Dual Boot Installation with 2 HD

[Guest marco-caco]

I'm going to install MDV 2006.

I have one hd with one ntsf partition with XP and one ntsf partition with data and documents archive.

One second hd (60Gb) with a small fat partition and a ntsf partition with an old XP.

I want to put MDV 2006 on the second hd (primary slave).

Have I to format it before installing MDV?

Where to put Lilo (in safe way)?, in the MBR or in the root partition of MDV? (or in a boot floppy)?

 

Thanks for help.

_________________

marco-caco

[tyme]

Have I to format it before installing MDV?

During the installation Mandriva will format the hard drive. Just make sure you tell it to use the right one (it will recognize the NTFS partitions)

 

Where to put Lilo (in safe way)?, in the MBR or in the root partition of MDV? (or in a boot floppy)?

I would suggest putting it on the MBR. This is safe, very rarely will it cause any issues at all. Mandriva should set up an entry for Windows, and if it doesn't you can easily add it. If it doesn't automatically, we can walk you through adding it.

[Helmut]

I have installed quite a few daul-boot machines, including this one. Here is what I would do:

Since you have the first drive full of XP, best just leave that drive as it is. This assumes you want to keep the XP stuff. In Linux this would be your drive hda1, (Hard disc "A" partition 1) XP calls it drive "C".

During Mdk install, you can go to "Expert mode" for partitioning. That allows you to delete, create, format or whatever all of your drives. It is a simple but good and extremely powerful tool, therefore you should know what you want to do before actually starting! It is self-explanatory, but as I said, you must know what you want before starting! If you are not really sure, or just want to make sure you don't loose any data, BACKUP YOUR DATA FIRST! Put it on CD or on a USB-stick, whatever you like, but back it up just in case!

 

On your second drive you have an existiing FAT32 and one ntfs partition also. That drive is called hdbx. (Hard Disc "B", partition x). The mdk partitioner will tell you what these are called in Linux.

 

If you want to have a common partition that you can access from both XP and Linux, for example for OpenOffice documents, pics and stuff, you will want to make it in FAT32 or keep your old FAT32 partition on hdb. Both XP and Linux can read and write it. (You will easily find it after installation, don't worry.)

 

Then for Linux you will need at least one root partition called "/" and a swap partition. And additional partition for /usr can't hurt. / should be at least 2-3GB, swap about 1GB, and /usr about one GB plus whatever you recon to want for storing all your own data. For me, 2GB is enough, but thats just me. If you want to delete the old ntfs partitions on the second drive (hdb) to make room for this, or if you want to add yet another drive, its all up to you.

But maybe you rather want to delete the old NTFS stuff on the second drive for making room, then resize (enlarge) the FAT32 partition and then create the Linux partitions. Its up to you. The partitioner tool in expert mode can do whatever you want, but it also has the power to do things you don't want! Remember it is a very powerfull and self explanitory tool, if you are doing it for the first time, definitely take your time. If you know what you want, it should work smoothly and perfectly.

 

Generally installation is quick, but a first-timer should really do it slow, reading everything on the screen. Towards the end of install you will get a screen telling you what was found and how the finished installation will be. Take your time to check if it is OK, otherwise correct whatever entry may be false. (Better do it during install than afterward.) Then you will be asked where the bootloader should go. In your case this is the MBR of the first hard drive.

 

Linux is not harder than WindBlows. Its just a lot different. Mdk is one of the most user-friendly, my 12-year old daughter administrates her own system.

 

Good Luck!

Helmut.

Edited July 16, 2006 by Helmut

[Guest marco-caco]

Thanks a lot tyme and Helmut.