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installing an OS on a partioned drive


longgone

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:D :thumbsup: New thread, new questions, here is what I would like to accomplish. On my other machine I have hda as a 100gb hard drive that is partioned as follows:35gb for XP 21gb unpartioned for future installs21gb unpartioned for future installs18gb unpartioned for future installsand there is a small amount left over from the XP install. I would like to put the Slack 9.1 on one of the 21gb partions BTW none of the partions are formatted. You gentlemn and ladies have already told me that this is doable. My questions are:1.) To start the install, when I put the disk in the cdrom am I going to be asked where I want to install the OS at.2.) I have been told that in order to get the Slack OS to appear on the "boot" selection menu that I am going to have to do some changes in the liloconfig so that it will be on the list with XP and Mndrk 9.0. That should do it for now. I will thank all in advance for your help/advice and for putting up with me. :D :D
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Slackware will not automatically partition and format for you... you can use cfdisk or fdisk after booting the install cd to partition as you wish. It might be wise to write down your partition layout so you are clear about what you are doing... ;)You will need at least / (root) and swap partitions...tranquilo

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Hi LonggoneAnother install party . . hurray !! . . We like to party !Your questions:1) Yes it will ask you on what /dev/hda? you want to install Slack ( I think you have all primary partitions there so it would be /dev/hda2 )2) Yes just install Slackware's lilo in the MBR and we will add XP to it after the first boot :DBUT . . I have three little remarks: 1) Your partitions are very large ( generous ) . . . half the size ( or two third ) would do fine . . WQhat if you make another partition of 15GB and resize the 3 x 20 to 3 x 15 ?2) You do need a small /swap partition ( unformatted, but it has to be there ) of about 500MB . . 3) I would start with Mandrake, because that makes resizing and automatically setting up /swap easierB) Bruno

Edited by Bruno
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:D :D Tranquilo, Uh huh, figured I would have to get another lesson of the disk twins. But the more I practice with them the better I will get. :thumbsup: Bruno, I will assume you are correct that they are primary, since they are just partions and not formatted for any type of file system as of yet. Yes, they is a bit on the hefty side, but since I am not familiar with the procedures involved to go back in and re-size them I gonna leave as is. There is a small portion on the drive that I can't get to so I assume that is has something to do with the XP install. The Mandrake 9.0 is on the "B" drive.
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LonggoneIf Mandrake is on the hdb . . that means you already have a /swap . . . just go in Mandrake and check what hdb that is and note it down . . also check the names of the hda partitions ( and note them down too ) . . so you won't overwrite the wrong partition with XP on it . . you would not be the first to do so . . . So hava a paper next to you when installing with all the hda and hdb names of the partitions :DB) Bruno

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b2cm, The machine that I will be using has on hda a Windows XP and the 3 unformatted partions and on hdb it has Mndrk 9.0. BTW hdb is 40gb all by itself. Have plans (subject to change) to put Slack and Gentoo (if I can ever get Gentoo up and running) on two of the 3 unformatted partitions. The third will be for ?????Bruno, Not sure exactly what you are talking about but when I click on the "computer" icon on the desktop and open it up it has the following listed "C", "D", "E", and "F", so I am going to guess that corresponds to the XP partition and the 3 unformatted remaining partitions. I assume this since when I click on any of those three I get a response that tells me the drives are not formatted and would I like to format them now. Since there is already a /swap partition on the hdb, does that mean I will not have to have a /swap for the Slack install that will be on hda, and now for the last little bit, which command is going to give me the info on the hdb partitions.

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Hi LonggoneI assume that you are in Mandrake . . . . open the MCC ( Menu --> Configuration --> Configure your Computer ) --> password --> Mount Points --> Disk Drake . . .and you will get a nice GUI that has two tabs . . one hda, one hdb . . . . there you can see what the partitions are called in Linux terms.About the /swap . . yes Slack on hda will use the /swap on hdb . . will even autodetect it . . just check if it does the autodetecting correctly by checking the hdb? you noted down on the little paper !!Slack won't know about the indications C D E and F . . those are Windows terms. . . . hda1 hda2 hda3 and hda4 are Linux indications ( but it might as well be hda1 hda5 hda6 hda7 ):lol: Bruno

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:) Bruno: Ummmm .... well maybe, could be, how do I do that (DIskDrake), is it going to jump up automatically or no. Anyway here is the Hard Drive infohda1 ntfs windows xphda5 20gb of nothinghda6 20gb of nothinghda7 17gb of nothinghdb1 5.3gb fs extt3 should be boot sectionhdb5 243mb swaphdb6 home :P
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mandrake control panel you will be asked for your root password then select mount points -diskdrake it will show you two tabs for your two hard drives and it should show you how they are formatted at present. It is really easy to partition harddrives in here.

