?

Coming back to the nomenclature, the first partition on your hard disk is designated as /dev/hda1 (In Windows we would call it the C drive.), the second as /dev/sda2 (In Windows we would call it the D drive.), so on and so forth.

Say, I partition the first primary partition into three logical partitions (named hda5 hda6 and hda7), how would the logical partitions of second primary partitions (hda2) be named?
Please excuse my ignorance, but hey, thanks to you guys I am getting somewhere.

 

[NucleusKore]

Say, I partition the first primary partition into three logical partitions (named hda5 hda6 and hda7), how would the logical partitions of second primary partitions (hda2) be named?
Please excuse my ignorance, but hey, thanks to you guys I am getting somewhere.

You cannot make logical drives your primary partition as it is. You have to first create an extended partition (which is a type of primary partition in itself), and then make logical drives in it. Naming would be hda 5 , 6, 7, in sequence. If you want to make two such special extended partitions on your hard disk I do not know.

AND READ THE DOCUMENTATION ON TLDP

Was going through your website, looks like we finished from the same institution.

 

[IronManForever]

^^ AFAIK in the Microsoft fdisk and generally Windows; there can only be one Primary Partition, and one extended partition (no more primary and extended partitions possible) and all the other partitions as logical ones in the extended partition.

And in linux, we can have 4 primary partitions? This is driving me mad.
Ive used linux so much but never used their partitioning tool. Created partitions using Windows and installed in them using linux.

 

[Sridhar_Rao]

Yes, I did go through the TLDP article, it is vast and hence could not cover it fully. Frankly, this partition issue is troubling me.

I feel, like the ironman stated, would it not be fine to partition the disk in windows and then install Linux on them afterward?

Here is the situation, I have 40 GB (FAT system) hard disk. After unsuccessful installation of suse11, additional partition of 1.62GB in C drive and 8.77 GB in D drive were created. Using windows disk management I removed the 8.77 GB and recovered back to windows with name I. Unknowingly, I formatted the same in NTFS system while the other partitions are in FAT.

This is the current scenario:
C drive: 7 GB FAT and 1.6 GB unallocated
D drive: 21 GB FAT
I drive: 8.77 GB NTFS

Assuming that I know nothing more than this, can anyone here kindly help me STEP BY STEP how to reorganize the hard disk in the following way:
I want to have 50% for XP (I changed my mind and wish to retain it), 25% for Ubuntu and 25% for Suse. After all the mess, I want to start afresh, even willing to install XP freshly. I repeat, I would be comfortable partitioning in windows environment, then install XP, then Ubuntu, then suse (in that order).
A) How should I go about it?
B) Which tool should I use now and where can I find it?
C) Should I format in NTFS system or retain the FAT system (would it matter anyway)?

 

[Rahim]

^Believe me use GParted Live CD to format the whole hard drive and then create
1: 20 GB NTFS for Windowx XP (Primary).
2: Create 20 GB Extended Partitions where you will create 3 logical partitions as belowe:
3: 10 GB for Ubuntu "/"
4: 9 GB for openSUSE "/"
5: Remaining space for Swap.

Or Else just resize/merge/delete partitions with GParted. Keep your XP partition and delete the rest and then create 3 partitions as above.

Gparted Guide and Explanation with Screenshots

 

[Sridhar_Rao]

I got your point, but I am unable to proceed. I downloaded Gparted.iso, burnt it on CD, booted it and got it running too.
I see the following:

/dev/hda1 fat32 6.40 GB
unallocated unallocated 1.62 GB
^/dev/hda2 extended 29.29 GB
/dev/hda5 fat32 20.51 GB
/dev/hda6 ntfs 8.77 GB
unallocated unallocated 7.84 GB

How do I proceed from here? Sorry I tried to understand the documentation (@ *gparted.sourceforge.net/larry/generalities/gparted.htm) but couldn't understand.

use GParted Live CD to format the whole hard drive and then create
1: 20 GB NTFS for Windowx XP (Primary).
2: Create 20 GB Extended Partitions where you will create 3 logical partitions as belowe:
3: 10 GB for Ubuntu "/"
4: 9 GB for openSUSE "/"
5: Remaining space for Swap.

