General partition question

  • Thread starter Thread starter trevaaaaaaa
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trevaaaaaaa

Could someone point me to an faq regarding rules for partitioning, I
currently have two versions of windows xp pro & 1 vista installed which
are accessed using acronis os selector. I have three primary partitions
& an extended partition on my first hard drive & one primary on my
second hard drive. I want to install linux and add it as a choice to os
selector but obviosley dont want to screw up my existing setup.

basically want to know partitioning do's and don'ts for different
operating systems.

help appreciated.
 
Could someone point me to an faq regarding rules for partitioning, I
currently have two versions of windows xp pro & 1 vista installed which
are accessed using acronis os selector. I have three primary partitions
& an extended partition on my first hard drive & one primary on my
second hard drive. I want to install linux and add it as a choice to os
selector but obviosley dont want to screw up my existing setup.

basically want to know partitioning do's and don'ts for different
operating systems.

help appreciated.
Click to expand...

Mainly the do's and don't for Linux distribution partitioning are:
make a swap partition.

Beyond that, it is basically a matter of taste. Lots of folks will
recommend several partitions - this is not necessary for a newbie - it is
much simpler to simply install in one partition and has the added
advantage that you're not wasting space in several partitions.
 
trevaaaaaaa said:
Could someone point me to an faq regarding rules for partitioning, I
currently have two versions of windows xp pro & 1 vista installed which
are accessed using acronis os selector. I have three primary partitions
& an extended partition on my first hard drive & one primary on my
second hard drive. I want to install linux and add it as a choice to os
selector but obviosley dont want to screw up my existing setup.
Click to expand...
So if you setup, use the "expert mode" or whatever will allow to specify to
place the bootloader into your first Linux partition, _not_ the mbr because
that might take acronis selector out of place.
Then, use acronis selector to add the new partition.
basically want to know partitioning do's and don'ts for different
operating systems.
Click to expand...
Usually just / and swap for a first try. You may have a separate /home
partition, so you can swap linux versions without losing /home.
 
trevaaaaaaa said:
Could someone point me to an faq regarding rules for partitioning, I
currently have two versions of windows xp pro & 1 vista installed which
are accessed using acronis os selector. I have three primary partitions
& an extended partition on my first hard drive & one primary on my
second hard drive. I want to install linux and add it as a choice to os
selector but obviosley dont want to screw up my existing setup.

basically want to know partitioning do's and don'ts for different
operating systems.
Click to expand...

If you plan to use two operating systems, then make an additional
partition that both can use. For Windows and Linux, FAT32 is probably
the best choice. Linux will soon be able to read/write NTFS, but for now
FAT32 is more reliable.
 
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