Partitioning

[thully]

Hello,

Right now, I'm partitioning for Windows, Linux, and another future OS (BSD, another Linux, or Solaris). I've got the following ideas for partitions:

hda1 - Windows - 4.3GB
hda2 - Linux / - 4.3GB
hda3 - Linux swap - 133MB
hda4 - Other (can be changed for any OS) - 4.3GB

or

hda1 - Windows - 4.3GB
hda2 - Linux Extended - 4.3GB
hda5 - Linux / - 4.2GB
hda6 - Linux swap - 133MB
free space - 4.3GB

I'm currently leaning towards the second way, however I have one concern: Would a second Linux distro install successfully into the free space? I think you can't have multiple extended partitions, and most distributions make extended partitions.

Any other ideas? I've been trying to come up with a good way to partition.

[syn]

either way will work, just beware of the 1024 cylinder rule (is it still a rule?) if you install linux after the 8 gig mark lilo wont boot it. and also windows ALWAYS likes to be first on a harddrive too. good luck

[SUOrangeman]

I don't know if you frequent AnandTech's boards, but I have fairly popular "dissertation" on partitioning there. I too am an OS hobbyist, so laying out a useable partitioning scheme is essential. Go over there and take a gander at your leisure.

At this time, I would recommend that you use a one primary partition and one extended partition (covering the rest of your drive). So, based on your scenarios, C: for Windows would be your primary partition and I would put the rest of the drive in a **Windows** extended partition. Don't worry, you can create logical volumes for Linux inside of the Windows extended partition. I haven't had any luck in accessing FAT logial drives within Linux extended partitions.

Oh yeah, there's the 1024-cylinder thing. Basically, this rule does NOT apply to Mandrake 7.1 or later (haven't tested for myself) nor Windows 2000 (no testing here either). Any other OS you wish to use *may* require some bootable drive space within the first 8GB of your drive. Just so you know.

-SUO

[thully]

The only problem with the partition scheme that you mentioned is: FreeBSD and Solaris will use only primary partitions, while Linux does now. Thus, If I want to install FreeBSD in that setup, I'm out of luck.

Also, Solaris, FreeBSD 4.1 and higher, and BeOS have no 1024 cylinder limit, so I'm not worrying at allabout that limit (if I get an old lilo, I can just use a boot disk temporarily and compile the latest version).

Finally, where is your partition info on Anandtech's boards?