[PLUG] Setting up dual boot with linux/NTFS.

[Chris Penwell]

I have had extremely good luck with my set up at home. 

It is as follows: 

1 160 GB HDD: Primary master; Mandrake Linux
2 40 GB HDD: Primary Slave; Windows XP Pro

Here is how I went about doing it:
I started out with a completed install of Windows XP. 
I installed the 160 GB HDD as Primary Master, I changed the Windows XP HDD
to Primary Slave
I installed Mandrake to the Primary Master.

When I got to where I had to configure my partitions I DID NOT EVEN TOUCH my
Windows Xp HDD
(Understand that Mandrake has GUI for this part, not sure about anything
else.)

Then when it came time to set up the boot menu, it detected the fact that I
had XP on the other HDD. A healthy exploration of the menus may be in order.
Just don't change anything you aren't sure of.

On boot, it find the Primary master HDD boot sector, and runs LILO. If
windows is the choice, then it passes control over to the other HDD and
Windows is none the wiser.

I've had this configuration for the last few years and it has worked like a
dream.. 

Naturally, in any major upgrade / change like this it'd be a good idea to
backup at least the files you want to keep.

________________________________

Do not meddle in the affairs of System Admins, for they are quick to anger
and have not need for subtlety.
 

> -----Original Message-----
> From: plug-admin at lists.pdxlinux.org 
> [mailto:plug-admin at lists.pdxlinux.org] On Behalf Of Jon LeVitre
> Sent: Wednesday, August 04, 2004 12:49 PM
> To: plug at lists.pdxlinux.org
> Subject: [PLUG] Setting up dual boot with linux/NTFS.
> 
> I have a desktop system with XP home installed.  I want to 
> install the 20 gig hard drive from my old system in it and 
> install Fedora and/or SuSE on it. 
> 
> I'm trying to decide which drive should be the master and 
> which should be the slave.
> 
> If I leave the current NTFS drive as master, is there ANY 
> chance that grub will mess up the drive?  I'd rather not have 
> to reinstall/restore all my stuff (and more importantly, my 
> wife's stuff).
> 
> If I make the Linux drive the master, I'll have to take the 
> NTFS drive out and change the jumpers and I assume it will 
> boot up slower.
> 
> Also, does anybody have advice for setting up partitions?  
> Are there any guidelines for how big to make /, /bin, /var, 
> /opt, etal.?
> 
> 
> 
> 		
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