knoppix hdd install / multiple question and problems

[bahadircelik]

hi
First Sorry For My Bad English. its not my native language.
i have several question marks in my mind about my hardware configuration and knoppix distributions that i downloaded.
i have a dell inspiron 1501 notebook computer with AMD Turion 64 dual core CPU, 1 gbyte ram and 120 gbyte harddisk. iam currently using my harddisk as 1 partition ms windows XP installed on it. When i open partition magic. it shows 3 logical disk block
1.) 190 mgbyte which has dell notebook drivers installed in it
2.) 105 gbyte XP installed in it
3.) 3 gbyte that has Original XP Ghost image in it
1 partition with 3 logical blocks. i think the first and the third blocks for the recover stuff. when booting my computer if i press Ctrl+F11 it calls ghost image recover thing which makes my Xp default configuration as i buy it for the first time.
At that point some question marks appear in my mind.
First, if i make a new partition does it give damage to the other ghost and driver disk blocks? and do i have chance to make a new partition only in second block where my xp located? i tried in partition magic to make a new partition as logical block by using second block 105 gbyte but it said Drive C:\ is already used.
Second, i tried knoppix live Cd 3.2 it worked and saw my harddisk partition on KDE desktop. but when i tried it with knoppix 3.8.2 and 4.0.2 English distributions it didnt saw my harddisk only the the knoppix Cd on /UNIONFS/dev/hda with unwriteable. i want to make partition with ext2 file system without damaging the driver disk blocks. but 3.2 has no QTParted partitioning programme and installer. 3.8.2 and 4.0.2 has but both of them didnt see my harddrive. Also when booting with 3.8.2 version it gave an error like that PCI Bios Bug Found #8.......
I Hope You Help And Let That Dummy Open The Doors Of Free Software :)
Thanks Alot
My Pardus Linux Cd saw the harddisk partition
Note : I Only Use XP For CAD :P
Bahadir
Geodesy And Photogrametry Engineer
MANiSA/TURKEY

[Harry Kuhman]

Unfortunately, many manufacturers now waste lots of space storing the original Windows software on a seperate partition rather than simply providing a CD or two. You actually got off pretty easy, HP wasted 10 gig of my valuable notebook space with a "recovery partition" that included all of the garbageware that they also crammed on my tiny notebook hard drive. Many manufacturers include software that will let you make a set of recovery discs. I think that it's important to do this, not just to get the space back, but in case the hard drive fails or some evil software wipes it out and you can't get the recovery partition to install again. This would be the first approach that I would advocate.

You likely can't just create an additional partition for a Linux install (actually, you'll want at least two, since you should have a swap partition as well as one or more for OS and program storage). The thing is, the disk is likely already completely in use by the existing partitions (even if the partitions are not full). Windows can't by itself shrink a partition that is in use and recover free disk space for a new partition. There is commercial third party software such as Partition Magic that can, but even then it advises you to have all data backed up before you try it. If you have all data backed up then you don't really need Patition Magic, you can just delete the partitions, create new partitions of the size you need, and load the data back on, although this does take more work.

I would suggest a few things: First, get that recovery data backed up to discs. This is critical if you want to keep running XP. Next, decide how much space you want for Linux. If you just want a small Linux system, then you might be able to install it in the space that was used by the recovery partition. If you want a larger Linux system (I expect that you do since you said that you only use XP for CAD), you might consider just adding a second hard drive (these are quite inexpensive and I would much rather spend the money on an extra hard drive than on a copy of Partition Magic). This would allow you to install Linux to that drive and leave the original drive for XP. If you do that I would also suggest, in addition to the Linux partition and swap partition, creating a small FAT partition on the disk. Linux can read files from your XP's NTFS partitions, but it shouldn't write to them, By creating a FAT partition, you give yourself an easy way to transfer files back to XP if you find that you need to do this (a USB flash drive would be an alternative way to do this, as would writing files to CR/CD-RW or other techniques). Finally I would suggest that you avoid the well kown problems of a Knoppix install and install one of the reliable Linux distros that are intended for hard disk install. There is no benefit in installing Knoppix instead of just installing Debian, as long as you have an internet connection to allow you to apt-get the software packages that you want after the install.

[bahadircelik]

i got you harry. Thanks alot. i will try to back up the driver and recover partitions on a dvd. I Think You Are right in one thing too. Some people said me that its better to install a installable linux distribution than installing live cd distribution. someone suggested me to install debian or suse linux. i have sus 10.0 but i couldnt find debian on internet
and second i afraid about one thing mbr problems after installing linux like lilo or grub problems like not seeing xp or linux also bios problems. because both knoppix 3.8.2 and 4.0.2 gave a bios bug found message

[Harry Kuhman]

... i have sus 10.0 but i couldnt find debian on internet
and second i afraid about one thing mbr problems after installing linux like lilo or grub problems like not seeing xp or linux also bios problems. because both knoppix 3.8.2 and 4.0.2 gave a bios bug found message
You can find the "Lenny" version of Debian here (http://www.debian.org/devel/debian-installer/). If you have a high speed Internet connection available, I suggest downloading just the "business card" iso and installing everything else that you need across the Internet. You certainly don't want to download a full set of CDs or DVDs, there is way too much that you would never ever install there.

If you are uncomfortable about overwriting your MBR, see the dd command for a way to back it up to a file with Knoppix. You could then replace the original MBR if needed. Realize that this also copies the partition table (if you copy the full first sector, 256 bytes), so if you do repartition then you should make a new backup of the MBR. A Google search will quickly find several good examples of how to back up an MBR with dd.

You can also find the Debian website and way too many other Linux distros through Distrowatch (http://distrowatch.com/).

[drb]

If you want to find out about NTFS writing reliability try here http://www.ntfs-3g.org/

drb

[bahadircelik]

Hi Guys.
i did it. i deleted the recover partition by trusting the driver Cd that came by notebook. it suck. cuz the cd has wrong driver software in it. its even hard to find other models drivers in it. :) trying to find from its official site anyway.
i made 3 partition with 40 gb 30 gb and 40 gb installed Xp in first 40 and in second 40 i will install Suse the 30 gbyte one will be for archive
if you think buying a Dell notebook think twice bros. :?