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Rolana has it right. It will show a GUI and you will simply click on each partition and then click the format button and select the one you want! It won't be too hard.--Julia :P

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Longgone:Back to my first step in looking at partitions. "fdisk -l". (that is a lower case L). It will list your partitions and check for errors at the same time.$ su# fdisk -l /dev/hda# fdisk -l /dev/hdbFully agree with Bruno's comments about partition sizes. I find 5GB is plenty for single root partitions. The key trick is to keep your data (music, documents, etc) in a partition separate from your OS. That way they can be shared by any OS.One word of warning. If you are using Mandrake to do a lot of partition changes you should reboot after you have got the partitions re-arranged and then check the formatting.

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The key trick is to keep your data (music, documents, etc) in a partition separate from your OS. That way they can be shared by any OS.
Owyn what format would you suggest and would it be wise to automount on boot or mount only when req'd?
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The key trick is to keep your data (music, documents, etc) in a partition separate from your OS. That way they can be shared by any OS.
Owyn what format would you suggest and would it be wise to automount on boot or mount only when req'd?
Johann:In your case (Linux only) I recommended ReiserFS.If you also have to share with Windows, then VFat 32 is best.If you are going to be likely to use the data every time you boot a distro, then automount it.
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:thumbsup: Well,,,,, not so good here. Tried to install the Slack 9.1 onto hda5 with absolutely no luck. Attempted to run fdisk to set up a boot, and root segment but when I entered into the setup mode and the OS started to install I get a fatal error indication telling me the coreutils may be corrupt. Also during the setup portion I encountered a portion where it tells me that it has detected a fat 32 file system and would I like for it to be accessable from Linux, clicked yes and continue on. Only thing is when I installed Windows I selected the NTFS file system so I have no idea where it came up with the Fat 32 info. The print out says this Win9x fat32 215023971 (the size allotted in that partition). So, it did not install, at least not yet, but to the best of my knowledge I did not damage anything (I hope). unrelated question: using fdisk -l /dev.hdb gave me the following readout: hdb1 (boot) (83) hdb2 (extended) numerical indiator 5 hdb5 swap (82) hdb6 (83) I did not create an extended partition in Mndrke 9.0 during the install. It was all just click, click, etc. Was that extended partition done automatically or is something defunct here (other than the installer).
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Hi LonggoneWhy did you set up a seperate /boot partition ? . . . I suppose hbd6 is for your / . . . I can not see why it would tell you that the coreutils may be corrupt during the install . . because nothing is installed yet and all is still on CD . . . If I remember right you did use those CDs fro previous successful installs of Slack . . . so the coreutils story is weird. I would say just start again . . Also on the question if you want to include access to the Windows partitions I would say NO . . and mount them at will later when you need to . . I think permanetly mounted partitions you do not use daily is unsafe and unneeded.Because Mandrake knows you want lots of partitions it makes the 2nd extended automagically . . that way you can add as many as you like :teehee::thumbsup: BrunoSorry confused:

Tried to install the Slack 9.1 onto hda5
???? Edited by Bruno
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:thumbsup: :teehee: Well... figured it would need a boot, but that was the first time around, further looking and realized that the boot was in the XP and did not need to create a seperate one. It did auto detect the swap partition just as you said, but, after I accepted it as being added to the fstab and it went back to the main menu it asked if I wanted to do anything with the already installed hdb portions and nothing at all about where I intended to install Slack which was on hda5. I believe that is where I start running into the problems, since I am not sure how to tell it to go to hda5 and leave hdb alone. At least I am relieved to know that the extended partition was not something I had unknowingly caused. I shall keep that in mind for possible future use. So I guess basically all I will have in the Slack install is a root, home, and usr partitions, yes or no ???
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Or put it all in one partition. You have your separate partition for swap already so all you really need is a partition for Slack.--Julia :thumbsup:

