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Partitioning mix up


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hi !

 

I've just installed 9.1--posting with it right now, in fact--and Im thrilled.

HOWEVER, I had no idea what i was doing when i partitioned the drive. Couldnt find the 'wizard' option that the 'help' button said existed. So what i think i did was resize a windows partition and installed mandrake on only a very small portion of my drive. I dont have enough space to install anything but the 'internet' package ! the partition part of the control center is the same as in the install, which means I am stupified. doing the resizing bit only allows me to adjust things within a few hundred megabytes, and i want to make the majority of my drive devoted to linux without deleting my current windows partitions.

 

What do i do, step-by-step?

 

my first post--thanks everyone !

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Welcome to the boad!

 

First, run defrag and a thorough option on your windex partition. Be sure to use the complete defrag option, not the quick one.

 

If you have xp, you are in for a rough time. xp places non-movable data at both ends of its partitions. Why? To prevent anyone from playing! After all, in microsoft's mind. it's not really your computer! :lol: Use xp utilities to create a new partition. It will be empty, and you can reformat it later from within linux. For any other windex version, you can use harddrake.

 

In order to give you details, I need to know details. How much space are you reclaimimg? What do you want your partitions to look like? I recommend /, /home, /usr, and swap as a minnimum setup for linux. Basically, we will be making a larger partition, moving the data, and then reclaiming that space for the next step. Actually, it would be easier to reinstall linux after the above steps, but that depends on what you have to save in your linux partitions.

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okay. but now ive got a stupid question:

 

i just logged out, and 'halted'. when i restarted i booted in windows from the screen that gave me the choice between linux windows, and some others. when windows opened it told me to reboot for new hardware, whoch i did. i booted right into linux and now i dont know how to boot back into windows xp.

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OK, before doing anything else, put the cd1 in your drive. At the install screen, hit F1 and type "rescue". Choose to restore the windows mbr. Let's see if windex is there. When you reboot it should be as if linux is not there. Don't worry, we will follow the same proceedure to reinstall the bootloader, and get back to linux! :wink:

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actually, cancel that-- something clicked when i logged out of kde, into gnome, and then back into kde. i am now booted in windows.

 

so, I am going to run defrag first and then create a new partition, which i know how to do. will i then be reinstalling mandrake completely into that new partition, or somehow transferring the data?

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It would be easier, since it is just a freash install, to make the partition, and then use mandrake to set it all up. Use expert mode when you start the install, and instead of auto allocate, use custom. First, delete the new windex partition (not the one with windows actually in it) and the use autoallocate from that point. Mandrake will create a suggested layout with all of the new space. If it looks good, go with it. If you want to set it up yourself, swap should be ~256MB, /home and /usr should be larger than /. /usr gets all of the programs that you install, which is why you need space there. I have a large /home because I use it to store other data.

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