XP , Red Hat Linux 9.0 & Partitining requirements !

[raedaljarrah]

Hi ...

I have a PC with a single physical HDD .

I need to partition this HDD as follows :

C:\ for holding the Windows XP Operating System , NTFS File System
D:\ for holding my XP related work date , NTFS File System
E:\ for holding the Red Hat Linux Partitions

Following the article in the following link this is all possible :

http://www.linuxforums.org/forum/viewtopic.php?t=3573

Now , following that article , what partition type do I have to create
( Primary or Extended ) for the Linux file system ?
Could Linux exist on an extended partition which also holds the D:\ logical drive ? Or it shold have its own ( Primary or Extended ) partition ?

The picture is not yet clear to me ?

I would rather let Linux boot loader take control of which OS to choose .

Kindly give me the best partitioning plan for this kind of setup

Thanks

[variant]

A reccomended setup for beginners would be:

Zeroth: bootloader installd in the MBR
First: windowsXP
Second: windowsXP
Third: linux boot partition, 32MB
Fourth: Extended partition for the following logical partitions
Fifth: linux SWAP, no more than 512MB
Sixth: linux root partition, the rest. (more than 5 GB if possible)

the boot partiton contains the linux kernel and grub/lilo config files you would still install the actual bootloader in the MBR of the hard disk.

[raedaljarrah]

Hi ...

My first concern begins from within the disk manager of XP . Its about the partition type I need to create/keep for Linux . This is a necessary step befor even starting the Linux installer .

Next , I prefer to let the Linux installer do the Automatic partitioning for me .

Please note that I want to keep the c:\ & d:\ for XP as noted in my first post .

Thanks

[variant]

the linux installer will do all the partitioning for you, it will preserve your existing XP installation. You don't need to create anything from within windows.

[raedaljarrah]

Hi ...

I agree with you on that issue . But I need to know how to partition my drive first . In other words , how to leave a room for linux !

Thanks

[variant]

You would idealy want about 10GB for linux. The installer will make meaningfull sugestions as to the partitioning

[raedaljarrah]

I am leaving about 7 GB for Linux .
I understand that the automatic partitioning feature of the Linux installer will take care of all the Linux-related partitions ( types , sizes , etc ) .

Its just the type of free space I should leave for Linux !
Should this be ( In XP terminology ) an Unallocated space , a Primary partition ( with no logical drives defined ) or an extended partition ( with no logical drives defined ) .

I don't seem to know the how's and why's of this issue !

Regards

[variant]

you can leave empty space or a dos partition that you dont want. the installer should also be able to shrink existing FAT partitions dunno about ntfs though.

[raedaljarrah]

OK ... lets put it in another way ,

Assume that I have created a 6 GB Primary partition for XP file system
This whole partition now holds a single logical drive which is c:\ .

Next I have to create another partition to hold my d:\ drive ( to be used from within XP ) . I assume I should make this an extended partition .

Following this , should I now go on creating a separate partition for Linux ( I can only create a primary partition now ) or just keep the rest of the HDD as Unallocated ?

I am doing all of this using the XP Disk Manager !

[variant]

unallocated