partition questions?

[jxn]

eh,

i've decided to take the plunge and do a Hdd Install. ive read many threads concerning Hdd installs but found none that involved something to what i have.

knoppix 3.3 works well in my presario laptop so its worth the risk to do a hdd install.

My present setup:
I have one hdd with 4 partitions already. All NTFS!!!! Im using Winxp. My windows is located in the c:\ drive.

C: is 6gb
D: is 8gb
E: is 800mb
F: is 40gb

I will be using partition magic 8. I'm planning to add two partitions.. One using Fat32 and one Ext2. I'm planning to resize my F: partition to give room for my linux partitions.

The Fat32 will be only 512 mb.
The Ext2 will be 2gb.

1st question: Is 2gb too big or too small for a knoppix hdd? What's the recommended size?

Size recommendations are not included in the FAQS.

2nd question: In my using partition magic in creating partitions, will there be problems or issues?

I dont want to use the partition manager that comes with knoppix bec'. im afraid it might miss up my hdd. Note: All my other partitions are NTFS.

[OErjan]

a few things that I would consider.
1) plan to make a separate 256Mb SWAP partition.
2) I would go for 3G patition for Knoppix (2.3G is minimum i think) , that would
give plenty room for aditional programs and so.
3) how about a separate /home for files and such? say 1Gb, that would make
reinstalls.. less painfull

why a separate /home? all your desktop-settings, bookmarks, mail... will be
stored there. if you then just make a backup of your /etc (40Mb or so) to that /home you can wipe the / partition and still have most of your configs safe (systemwide configs are mostly stored in /etc).
so that makes
3Gb /
256Mb swap (or double ram if you want)
1Gb for /home, or as much as you want above 75Mb, what i consider about minimum useful size in a modern system (2000Gb would be too little for some)
just a suggestion, nothing written in stone.

there should not be "issues", but on the other hand i have had bad luck with PQ on ocasions, overlaping partitions, faulty partitiontables...
but normally it should work just fine.

[jxn]

thanks for the reply.

Followup Question:

1. So it is okay to have all these partitiions in one harddisk?
2. A total of 7 partitions, is that correct?
3. Would it be better just create one Ext2 partition using Partition Magic and then create the SWAP and other Ext2 partitions (/home) using Knoppix?
4. Or I will just resize my F: partition using Partition Magic and leave Knoppix to create the other needed partitions?

Something like "let windows create windows partition and let linux create partition".

I would prefer the simpler approach(using Part.Magic) though since Im a newbie.

~~English is not my first langauge~~

[OErjan]

actually you should only have 3 primary (or"normal") and one extended partition, in that extended you can create several more partitions.
actually i think you can't create more than 4 primary or 3 primary and one extended.
so say you make the new a replacement for one of the present ones and resize it to give enough room then you can create remaining partitions INSIDE that, the extended partitions CANOT be used it is merely a virtuall partition to help dviding the disk further.
ask and i wil try to help (tired, have to sleep, sorry)

[jxn]

This is my present setup:
http://appstart.20m.com/part.jpg

C: NTFS Primary
D: NTFS Logical
E: FAT32 Logical
F: NTFS Logical


This is what Im gonna do:
http://appstart.20m.com/pending.jpg

I''ll resize my F drive and leave the freed space as unallocated. By unallocated it should means its neither NTFS or anything.

1. Could I just boot using knoppix distro CD and let it do the rest?
(something like slackware where it will just guide me during installation)

2. Or do I first need to divide my newly [unallocated] free space to two Ext3 and one swap partition using Partition Magic?

Something like this:

1st Ext3 = 2.3gb
2nd Ext3 = 100mb for /home
swap = 200mb

__________________
**** newbie for live ****

[OErjan]

actually you will have to post the
output from, first
fdisk -l
and then

dmesg|grep hd
it might be that the comand

dmesg|grep sd
will be needed.
these conands you type in a console,shell, xterm... (about same thing ust minor differences)
what they do is give me more info on the actual layout of your disks.
it may be that you have 4 primary partitions, that is not possible for me to detect with the info i have from you, nor is some other minor things.

if all yuor partitions are primary you must delete one and make a extended partition there.
but if your D:, E: or F: or two/all of them are secondary that changes things,
bear with me, partitioning is not the easyest thing to learn.

i know it sounds complicated, and it is.all this about primary and extended all stems from old versions of DOS not being able to handle more than 4 partitions... they went round that by making extended partitions and partitioning those like it was a new disk. it has stuck...

[msarullo]

Good HD installation/partition information can also be found at:

http://www.lindux.com/index10.html