> > Anyway, his query went:
> >
> > while installing ubuntu, it converts my full hard disc in single
> > partition.
> > Why? i want to keep xp along with linux, then which one should i
prefer?
You have to be careful which options you select in the very first
stages of the installation. Ubuntu, like most Linuxes, DOES give you
the option. You should have gotten a menu selection of something like:
-- Use entire disk
-- Use unused space on disk
-- Custom partitioning
Sometimes, you will be given several pre-arranged ("guided") options.
You want to pick one that does NOT format "hda1", that being the
Linux designation of the Windows partition.
When in doubt, select "Custom" patitioning. The graphical
partitioning tool (usually GParted) will be color coded, blue for
windows, red for Linux, green for Linux swap. Given a HD of 160GB, I
would:
1) Install the Windows, letting it take over the whole disk, as
Windows ALWAYS does.
2) Boot up the Linux Live/install CD of your choice, start the
installer script.
3) Select "Custom Partitioning". Unmount and resize the Windows
partition on HDA (may be annotated as SDA) down to maybe 80GB (half of
the drive). Resizing normally will not ruin the affected partition,
but have everything backed up, or do it to a virgin Windows install
that you can simply re-do if something goes wrong.
4) In the now-unused space, create an ext3 partition of 7-10GB, assign
it a mount point of "/" aka "root", or "system root"
5) Create a "Linux Swap" partition of 1GB or equal to your RAM,
whichever is greater.
6) Create another ext3 partition with the remaining space, assigning
it to mount point "/home"
7) Apply partitioning changes, and proceed with rest of Linux
installation, which will include setting up grub, and *should* include
Windows as a boot menu option. If you are presented with automated or
"guided" choices, the suggested path should resemble what I've
presented here. Elect to format the partitions if you didn't actually
do it while the graphical partitioner was open.
8) After the install finishes, reboot and remove the installation CD
(as it will tell you to do), select Windows at the boot menu to make
sure that still works, then reboot again into Linux.
9) Enjoy!
> > I also have another
> > disk which is of 40gb but its boot sector along with 8gb is
corrupted, but
> > i can use this portion as another partition that i can't merge
together as
> > 40gb. Can i use this hard disk for linux?
It depends on what you mean by "corrupted". If the data that was on
it somehow got scrambled, but the disk media itself is still ok, and
"usable", then you should be fine. 40GB is enough for Linux.
You'd have to reformat the drive, and see how many bad blocks show up.
Frankly, though, if as much as 8GB of an 80GB drive has become
utterly unusable, it's probably too unreliable to trust further.
If, however, it's still usable, you *could* use it as the linux disk,
leaving your 160GB as pure Windows, in which case under the Linux
installer's partitioning options, tell it to "use entire disk", BUT
SELECT HDB (or HDC, or even HDD, depending on which slot of your
motherboard it is plugged into) AS THE DISK TO USE IN THE PROVIDED
DROPDOWN MENU. In other words, USE WHICHEVER OPTION IS *NOT* "HDA".
Be careful, if you have USB drives plugged in to your machine at the
time, they will show up also!
Note, however, that if you install Linux to a different physical
drive, you still have to install grub to the Master Boot Record (MBR)
of HDA (the Windows drive!), because that is where BIOS will go during
bootup! Unless your BIOS will let you specify booting from "D:"
drive, you can then install grub to MBR of HDx (x<>"A"). That leaves
the Windows boot block intact on your C: drive (aka hda1), and you
could switch back and forth in BIOS, but not all machines will let you
do that. If that's too complicated, then just install grub to the MBR
of hda (the 160GB drive).
> > and please suggest me which
> > linux os is better? I want user friendly, working perfectly. My pc
config
> > is P4, 2.0gz, 1gb ram, motherboard is by gigabyte and intel
processor.
> > 64mb
> > graphics memory. Hard disc 160+40
> >
> > Cheers,
Everyone has their favorites, but for desktops, I like
Mandriva-derived distributions: PCLinuxOS and I'm really excited by a
new one called Granular. Mandriva itself is a bit resource-intensive
for my hardware, but it might be good for you. I used to like MEPIS,
but 7.0 has aged badly; there's a new release in the works, if they
fix their issues with USB, I'll go back to it.
I'm not satisfied with any of the current distros for my laptop, I'm
distro-hopping, trying to find a better fit.
------------------------------------
To unsubscribe from this list, please email
[email protected] & you will be removed.Yahoo! Groups
Links
<*> To visit your group on the web, go to:
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/LINUX_Newbies/
<*> Your email settings:
Individual Email | Traditional
<*> To change settings online go to:
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/LINUX_Newbies/join
(Yahoo! ID required)
<*> To change settings via email:
mailto:[email protected]
mailto:[email protected]
<*> To unsubscribe from this group, send an email to:
[email protected]
<*> Your use of Yahoo! Groups is subject to:
http://docs.yahoo.com/info/terms/
