dual boot : Win XP and Suse

[nbaptista]

Hello,
I´ve got the Win XP and I want to install Suse in order to have a dual boot system.But I did it once,and I´ve got problems running XP,couldn´t startit.Is it normal?
A friend of mine told me that with him some happenned!
Is ti safe to install Suse or Ubuntu with XP in order to have a dual boot system?
Now I´m running XP

[gogalthorp]

Yes.

You need to free up the space you want to use for Linux. Resize to allow at least 10 Gigs unpartitioned space for the Linux partitions. Install Linux after XP because Windows does not play nice with multiple booting.

[devils casper]

Users run into problems coz of selecting/creating wrong partitions in most cases.
It really easy to setup dual boot with any distro. Both Ubuntu and Suse are great distros.
Create partitions for Ubuntu/SuSe before starting installation. You can use GParted Partition Manger to Create/resize partitions. Its available in Ubuntu CD or download PartedMagic LiveCD from here.

Create two partitions :
1. 512MB - 1GB for SWAP
2. 8 -10 GB or more for / in ext3 FileSystem.

Start installation and select Manual Partitioning in Partition Section. Assign / mount point to ext3 partition. Installer will detect SWAP partition and do rest of things itself. Dual boot is default in all distros. If you create partitions carefully you wont have any problem.

In case you have any confusion, post partition structure of your Hard Disk here.

[nbaptista]

But doesn´t Suse create a default partition?is not safe,is it beter do like you said,with the partition software?

[devils casper]

SuSe installer does create partitions but to be on safer side, create partitions yourself. As I have mentioned earlier, Most of new users hose their systems coz of seleting wrong partitions only.

[nbaptista]

I have Paragon Partition Manager.So I need create two partitions on XP in order to install Suse,am I right?

[devils casper]

I have never used Paragon Partition Manager. Does it support Linux Filesystems ( ext3 ) ?
Create 2 partitions only and format those in SWAP and ext3.

[nbaptista]

I have never used Paragon Partition Manager. Does it support Linux Filesystems ( ext3 ) ?

Yes,it support.Thank you for helping me!

[devils casper]

You are Welcome ! Do let us know how it goes. Good Luck !