Disc Partitioning for Multi-Boot (long)

[Jeff Vian]

On Mon, 2005-08-01 at 17:33 -0400, Phil Schaffner wrote:
> On Mon, 2005-08-01 at 11:43 -0500, Mike McCarty wrote:
> > Some of this may be off-topic, some on-topic.
> > I'll spare you the gory details of how we got here.
> > 
> > Here's the hardware setup:
> > 
> > Main board with 512MB RAM.
> > 3 1/2" floppy drive
> > 24x DVD/CD reader
> > 48x CD writer
> > 80GB WD drive, partitioned as 40GB FAT32 + 40GB unallocated
> > 80GB WD drive, partitioned as 80GB NTFS
> > 
> > Win 98 is happily running in the FAT32 partition.
> > We need to get the data off of the NTFS partition.
> > 
> > I started up Knoppix, and mounted the FAT32 r/w, and the NTFS r/o, 
> > created a directory named "oldd" on the FAT32, and did a massive
> > 
> > cp -pr /mnt/hdb1/* .
> > 
> > which ran for about 3 hours. Then I did a
> > 
> > diff /mnt/hdb1 .
> > 
> > and between 6000 and 7000 files miscompare, due to having different 
> > names. They differ in the case of the file names. It took 1 1/2 hours to 
> > run, so I guess about 1/2 of the data did not get checked. I tried
> > 
> > diff --ignore-file-names-case /mnt/hdb1 .
> > 
> > and got exactly the same results. Hmm. The man page for diff under
> > FC2 and Knoppix apparently differ. FC2 doesn't list that option...
> > 
> > So, ok. I'll try making a script which will do renames, and then go back 
> > and do more diffs. And BTW, the names probably need to be fixed, anyway.
> > 
> > First question: How better to get that data from the second drive?
> 
> Sounds like you've already got it pending filename case problem
> resolution.  Might have a look at g4l.
> 
> > I've considered using tar and WinZip. Would that be better?
> > 
> > But the next question is how to partition the drive so Windows and Linux 
> > can co-exist on the first drive?
> > 
> > The fdisk supplied with Windows 98 cannot manage that disc. Win98 
> > apparently can live happily in something already formatted for it, but 
> > cannot manage the large partitions itself. A utility from Western 
> > Digital can manage the partitions, and even format a FAT32 disc and make 
> > it bootable. But if it is run on a drive, it insists on wiping the MBR.
> > (That's how we got Win98 on that large partition.) Hmm, maybe use
> > dd to lift the MBR, use the WD utility to repartition, then merge
> > in the bootstrap from the original? I looked at parted but do not
> > feel confident in my ability to use it. I'm not very familiar with
> > dd, either.
> 
> Should be able to do everything you need with Linux fdisk under Knoppix,
> or fdisk/disk-druid on the install disk.  Ctrl-Alt-F2 in a graphical
> install, before getting to the partition stage, will get you to VC#2
> where you can get full control on partitioning with fdisk.
> 
> > She'd like to make additional partitions in the 40GB of unallocated
> > space on the first drive, and make a multi-boot system which can
> > boot several versions of Linux for try-out. She's thinking about
> > Red Hat (try Fedora and if she likes it, she'd buy RHEL), Debian,
> > Knoppix, Mandrake, Suse, Puppy, and CentOS. She'd try two or so
> > at a time, and when she found one she likes, she'd go with it.
> 
> May be heresy on this list, but if the only reason for playing with FCx
> is so she can test-drive a RH-family OS before putting out big bucks for
> RHEL, forget Fedora and just try out CentOS4 (RHEL4 rebuild).  Unless
> you really need the support that may be the best choice.
> 
> > have the FC2 discs here, and the FC4 ISOs, and don't mind getting the 
> > FC3 ISOs if they might be better,
> 
> I certainly would not mess with FC2 on a new installation.
> 
> > so the second question I want to pose is
> > 
> > How shall I make a multi-boot system out of that machine, with the 
> > possibility of booting at least Windows 98 and two versions of Linux 
> > concurrently? I must either not use the second disc, or I must reliably 
> > recover the information from it before using it.
> 
> Could consider saving the NTFS partition and resizing it with ntfsresize
> - should be on your Knoppix disk if it's not too old - to get more
> space.  Google "ntfsresize knoppix" for details.  Backing up first is to
> be recommended in any case.
> 

Would also certainly do a full defrag of hte NTFS partition before I
played with the size.

> > Also, when a version
> > of Linux has been decided upon, how to re-partition and get maximum
> > use out of the disc with Win98 and Linux on it? I'm strongly considering 
> > putting /home on a separate partition. Can we do that in such a manner 
> > that different versions of Linux can remount it later without having to 
> > save/restore the data there? How about swap?
> > 
> > I'm pretty sure Anaconda can handle what she wants, but I'm not
> > so familiar with Anaconda, either. I'm an old hand at *NIX machines
> > from the development standpoint, but not with the admin side
> > of things, and those things differ from system to system anyway.
> 
> Anaconda should be able to handle it, but would have to manually
> partition to leave room for 2 Linux installations.
> 
> > Third question: Her main use for the Linux boot will be web page
> > management. She has tried Open Office, and several other packages
> > which run on Linux, and has not found one with all the features
> > she wants. Apparently there is a package for WinXP which is
> > very nice, and which she likes. Don't ask me, I know nothing
> > about Web Pages. Are there some really nice web management / HTML 
> > editors available for Linux? I found Amaya, but it really couldn't
> > install properly when running from CDROM (Puppy).
> 

nvu is a very good web editor, and is nearly as good as dreamweaver (or
maybe better now). It has been about a year since I last looked at it.

As far as web management now, I don't understand what you mean that is
different than editing/posting.

> Can't advise there, but you might get better results posting that
> question separately.
> 
> > She doesn't want to become a "fiddler" again, though she has, in
> > past done that. She'd like to "install and go" now. Her interest
> > in computers is now more on the "tool" side than the "hobby/fun" side.
> 
> Testing out all those Linux distros might be considered serious
> "fiddling".  :-)
> 
> Phil
> 
>