axel_2078 Posted August 19, 2004 Report Share Posted August 19, 2004 I'm going for my first Mandrake Linux 10.0 install tomorrow and I have a question regarding partitioning. I want to be able to dual boot between Windows 2000 and Mandrake (at least until I can do away with Windows). I also want to have a separate partition for files that can be used between both OS. So...should I create one partition for Windows, another partition for Mandrake, and then a third for the data storage? Or do Windows and Mandrake share the same partition in a dual-boot system? I've never had this type of setup before and this part confuses me. It's a 30 GB hard drive, by the way. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Padma Posted August 19, 2004 Report Share Posted August 19, 2004 First, you will need a partition for Win2K. If you format that as NTFS, you will want *another* partition for the "dual-use" data, formatted as FAT32. Linux can read NTFS, but writing it is problematic. However, it CAN read and write FAT filesystems. You will probably want at least three partitions for linux. One for the root "/" directory (the "OS" if you will...), one for "/home", where your personal stuff goes, and a swap partition. There are some good threads around here about partitionig. I'll find some and provide links. :) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
tyme Posted August 19, 2004 Report Share Posted August 19, 2004 Windows and Linux do not share drives. Depending on what filesystem you have for your windows install (Fat32 or NTFS) you can access it through Linux. Linux can read and write to Fat32, but write support for NTFS is a bit dodgy. If you want NTFS for your main Windows partition, then yes you would want 3 partitions. Linux also requires a swap partition. Here's what I suggest: clean the drive, no parititions (if plausible) and create say a 15gb partition for windows. Install windows on it. If you're going to use NTFS for the main partition, then I would suggest a 5-7gb main paritition with a 10 or so secondary partition that is Fat32 - you can install programs beyond the main OS here, and keep files here. Then, let Mandrake's install wizard partition the left over space as it sees fit. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Padma Posted August 19, 2004 Report Share Posted August 19, 2004 Count on tyme to be "johhny-on-the-spot". ;) Here are a couple of articles in the FAQ forum: http://www.mandrakeusers.org/index.php?showtopic=6388 http://www.mandrakeusers.org/index.php?showtopic=6389 <{POST_SNAPBACK}> Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
axel_2078 Posted August 19, 2004 Author Report Share Posted August 19, 2004 Thanks for the quick reply guys. I think I'll just install Mandrake on the drive since I have swapable hard drives and already have Win XP on one. Now on to my next question. I also have an FTP server that is running Windows 2000 and it is networked with my primary PC currently running XP. If I am running Mandrake, will I be able to network it with my ftp server and will I be able to see the files since the server is formatted as NTFS? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Cannonfodder Posted August 19, 2004 Report Share Posted August 19, 2004 Axel, putting windows and linux on separate drives is a good idea, especially since you are new to it. One golden rule is... never use the windows disk manager to manage partitions created by Mandrake. Extended partitions can be defined differently under windows and linux. Linux seems to get Windows extended but windows doesn't know anything about linux. The same rule applies to partition manager software applications that run under windows. As for your FTP server, you can investigate SAMBA for networking drives. I'm pretty know nothing about the topic, but know that's what you want to do.. :) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
axel_2078 Posted August 19, 2004 Author Report Share Posted August 19, 2004 What is SAMBA? I've heard the term before, but don't know what it is. Does it come with the retail version of Mandrake 10.0? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Padma Posted August 19, 2004 Report Share Posted August 19, 2004 SAMBA is the open-source version of Windows SMB server. ;) It comes with Mandrake. I use it to access data on my wifes Win2K machine on our home network. I can't tell you much about it, though. For me, "it just works". :) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
axel_2078 Posted August 19, 2004 Author Report Share Posted August 19, 2004 Ok, cool. Thanks! :D Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
tyme Posted August 19, 2004 Report Share Posted August 19, 2004 you can use gftp or a variety of other FTP clients to connect to your FTP server. You can read and write to NTFS through FTP, as Linux is just sending the data to the server, the server is interacting with the drive. With SAMBA you would have to set up shared directories and what not instead of just using the FTP server. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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