reformatting windows xp/partioning. help please.

Well i need to reformat my entire HD now im going to whipe everything out and ive got a couple of questions. My first question is I need some advice on partitioning.. Im going to have it set up as xp pro / mandrake linux and im not sure how large to make the partitions for each drive. i have an 18 gig hd and i was thinking about only using 3 or 4 gigs on the linux partion since ill be using xp most of the time. I would appreciate any good partioning tutorials/tips.
My second question is since this will be my first time ever using linux would it be worth it to even bother with partioning? should i just reformat and solely use XP? My final question is a question about reformating since ive never done it and i really dont know how to do it... if anyone knows some good tutorials on reformatting that are good for noobs and step by step i also would really appreciate that.

If you are going to make use of the *nix partition then definately go with it, but if you just want it on your system so you can be "l33t" and say you have it, then don't waste your time. Although if you are asking for a tutorial on formating, you are going to have a hell of a time with *nix. I'd be surprised if you made it threw the install. My old system had a 2gb hdd for *nix, so 3 or 4 gb will be more than big enough. You can cut your drive rather easily. Get a DOS boot disk (www.bootdisk.com) and boot using it. Run fdisk (enable large hdd support), delete your existing partitions, create a new primary partition (make it 14gb or whatever), then create a logical drive with the remaining space, reboot the computer. Now you have the choice of formatting or just directly installing windows XP which will save you the hassle of formatting. If you chose to format boot using the bootdisk and type c: and then format. Follow the prompts. Then install XP. After XP is installed then boot your *nix CD and follow the install prompts on that. Install XP first though, it'll make your life much easier.

ive decided im not going to mess with linux yet and just re-instal xp

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Originally posted here by thesecession
ive decided im not going to mess with linux yet and just re-instal xp

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Have you considered going with cygwin (http://www.cygwin.com/) or zipslack (http://www.slackware.com/zipslack/). Cygwin runs on top of windows and is a "linux-like environment", ZipSlack is designed to be installed on a FAT/FAT32 system, so you can install it on your XP install (unless you go with NTFS when u install XP)

My current Linux on this box is a little over 3 gig .. that is with Xwindows and gnone ( GUI ), OpenOffice, etc., pretty much a full desktop with tools.

I.M.O. you should always partition the drive for windows leaving room for Linux ( in your case a 13/5 split might be good, XP can get bloated very quickly ) then load XP first, then Mandrake .... even if you didn't partition it first Mandrake has a GREAT tool for it.

BUT, as I've said before, in a case such as yours I would just load XP, then look around for an old hard drive ( 6 gig would be great ) ... something someone is going to scrap. Take out the XP drive, install the crappy drive, load the Mandrake ( or whatever flavor ) ( oh, and remember to adjust the bios and jumpers when you swap the drives ) then you don't have to worry about your XP drive. Once the Linux is up and running, adjust the boot loader to recognize the XP drive as a secondary drive and install it that way ( see my folly at WinXP and RedHat 9.0 duel boot for more info BEFORE you try )

This way you will have the best of both worlds without risking destroying one of them.

Good Luck,

The easiest way to reformat I found is either use a different computer and format the drive that windows XP is on but dont forget to set the jumpers to slave on the HD. You could also partition the drive into three different partitions, put one OS on a differnet partition, then format the old OS, then reload a new OS on the newly formatted partition. Finally wipe the dummy OS you used for reloading the OS. This is a longer process and could take much of your day but it works if you dont have a different computer to hook the HD up to.