Looking for suggestions regarding hard drive

**fhayashi** · 06-11-2003, 03:44 AM

I've finally got Knoppix working, it's really neat.

I managed to figure out how to save the home and configs onto a zip disk. However, I'd like to save larger files (mainly so I can get Java Web Start to work).

I read the FAQ, and found out that I can't write to NTFS.

I have two hard drives, the second of which is only 2 GB and totally empty. I wouldn't mind reformatting that one to whatever format Knoppix can read and write to.

How do I do this, without mangling anything? It's no big deal if my WinXP booted of the primary hard drive cannot see the second, smaller hard drive.

**Stephen** · 06-11-2003, 04:38 AM

You can change the partition(s) on the drive to linux with Qtparted which is included in the latest versions of knoppix. You should make two partitions one for the /swap file that knoppix will use if it finds one of at least 256mb and type swap and the rest of the drive for a linux partition of either a type ext3 or reiser. The program is very easy to use so you should have no problems.

**fhayashi** · 06-11-2003, 06:01 AM

Originally Posted by Stephen

You can change the partition(s) on the drive to linux with Qtparted which is included in the latest versions of knoppix. You should make two partitions one for the /swap file that knoppix will use if it finds one of at least 256mb and type swap and the rest of the drive for a linux partition of either a type ext3 or reiser. The program is very easy to use so you should have no problems.

For a 2GB HD, what's a reasonable swap partition size?

**Stephen** · 06-11-2003, 07:20 AM

Originally Posted by fhayashi

For a 2GB HD, what's a reasonable swap partition size?

The general recomendation is twice the amount of RAM in your computer. It has nothing to do with the size of the HD except for the space required to have the partition, 256mb should be enough you can go with more if you want.

**garyng** · 06-11-2003, 09:53 AM

except for heavily loaded machine, I can't see why more than 256M swap is needed. Well, I did see Window ME expand the swap file size to 2G and I was only browsing the internet and I already have 320M RAM. Window ME is really a piece of crap.

**fhayashi** · 06-11-2003, 02:25 PM

Originally Posted by Stephen

Originally Posted by fhayashi

For a 2GB HD, what's a reasonable swap partition size?

The general recomendation is twice the amount of RAM in your computer. It has nothing to do with the size of the HD except for the space required to have the partition, 256mb should be enough you can go with more if you want.

I've got 384 MB RAM, but 768 MB for swap seems kind of large...

Would 512 MB be noticeably better than 256 MB?

**Stephen** · 06-11-2003, 05:01 PM

Originally Posted by fhayashi

I've got 384 MB RAM, but 768 MB for swap seems kind of large...

Would 512 MB be noticeably better than 256 MB?

It can't hurt anything if it needs the swap that size it will use it if not you just have less space left for the other partition. Give it a try you can always re-partition to 256 if you find it does not need the 512mb.