santner Posted June 9, 2005 Report Share Posted June 9, 2005 (edited) I need to install linux on a windows machine, but I can not wipe the hard drive clean, repartion and then install...I must keep windows on my computer and repartion space for linux. Does that Mandrake Linux Installer do this and if not is there free open-source software that can? Edited June 10, 2005 by santner Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
polemicz Posted June 9, 2005 Report Share Posted June 9, 2005 Should be no problem. Run scan disk and defrag first. People do this all the time. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
arctic Posted June 9, 2005 Report Share Posted June 9, 2005 partition magic can move all your data from partition a to b when resizing/rebuilding. but it is not freeware. :P Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
neddie Posted June 10, 2005 Report Share Posted June 10, 2005 I wasn't sure whether Mandrake could do it or not, so I used QTParted from a live Knoppix CD, before starting the Mandrake install. Worked a charm, shrunk the XP NTFS partition without breaking anything (XP complained about it being "dirty", but after a quick check was completely happy). Of course, YMMV! Back up first! I was later told that Mandrake can also do it no problems as part of the install, but then again lots of other things I was told about the Mandrake installer (including the provision of a GUI, the ability to select packages, the option to copy to local version, ...) turned out not to be the case for me. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ianw1974 Posted June 10, 2005 Report Share Posted June 10, 2005 The Mandrake/Mandriva installer will do this. First, as previously mentioned, you need to scan the disk for errors, and defrag it too. Make a note of the space you have utilised, this comes in handy in case the resize is done to less than the amount of space you actually are using. Then when installing, click the Custom option for partitioning, resize your Windows partition, which may be marked as /dev/hda1. Obviously, don't go smaller than the amount of disk in use, although it'll probably not let you anyway. Be very careful of a message that says data will be lost on /dev/hda1. If you get this, DON'T complete the command, else say goodbye to Windows! :P Then, the remaining space after can be used to partition off for Linux. It'll default to EXT3, this is OK. It's a journalised file system, which means it'll recover after a crash much easier than if you used EXT2 (this doesn't have journaling - if at all to recover without difficulty). You can click "Auto" if you prefer, it'll create a / partition, Home partition and Swap. Swap doesn't need to be more than 500MB, so check this after. The reason for having Home separate from / is for when you upgrade, it'll mean you'll not have to move your data off, before upgrading in case things go wrong. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
neddie Posted June 10, 2005 Report Share Posted June 10, 2005 There's plenty of other threads in the "Installing Mandrake" section about this - for example https://mandrivausers.org/index.php?showtopic=25327 or slightly more scarily https://mandrivausers.org/index.php?showtopic=25235 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
santner Posted June 10, 2005 Author Report Share Posted June 10, 2005 Thanks to everyone for their comments, I feel extremely confident now that my install will go well! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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