How do I format the entire hard disk here? I don't want end up rendering the drive useless due to my ignorance or foolhardiness.
Kindly, give me directions in steps, I'd be very thankful.

 

[Rahim]

Just select the partition /dev/hda1 and click "Delete" and do the same with all partitions one by one and then click "Apply"
Look at the screenshots as it explains how to delete,create, etc very clearly and i dont see the confusion

For Deleting see Figure 18
For Creating partitions see Figures 14-17

 

[Sridhar_Rao]

Only these partitions /dev/hda1, /dev/hda5 and /dev/hda6 can be deleted, other partitions, especially the unallocated ones can't be deleted.
What do I do about them?
What next, after I delete the partitions and "apply"?

 

[Rahim]

The unallocated are empty spaces and its not a partition, so cant be deleted. Once you delete all the partitions there would be one 40 GB unallocated space left,and then you can start creating partitons.

Can You Follow the Screenshots 14 to 17

1: 20 GB NTFS for Windowx XP (Primary).
2: Create 20 GB Extended Partitions where you will create 3 logical partitions as belowe:
3: 10 GB for Ubuntu "/" as ext3
4: 9 GB for openSUSE "/" as ext3
5: Remaining space for Swap. as linux-swap
You can do all these steps in one go. It will show you the final picture in the Bar above. Then click Apply and it will be done..

 

[Sridhar_Rao]

Hurrah! Thank you..thank you...

Task accomplished, I now have 18 GB primary partition in NTFS system and another extended partition containing three logical partitions (two of 9 GB each in ext3 system) and 1.3 GB in linux-swap.

Thanks for guiding me. Can I now exit and start loading XP? Is there anything you would inform me before I do that? Will this partition be affected in anyway if I install XP? Any useful tips?

 

[Rahim]

Go ahead and install XP followed by Ubuntu or openSUSE.
Tip: Keep that GParted Live CD for your partitioning needs and enjoy Linuxing
Hope to see you more in this section.

 

[Sridhar_Rao]

Now that I quit Gparted, is there any way I check in BIOS if these partitions exist?

 

[Rahim]

^You cant check partitions in BIOS It will only show the presence of a hard disk. What makes you beieve it wont exist? DO not make it harder for you Sridhar. Go on and install your OS and you will be fine.

 

[gary4gar]

Thanks,

I mentioned that the site (not the PDF file) has a trojan in one of its flash (SWF) files (probably disguised as ad), hence it is not safe to visit the site. Hence I recommended to host the same file elsewhere.

Well, I have already downloaded Ubuntu8, (700 MB) and hopefully installation should be fine. My concern is during previous (unsuccessful) installation the partitions have been altered and messed up. How do I proceed from here. I have already mentioned in one of my previous posts in this thread that I am not interested in dual boot system.

Can Ubuntu and Suse be installed on separate partitions and a choice to boot into either of them possible at start up. It might be a stupid idea, but I am asking out of simple curiosity (nothing else).

Thanks for the tremendous suppport from guys in this forum.

Once you migrate to Linux you can stop worrying about worms & malwares

 

[Sridhar_Rao]

A little off the original topic, I slipstreamed an ISO file using the XP installation CD that came along with the laptop and SP3 service pack. Can I use that ISO file on a CD to install XP on a newly partitioned hard drive on desktop? Will there be any problems, since may be the XP installation was tailor made to be installed on a Laptop?

 

[Rahim]

I dont think its a problem.

 

[Sridhar_Rao]

Hello,
I am at this moment installing ubuntu using the live CD and I am stuck at partitioning. Please help me. I chose the manual edit and selected the /dev/sda5 partition, which is 9Gb and was created to install Ubuntu only. I can only edit or delete the partition, new partition is disabled. What next? the documentation says

1. Root partition - where Ubuntu is installed. This should be at least 4GB.
2. Home partition - where your files are kept.
3. Swap partition - this need only be twice the size of your memory.

Since I have created a separate swap partition in hard disk (/dev/sda7 swap), should I create another swap partition here? How can I create root, home and swap partition here?
What is the mount point?
Should I format the partition again before installing?

 

[Garbage]

AFAIK, only 3-4 PRIMARY partitions are allowed on one HDD.

So, create one primary partition for / and make rest space as extended n create logical partitions according to your needs.