harddrive partitioning on first install

[Guest]

hey
I am building a new computer, and before i get started i need to know how i can install both WinXP and Mandrake 9 on my pc. I have only one harddrive and i want the XP part to be NTFS, so i am thinking that i must either install xp first and format the drive to FAT32, then create a partition using partition magic, and the re-format the windows partition to NTFS. This seems logical in theory, but this is the first time i willbe building a computer, and the first time using Linux and the first time dual booting.

I would appreciate someone talking me through the proccess. I need linux for college, and xp for home.

 

[khha4113]

so i am thinking that i must either install xp first and format the drive to FAT32, then create a partition using partition magic, and the re-format the windows partition to NTFS.

Why wouldn't you format it as NTFS when installing XP (it has option to format either in FAT32 or NTFS)?
Mandrake also allows you to create partitions and format when setting up if it sees WinXP's partition.
Basically, you install XP first (with NTFS format), then Mandrake next. Mandrake has similar operations as Partition Magic letting you to create, resize and format your partitions.

Good or Bad have no meaning at all, depends on what your point of view is.

 

[Guest]

But once you format NTFS, there is no going back...

 

[khha4113]

I thought that what you want?

Good or Bad have no meaning at all, depends on what your point of view is.

 

[Guest]

i want a 10gb partition for mandrake, and that cannot be NTFS because mandrake wont run on NTFS. I want the rest of the hard drive to be NTFS for windows. So when i first get the harddrive, the first thing i will do is pop in the winxp cd and install windows. Can i just create a partition at the first install and only install windows on that install? And then when i have windows, how do i install mandrake?

 

[khha4113]

When you install Mandrake after WinXP, it will present an option to <b>create</b> and <b>format</b> new partition on your HD (it resizes Win XP's NTFS partition then create new one), so you're going to have <b>at least</b> 2 partitions ( 1 for WinXP and 1 for Mandrake).

Good or Bad have no meaning at all, depends on what your point of view is.

 

[Guest]

if you cannot install any other format on an NTFS partition (like FAT32 or whatever), then how can mandrake "re-size" the partition and install its own file format?