Setting up the linux partition

[icedfusion]

Hi, want to get into linux, started to install linux and i have the following minor barrier:
I get to the point in redhat =
7.1 when i have to setup the partitions. Currently i have a 20Gig
harddrive formatted as:
9530MB for win2k in NTFS/HPFS
10001MB for general use in NTFS/HPFS

I want to keep the first partition for win2k and change the 2nd
partition to linux native.
However, when i delete the 2nd partition and then try and create a new
partition (in any size) i alwasy get the same error, this being:

'There are currently unallocated partitions) present in the list of requested partitions. The unallocated partition(s) are shown below,along with the reason they were not allocated.

/boot Boot partition > 1024 cylinders


I am assuming that i will get this error regardless of what i do, unless i decrease the size of the win2k partition, which i dont want to do.I have read alot of the documentation at redhat.com about partitions but cant seem to find anything relating to my problem, if you could point me to a howto or something related to this i would be very grateful.

Thanks

Steven :confused:

[fancypiper]

I never liked or understood Disk Druid as I couldn't get it to do what I wanted.

<STRONG>/boot Boot partition &gt; 1024 cylinders"</STRONG>

You have a large disk.

Perhaps the Large Disk HOWTO (http://www.win.tue.nl/~aeb/linux/Large-Disk.html) may be of help.

I'm not familiar with Win2k (I dual-boot Win98/Redhat6.2 Linux distro), but this is how I partitioned my large disk. I used the Ranish Partition Manager (http://www.users.intercom.com/~ranish/part/), a freeware Windows program.

Windows98 had found the extended partition I had previously installed Linux on using only the Disk Druid program. It ruined my Linux installation as a result of that.

Using the Ranish program in Windows, I made 4 primary partitions like this:

1. A vfat (Windows) partition using 1/2 my drive space

2. A primary ext2 file system of 1/4 my drive space for /

3. A primary linux swap partition of 2X my ram.

4. A primary ext2 file system of the rest of the drive space.

Now, Disk Druid let me just edit the mount points and has been running smoothly since.
In install, the partitions were already there and I just had to edit the mountpoints/types.

hda1 was windows which I mounted /mnt/WinC, hda2 was /, hda3 swap, hda4 /home

I hope this helps.

[ 20 June 2001: Message edited by: fancypiper ]

[icedfusion]

thx for the reply. It seems that to get it working correctly i will have to reduce the size of the active partition used by win2k, which i dont really want to do, but i will use partition magic to do it and see what happens....thx

[Linuxman]

I haven't explored this issue lately, but I know early version of LILO could not handle being loaded in a partition above 1024, ergo the error referencing "&gt; 1024 cylinder." If my memory serves me correctly, that "problem" was fixed with a later version of LILO so, perhaps, the RH distro you have still uses the older LILO.

You can also try to set up your partitions using Linux fdisk before installing RH. After you load the CD and the installation process begins, switch to a cli by using alt+F? (where ? is 1 through 6) and then invoke "fdisk." It's not as pretty as a gui interface, but it gets the job done.

[ 20 June 2001: Message edited by: Linuxman ]

[Ace69]

I have RH7 and will not install under the 1024 cylinder. You can put your swap partition anywhere.

I used PQMagic to do mine and everthing worked out great, IF you install Linux under the 1024 cylinder.

[icedfusion]

I have now setup the partitions and mounted them, however I am unable to proceed any further with the install as the 'Next' button is greyed out. My partitions are as follows:

/Win2K hda1 9530M NTFS/HPFS
/boot hda2 31M Linux native
/swap hda3 133M Linux native
/ hda4 9844M Linux native

Can anyone see what I am doing wrong?? I have read alot of info about partitioning and about the 1024 cylinder limit etc.
I dont really want to decrease the size of my win2k partition, any help greatly appreciated.

thx.

[tecknophreak]

/swap should be a Linux Swap partition instead of Linux Native

could be it