Dual boot question

[qckbeam]

I have a copy of RedHat Linux that I use for my Laptop. I have had it for about a month and I prefer working in it rather than in windows. Sadly, my Laptop is on it's last legs, so I need to get Linux on my desktop. I built my desktop specifically for gaming so it's running WindowsXP already. I never partitioned the Hard drive on it either. There is only the C drive. My question is can I turn this computer into a dual boot system without re-installing Windows. I'd really prefer not to do that. Thanks.

 

[psyno]

The answer is yes, but it's dangerous. It would be a lot easiear if you were using FAT instead of NTFS, but you're probably using NTFS. What you'll need to do first is resize your NTFS partition to make enough room for Linux. There are a variety of tools that can help you here, and as usual, google knows best.

 

[Sgt.Igneri]

Well, there are no free ways to resize and convert to FAT32. Ive been trying to partition for red hat or mandrake for the last 3 days... No luck. All the demos ive tried dont allow you to partition or convert to FAT32.

 

[mrpennington01]

you have to pay for it but i used partition magic and had 3 OS (W2K, XP Pro and Mandrake) on my last notebook.

you don't have to convert to FAT32 using PM. you just resize the partition and tell it what file system you want.

nice thing is, once u install (in Mandrake's case) Linux, it takes over the boot sequence so you don't have to edit the boot.ini file in windows.

just pay the $40 and get PM, it will save you a lot of hassel in the long run.

 

[Noodlygod]

Doesn't the linux install do this during setup? (I've never tried resizing a windows partition in setup but I'm pretty sure the option is there)

 

[Washuu]

only some linux versions do that

 

[Sgt.Igneri]

Red hat and mandrake have auto partitioning and partitioning tools in the installation though. Seems that it is a LOT safer doing it from PM 8 though. A good amount of people have lost their HDD doing the auto partitioning in the installation.

 

[x84D80Yx]

why not just buy a 2.5 gig hard drive and run linux on that and still have access to all your c stuff would be the safest i presume and only would cost about 10 bucks depending on where you get it. if not...i guess the post above can help

wow thats alot of smileies

 

[Sgt.Igneri]

Well that is an option, lol. Too much of a hassle for that little thing... Im getting 2 WD 40gb HDDs, one for my new shuttle XPC(hopefully!) and one for my P4.

 

[qckbeam]

Well, while attempting to install Linux and resize the partition I accidently deleted everything. Ah well, it's not really a big deal. The drive was full of clutter anyways I guess

 

[staddydaddy]

Partition magic is a great program. I use it to dual boot. You can partition your hdd so that sectors support linux. It's not that hard. Just make sure you read the instructions.