[nylug-talk] Dual Boot

[Eugene Choi]

On Fri, 2006-06-02 at 15:05 +0000, plut0248crat-at-isp.com |nylug
maillist| wrote:
> I've have a computer with an existing XP OS installed, probably
> monopolizing the entire hard drive. Is there an easy way of repartitioning
> and keeping the exsiting data, while installing Fedora C5 for about 50% of
> the drive? I ideally I'd like a switch to boot directly to FC5, but
> Microsoft seems to want first boot status for some reason. Something about
> the MBR, I think.
> 

Yes.  Its particularly painful for products like e-machines, which uses
obscure, DOS/XP/BIOS customized booting/partition tricks.  My crutch of
choice, Partition Magic/Boot Magic, will totally screw up installations
with that vendor.  (A recent release of Symantec PartMagic *might* be
able to deal with it, but I doubt it.)  This probably applies to other
customized vendors; I just don't know which ones firsthand (other than
e-machines).

Even though PM/BM has tools to operate XP outside of /dev/hda, it almost
certainly won't work with vendors like e-machines.  You have more
configuration options if you're willing to blow away the contents of the
XP partition.  (But dual-booting can be done while keeping the
manufacturers' XP installation.)

If you refuse to spend money on Symantec products, you definitely can
get a dual boot setup, by utilizing Microsoft's boot loader.  Details
can be found here:
http://www.highlandsun.com/hyc/linuxboot.html
Basically, install FC5, with its bootloader written to a partition other
than /dev/hda (MBR).  Then dd off the linux partition boot sector,
putting it into a file, and reconfigure Microsoft's boot.ini file to
load it when selected.  (Sidenote: This will not force you to work with
only one Linux boot.  You can configure the other boot partitions when
installing FC5. When Microsoft boots into linux, you will boot into
LILO's boot menu, and you can select from there.)  If you have no clue
as to what I just said, and after reading the webpage, you do not want
to attempt this.

PartMagic will properly shrink all NTFS partitions without losing data.
So even if you're using an e-machines product, PM will properly make
free disk space for linux.  (Just don't install/use BootMagic or PQ(?))
If you still refuse to spend money on Symantec products, you can try
using ntfsresize:
http://mlf.linux.rulez.org/mlf/ezaz/ntfsresize.html#example
People generally speak positive of it for the past few years, but I'm
not willing to deal with "exceptional case x".  (And the XP
backup/recovery options suck too much for myself to be willing to risk
blowing up the installation.)

Disclaimer:  I have not attempted a dual-boot install with FC5.  I'm a
Slacker; that's my experience with dual-boot configuration. Concepts are
definitely the same, though.

Added tip:  if you decide to go through with this, break XP into
multiple partitions, and segregate data from applications to separate
partitions.  (That includes moving the "MyDocuments" folder, and
webbrowser caches. What the heck, push the bulk of XP swap there too.
You will need to create a "extended" partition for this.)  It makes it
much easier in the future to take radical shots at rebuilding XP; you
won't lose your data if you segregate it.  I keep a DVD sized (4.7GB)
disk dump of an initial XP partition.  Gives me a "quick" recovery or
initial install process, similar to Ghost.


Good Luck,

O-  Eugene