installing linux

[champ_rock]

i have got a windows xp installed on my d: drive.... and a completely fromatted fat32 c: drive....... i dont know what r the names of the respective partitions in linux....
when i install linux.... it shows something like hda1, hda2, dev\sda, dev\sdb
what the hell r these things... it would be good if u can suggest me some site on which i can know what they r and how to treat them...........

[bidi]

Well, I point everyone in this direction: Linux Links Beginner's section

Think of it this way: hda is your primary hard drive... the one located on the end of the IDE1 cable. Hda1 is the first partition for that hard drive, hda2 the second, and so on. Generally, in a FAT file system, the first partition is C, the second D, and so one. So it's safe to say that C drive = /dev/hda1 and D drive = /dev/hda2. Keep in mind this isn't always true, sometimes D drive does come before C drive in the hard drive. The easiest way to check, is open up your Disk Management in XP and see where the partitions are located on the hard drive!

[champ_rock]

hello thanks for your reply..... but still is there any another way to determine them.... actually my little bro deleted the shortcuts from the control panel......(that the reason i want to insytall linux)..........................

[bidi]

Well, do you know how big the partitions are? They're going to be the same size in any OS. So check how big your C: parition is and compare it to /dev/hda1, if they are the same size, you have a match.

[champ_rock]

hello
but my disk is already partitioned into 50-50........ so is there any other way..... also will some pro disk partitioning tool for windows work...........

[genesus]

open up your case and look at your ide or ata setup, the primary master will be /dev/hda and your primary slave will be /dev/hdb. Add numbers to those to refelct partition.

[champ_rock]

now i have installed partition manager..... in xp.... i know the following details....
i have a dual boot ME- on primary partition
XP- on logical partition......
i want to format primary partition... i want to know whetehr this is risky.. will my xp continue to work...(u know the word formatting primary partition is dangerous)....
also if i format it and make it a ext3 partition...will my turbolinux install directly install into it without touching or resizing the logical partition...........

[jaboua]

If windows xp is on logical hda2, it will work fine if you format the primary hda1 partition, as long as you don't format the primary partition called the "extended" partition, which contains all the logical partitions.

[champ_rock]

also will turbolinux directly detect that blank partition or maybe let me specify it..... iu know generally linux installations only ask for hda or hdb,,... they dont care abt hda1 or 2...so will it directly install on the hda1 partition that will be created....or it will repartition

[budman7]

Some distros may do it differently. But if it is not formatted, Turbolinux should see it as free space.

Or you can specify which partition to install to.
It should ask you which partition you want to install to though.
But this is a guess on my part because I have never worked with Turbolinux befroe. But I have installed several distros, and I never had a problem not getting the partition I wanted.