On Tue, 2004-10-19 at 08:32 -0400, Rick Kunath wrote: > I gave up on Partition Magic (and Drive Image) around Linux years ago > for the better Paragon Hard Disk Manager product (it includes Drive > Backup and some other useful utilities.) (I'm not associated with them, > just a happy user.) > > One of the problems with Partition Magic is that it expects the > partitions to end on a cylinder boundary like Windows does. Linux and > other operating systems don't have this limitation and can end a > partition anywhere (and M$ OS's will install and work fine when > installed into a partition not ending on a cylinder boundary.) That's > why sometimes mixing partition utilities can cause issues. Best bet is > to stick to one, Mandrake's is a good one, or if you need one to use in > Windows take a look at the Paragon product. I haven't had issues mixing > Paragon with Mandrake's DiskDrake, but Paragon does include a Linux > version of it's partition manager utility on the install CD if you're > nervous. > > As to blowing out your MBR... > > Here's what I have done for years: > > Use Paragon or your preferred partition manager to create your partition > structure, but don't do any formatting yet. You can use DiskDrake if you > get to the partitioning part of the install and then abort it. > > Create a small FAT16 or FAT32 partition at the beginning of the drive. > You're going to install XOSL here, but if you want a working DOS > installation, you can install it here too. I sometimes have a need to > keep one around for software that hasn't been updated and probably won't > ever be. 100 megs is plenty unless you know you need more. For XOSL > alone 10 megs will do. Then create the Windows partition, your extended > partition, and any logicals you need for your favorite Linux > partitioning scheme, but don't format yet. At the very least you'll need > one for the main Linux file system (and probably you should look at > separating some of the tree, there is plenty of info out there on > partitioning schemes for Linux), and one for Linux swap. > > Get your Windows installation working next. Let it install into the > primary partition you created for it and do the NTFS formatting. Then > complete the install and get it working. > > Once you have Windows working use it to format the small partition you > created at the beginning of the drive as FAT16 or FAT32. After this is > complete I generally set Windows to hide the partition so it won't grab > a drive letter. If you need a FAT32 partition for data interchange, put > it somewhere else, in your extended partition before or after your Linux > partitions would be a good place, and create it before installing > Windows along with the other partitions. Use Windows to format this > partition if you decided you needed to create one (I generally don't.) > > Next grab XOSL from www.xosl.org and install it into the small partition > you created at the beginning of the drive. XOSL hasn't been changed for > a while, but it works flawlessly. It is a boot manager and loader, but > because of it's features can't fit in the MBR alone. You can install it > into a hidden partition if you'd like, but I generally use a FAT32 > partition and install DOS too. It'll set the partition as a Novell type > if you want it hidden, though you can't do anything else with the > partition then. Install instructions are on the site, and installing is > a snap. One of the nice things that XOSL will do is create backups of > the MBR whenever it is changed. You can then install these if needed > again later on. You'll have a copy if you ever have an MBR oops. From > the menu of XOSL you can choose to hide a particular partition depending > on which OS you're going to boot, and you can manage your operating > system boot menu with ease. > > Once installed, set up the menu to boot Windows and test it. (XOSL will > have a copy of the Windows MBR it will use to boot from now on.) > > Once you have all this done, install Linux. Make sure to choose to > install lilo or grub into the *boot sector* of the Linux partition and > not the *MBR* when you do your Linux install. Look under advanced if you > don't see this setting in the bootloader section of the Linux install. > > Once Linux is installed, add your Linux partition to the XOSL boot list. > It'll be easy to do from a graphical setup screen of XOSL listing your > partitions. > > Select Linux and test the boot. > > I've installed multiple Linux distros using XOSL and had separate swap > partitions, hiding the ones not in use from each other. The XOSL docs > describe how to hide partitions you want to keep separate from each > other for multiple distro installations prior to actually doing the > install. It is actually a snap to do. This way they won't try to use > existing compatible partitions or upgrade them. > > I have had multiple Windows versions, several Linux distros, and Solaris > installed on a single hard drive using this scenario. (*Always* create > the Solaris slices (Sunspeak for partitions) last if you ever need to > mix it with other operating systems.) Keeping operating systems separate > and some oblivious of others is easy. > > Even without a complex install, having the MBR safe might make this > scheme attractive. When you change your Linux distro, it never writes to > the MBR and can't foul up your M$ OS. It works across multiple drives, too. > > I've also done a lot of dual-boot installs using lilo as the bootloader > and not had issues either.
Good advice Rick... next time I re-install, I might follow your instructions. (I'm going to print and keep this post.) I think xosl is now called osl2000, which is the boot manager I'm using... - Jack
____________________________________________________ Want to buy your Pack or Services from MandrakeSoft? Go to http://www.mandrakestore.com Join the Club : http://www.mandrakeclub.com ____________________________________________________
