Setting up dual boot on laptop..advice??

MiniMetro

Just started using linux(fedora) in college, so want to set up dual boot xp and fedora.i'm going to start from scratch i.e. format c:\, remove hidden dell partitions. From what i can gather from what i've read so far 1.the order needs to be windows xp and then fedora 2. I need to install both into a different partition. 3. I can let fedora automatically set up its partition as it needs to.

The questions I have arising from this are: what is the best way to partition my hard disk(60Gb). Would it be best to just split it in half 50/50. Split it in three like 10 for windows 10 for linux and 40 to be accessible by both. I have no clue about which so any general partitioning advice would be greatly appreciated.

If i choose the second option how should i format the 40gb section, i read in a guide that it should be fat32 instead of ntfs as linux couldn't write reliably to ntfs, this guide was a couple of years old so is that still the case?

I won't be embarking on this for another week or so and i want to try and pre-empt any problems. Any help or suggestions would be fantastic.

Thanks in advance

themole

if you are installing everything from scratch this is what i would do.

1) install XP, get it to reformat the whole drive

2) install partition magic,
us it to resize the windows partition to 20GB,
and create a 30GB FAT 32 partition for data
leave 10GB unformatted, linuux will use this

3) once the above is done install linux
get it to install in the unpartitioned space of the drive,
you might need to sort out the partitions your self, swap partitions etc
lunix should detect the windows paritiion and include it in the bootloader

after all that is done all you need to do is mount the data partition in linux to have access to it.


thats what i would do anyway

i would always give more space to windows as you will prob use it for any games you want to play and these take up the most space

lexeme

http://gentoo-wiki.com/HOWTO_Dual_boot
http://gentoo-wiki.com/HOWTO_Install_Linux_after_Windows
http://gentoo-wiki.com/HOWTO_Install_Windows_after_Gentoo
http://gentoo-wiki.com/HOWTO_Dual_Boot_from_Windows_Bootloader_(NTLDR)_and_why
http://forums.gentoo.org/viewtopic.php?t=27545

BioHazRd

Even though it may not be adding anything new to the thread, I've been dual booting XP and Gentoo on a dell latitude laptop for some time now, and tbh, the guides posted by lexeme are excellent. I didnt have to delete the dell utilities partition (I even have it selectable in Grub). Im a noob compared to most linux users, and I managed to do it, so give it a go. Its worth the effort.

Bio

bpmurray

Well, I've been dual-booting various distros on various thinkpads for a number of years. The sequence is to install XP first, then the Linux (whichever flavour you prefer). Because of IBM's commitment to Linux, the Thinkpads tend to be reasonably well-supported by Linux, but other laptops may have problems. There's a good site for laptops & Linux - I can't be bothered to google it, so that's up to you.

If you want to access some particular data from both OS's, I'd suggest that you install XP first, but on a 10GB partition, & create a second FAT32 (40GB?) partition for where you want to share stuff. When you install Linux, you need a small swap partition, and one for the OS installation. And no need to spend money on Partition Magic.

The reason for FAT32 is that while the support for NTFS is much improved, it's still a little flakey.

MiniMetro

Cheers for all the advice, waiting on a 250GB external hard-drive and some blank cd's. I'll give it a bash when they all arrive. It sounds like it shouldn't be too bad. i'll let you know how i get on.
Thanks again