Partioning Drives etc etc....

[giant_toaster]

Hi,

Two questions really,

1. I have a 70gb hard drive, running Windows XP. There are 25gb free. If I try and install Debian, will I be able to section of some of this 25gb, or will this mess up my windows installation and files on the NTFS partition?

2. If I buy a new harddrive, how do I make it that Debian gets some of the drive, and the rest is available for windows? How should I partition it and format it?

Thank you for your help!

Rich

[Harry Kuhman]

1. I have a 70gb hard drive, running Windows XP. There are 25gb free. If I try and install Debian, will I be able to section of some of this 25gb, or will this mess up my windows installation and files on the NTFS partition?
This has been asked and answered recently in these forums. I thought I remembered it was you who last asked it. (http://www.knoppix.net/forum/viewtopic.php?p=96049#96049) The answer is still the same, you can't safely resize a NTFS partition with Linux tools, and even commercial tools like Partition Magic advide you to have a complete backup before using them. If you have a complete backup that you could reload from you may not even need the partion resizing tools, you could just create new smaller partitions, reinstall files from the backup, and go from there.


2. If I buy a new harddrive, how do I make it that Debian gets some of the drive, and the rest is available for windows? How should I partition it and format it?
Are you talking about Debian or Knoppix? They are different. I would suggest using Debian but making one FAT partition on part of the disk (if you make it before installing Debian then Debian will let you keep the FAT partition and just use the rest of the disk for Debian). Having a FAT partition will still let you save files there in Linux, but will let you share files on that partition with Windows, which may come in handy.

[giant_toaster]

Yes it was me who asked before! I guess before I was wondering what the principles were, where as now I was asking more specifically how to do it.

I think I will buy a new drive, as I have no where to back up old files, and I might as well get the extra space.

So when I install my new new drive, I assumedly will get a choice of how to partition it when I first set it up. So I will make a FAT partition. Then install Debian, which I understand creates its own partitions. Then I can format the rest of the drive NTFS in Windows.

Is this correct? I am hesitant to 'go for it' and just use Debian, as I still cannot get the internet working usinng my USB wireless adaptor, and my creative soundcard is unrecognised and only plays in mono currently. I want to ensure that I can use everything before I take the plunge!

Thanks for your help Harry, you have really helped get me started with Linux, I feel I sort of understand some of it now! Hopefully I will work out how to ndiswrapper my drivers for my wireless soon, and I will be able to start using Knoppix as my primary operating system!

Another quick question actually, my new hard drive will be connected as a slave drive. Will I be able to boot from this? Can I just F12 it when the PC is booting to choose where to boot from as I do to run Knoppix off CD, or do I have to do something more exotic?

Rich

[Harry Kuhman]

So when I install my new new drive, I assumedly will get a choice of how to partition it when I first set it up. So I will make a FAT partition. Then install Debian, which I understand creates its own partitions.
What you mean by "I assumedly will get a choice of how to partition it when I first set it up" before ever running Debian is not clear. Sure, you have a choice, but just wishing at the drive doesn't make anything happen; you have to run some software. The Debian installer likely will default to choices that don't give you that FAT partition first; but you could run something else (even an old DOS floppy) and create the FAT partition first, which is what I would do. Of course yu can create it with Windows that is still on the other hard drive or even with Knoppix. Just decide how much of the disk you want to the FAT partition and how much you want for exclusive Debian use (I would try to allow a lot for the FAT since either system can use it).

[giant_toaster]

"I assumedly will get a choice of how to partition it when I first set it up" I meant using the software supplied with the hard drive. Is this the case? I put in a new drive into my old computer years ago, but I didn't want it to anything special, so I don't remember what choices you get!

So, will setting it up look something like this.

1. Connect hard drive to parallel IDE cable.
2. Use software supplied with hard drive (Perhaps under windows, perhaps booting from the manufacturers disk) to create a FAT partition. (Drive now is in two parts, one FAT, one nothing?)
3. Install Debian, which will create its own partitions. (Drive has FAT partion and the Debian-created partitions and an extra bit?)
4. Windows can see the FAT part (and Debian parts?).

What happens to the 'extra' bit? Or is this not how it works?

Thanks for your help... I think I am going from someone who is interested in computers, to someone who wants to know everything about them!

Thanks,

Rich

[Harry Kuhman]

Setting it up should be more like this:

1) Unpack drive; jumper new drive as slave (assuming that you are adding it as the second drive on the same cable).

2) power down and unplug computer power supply.

3) Connect to parallel IDE cable, mount securely with provided screws that came with drive. Attach a spare power connector to drive.

4) Reconnect computer and power up.


I can't say what software will come with your drive, as different vendors provide somewhat different things. In general you should not need to use any software that comes with the drive unless you buy a drive that is so large that your OS needs special extra drivers to support it. You shouild be able to create the FAT partition from Windows. Yes, at that point you will have some of the drive partitioned as FAT and the rest unpartitioned. After creating the FAT partition you still need to format it before you can write data to it, just creating the partition dos not format it. In Windows you usually need to reboot before you can format a new partition. Be very careful that you format the correct partition. I always confirm that I cannot read anything on the partition before I format it; particularly in your case you should not assume that the drive letter that you think is the new partition really is the new partition.

One more warning. If you only have 1 partition on your current drive now then it will be C and the new FAT partiton will show up as D under windows. However, if you currently have multiple partitions under windows now and you just create a primary FAT partition, then your drive letter may shift around (depending on what version of Windows you are using and some other factors). This is another goft from Bill Gates that is apparently considered good enough for Microsoft customers that can cause you lots of problems, from breaking installed software to tricking you into formatting the wrong partition and destroying your old data. If you have multiple partitions on your system now and are not extremely comfortable with partitions (and I take it from this line of questioning that you are not), post back here with full details of your current configuration before partitioning that new drive.

[giant_toaster]

How do you create a partition in Windows? Do I need special software i.e. Partition Magic, or is it different as the drive is empty/new? I am pretty confident with windows, but last time I added a drive was using windows 95, probably about 6-7 years ago!

Bit of a weird question, but can you only use the partitioned parts of drives, or can you use the outside unpartitioned part as well? Schematically, if the whole drive is a big square, and a partition is a small square inside it, can you only store data in the little squares, or in the area in the big square as well as the little squares? Think that was the kind of question that needs a drawing!

When you say FAT, do you mean FAT16 or FAT32? If FAT, then that restricts the size of the partition doesn't it?

I am probably going to buy a Maxtor DiamondMax Plus 9 80Gb drive, as they seem pretty cheap for the size.

Currently under windows I can just see the c:\ drive, formatted as NTFS.

Thanks for all your time, it's hard trying to get to grips with all this!

Rich

[OErjan]

For me it would be simpler to use knoppix to partition the new drive, with the old one unplugged, and use qtparted for the partitioning/formating.
sequence would be something like;
shutdown computer, unplugg computer, unplugg old drive, conect new drive (on the OTHER conector on the cable), plugg in computer, boot with knoppix, partition/format with qtparted, shutdown computer, unplugg computer, reconect the old drive (same place on cable as before), plugg in the computer and start up.
you should now have a new partition in windows aswell.

as to partitioneing, no you can only use the partitioned part of the drive, look on ppartition boundaries as dividing "walls" keeping data inside partitions.