Ideas for multi-partition/OS? (mod title change)

this one goes especially to sword fish _13

hey you guys , well i changed my mind and well wanted to get on the right road to start using a free and a pirated free operating system , now that i have laied my hands on a original version of a red hat linux , i was wondering if you could help me install as i am accoustomed to Microsoft products. here are is my system config

and k6 , 64 mb ram , 40gb hard disk which is partioned into two c & d 19.0 each , now i have total of 30 gb of invaluable data which i cannot loose at any cost .

i heard that you have to partion and format your hard disk before install a linux , ive two os already in my computer 2000,98 in c & d respectly i can uninstall both the os but can i install linux in that with out formating the hard disk.....

thanx for your patience ,

spl thanx to sword fish _13

Swordfish isn't replying so I'll fill in :D. IMO you should keep the 2000 and partition a linux distro on the D drive (perhaps Redhat, Mandrake, Debian, etc). You would choose that. As for your question, I'm pretty sure you can, and if not, backup all your data on floppy's and whatnot. You should be safe from there.

Hi

:eek: Well you sure scared the **** out of me.......l i am not used to threds starting with my name........cauld you choose another title please you are making me nervous :(...if it is what you are saying is then i am glad in our small conversation i could change your mind about piracy ...


Ok lets get on with it......hmm 30 gb of invaluable data.....First option you backup all the data on to some removable media CD's Etc....Free one of the partations......say d: and install Linux there ......but the data you have seems to be very huge....

Get a New Hard Disk if you can....i also faced the same problem .....i wanted to try linux but coundn't get rid of windows and all that data i had was too much to be backed up so couln't spare space in the excisting drives so i waited until i can spare some money to buy a new hardisk and attached that to my system and installed linux into that one.....

No you wouldn't be able to install Linux on your existing FAT partations ..you will have to spare at least one drive......which you could delete.....

I wouldn't reccomend a overnight transition to linux......take it easy......Try to have both the OS for some time......get accustomed and comfartable with linux.....and make sure your existing hardware is compatable with it ......then remove the Pirated Versons of Windows you have ........

and Spyder i did post earlier...don't know something happned and my system crashed ..how could you miss a thread that is named after you :)

--Good Luck--

yaar 10 gb of data to be backed up ina floppy is a not easy but a hindrous task , isn't there any way i can install linux with out formatting
i mean thats what keeps windows people from going to linux , isn't it ??
and hey sword fish don worry i mean you no harm , i mean what can i do to you ;) ??

http://www.linux.org/lessons/beginner/toc.html
Before you jump into it your gonna wanna make sure you have the correct drivers for your hardware. Especially your modem. I found it really hard when I was younger to play around in linux because I couldn't get my modem to work in linux. It was a little harder to find drivers for winmodems back then but it was also a pain to have to keep booting into linux then back into windows trying different things.

Quote:

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and Spyder i did post earlier...don't know something happned and my system crashed ..how could you miss a thread that is named after you

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Ahh, sorry old friend. Didn't see the post. Yeah, I was kinda weirded out that he named a thread after yah. I was hesitant about helping him too :p ;)

i named the swordfish coz he was quite pissed off with me on this post
http://www.antionline.com/forumdisplay.php?forumid=680

so to make it up to him i wanted to be sure that he read this post so i named it after me :=D
sorry for raising an alaram

Download knoppix or another linux distro that runs off a cd, check it out and see. Its easy and you have no risk to your windows stuff then. (it will run pretty slow due to your small amount of ram and old cpu)

Mmm, well this depends on the file system you are using (FAT or NTFS).
Win98 uses FAT, and Win2k uses either FAT or NTFS depending on how it was installed.

Redhat comes with a utility that will repartition your hard drive, whilst keeping your existing data intact if it is in FAT format, much like the way PartitionMagic works.
So, no, it is totally incorrect to say you have to reformat your hard drive to install Redhat, assuming you have enough free space on an existing FAT partition.

If you are really planning to remove your existing OS's then you can free up loads of space by deleting C:\WINDOWS and/or D:\WINDOWS itself before installing Redhat.

EDIT: Should have added that you'll have all sorts of fun with the MBR (master boot record), as Redhat will want to overwrite it. Which means that your Windows OSs will seem to disappear. The simplest solution is that when you get to this point (consult the manual or look it up on their website), create instead a bootable floppy disk.

Then when you boot from your HD, you'll get your choice of Windows systems, and when you boot from your floppy you'll get linux. Once you are comfortable with linux, you can install and alter its boot loader to give the option of booting Windows as well.

hey thats what which will keep me busy for this weekend!don't you just love creating and solving your own problems , and hey once they get out of hand you know where to ask for help

AO

and thanx to th MOD for changing the title as my cyber care fellow was having problems of his own!!