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Or put it all in one partition.  You have your separate partition for swap already so all you really need is a partition for Slack.--Julia :teehee:
Or do a separate /home . . . . no need to seperate /usr because upgrades will do a full reinstall anyway . . :w00t::thumbsup: Bruno
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B) B) :huh: Bruno, Teacher,,,, Okay,,,, if I understand this correctly after I login as root, I can then enter setup and go to that menu, select target partitons and it will know that I want them on the hda5 portion and that is all there is to it. Other than it might ask about the swap. I know it can't be that easy, somewhere there has to be a "gotcha".
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after I login as root
??? . . not clear what you are saying there . . . at the first prmpt you just hit enter and don't log in . . And yes you tell it to install on /dev/hdaX . . . and it will find the /swap automagically, you only have to confirm that that is the partition you want to use as /swapB) Bruno
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To do the install you simply boot from the CD and then when it asks for partitions you tell it the one you selected for your files and then confirm where your swap is located (in whichever order they appear) and then you are done. If you are doing a separate /home then you will indicate that as well. Happy installing!--Julia B)

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Bruno,,,, Right, the first enter is to continue on if I am not making specific changes, then the second enter is once again to continue if I do not want to change the keyboard map (whatever that is), then it has a text where I can do the partitioning of the disk or pcmia or two other items and it says you can now login as root, I did that and then on the next line I entered into setup and it presents the menu that has about 8 different items on it. I selected the addswap first , it found the existing one, that was good, then is when it comes up with all the found the fat 32 Win9x and from that point on it goes downhill fast. The main thing is that it does not ask me where I want to put the Slack at, all it does is show me the two existing partions on hdb and nothing as far as hda5 goes at all.

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Longgone

3. Enter "setup", highlight "ADDSWAP", <OK>, <Yes>, <OK>4. Highlight the Linux partition from step 2, <Select>, highlight "Format", <OK>5. Highlight "ext3", <OK>, highlight "4096", <OK>, <Continue>, <OK>, <Yes> if there is a need to access Windows partitions in Linux, otherwise <No> and skip to step 76. Highlight a Windows partition, <Select>, type "/mnt/win_c", <OK>, redo step 6 with a different mount point as many times as there are Windows partitions that you want available on Linux, <OK>
You are skipping no 5 here . . . . ( and you do not want 6 :huh: )This manual can be found; http://jetblackz.freesite.org/InstallingSl...lackware91.htmlB) Bruno
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:huh: :) Update from a thoroughly frustrated new penguin .... this idea is not going well at all. I am getting fatal error messages for several packages in /var and the bad part is, they are critical to the performance. Have tried installing 3 times now, I think it is time for a break before I break ...... if this is an indication of future attempts I am going to have to have a six pack in standby.
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Hi LonggoneDon't let this discourage you . . . there is hardware that likes Mandrake better, there is hardware that only will run Slackware ( ask Sonicdragon, his system only likes Slack , he tried evey other distro . . in vain ! ). The trick is next time you buy hardware next time you check all the HW databases for compatebillity. Even my testsystem that is 100% linux compatible reacts different on every distro . . they do install but a few of them have starange and funny quircks.The trick is, now you already have hardware because you just made the switch to Linux, to find the distro that likes your hardware . . . . . there are 220 different distro's . . sure there are a few that will not give you that many problems.Just checking: You did use the same CDs before on another system with success didn't you ? ( If not the CDs should be checksummed ):huh: BrunoPS: You don't mind sharing that sixpack do you ? :) :)

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:D Bruno,,,,,, Yes these are the same CD's I used on the spare/test machine and Slack is on it just finer n frogs fur. Only thing it does not do is shutdown automatically and I have already done the APM tip but it did not have any effect. Other than that, Slack is good to go on it. I knew this would be an uplifting and interesting challenge. Darn, maybe this machine will like the SuSe live CD I have. Chargeeeeee ......
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