Potentially new user

[Tony Arnold]

On Sun, 2005-09-04 at 15:34 -0400, Stephen R Laniel wrote:
> On Sun, Sep 04, 2005 at 02:26:34PM -0400, Brian Dotson wrote:
> > As for partitioning, I suggest you use Partition Magic. It will let you keep
> > Windows and Ubuntu on the same hard disk. Ubuntu will handle the rest, allowing
> > you to dual boot.
> 
> When you install Mandrake, it will automatically check for
> the existence of Windows partitions and ask you if you want
> to keep the data on them. I'm told that Ubuntu and Debian do
> the same thing; does anyone else have experience with this?
> 
> Point being that you shouldn't need to use an external
> program to handle repartitioning.

So, if this users disk is completely occupied with a single NTFS
partition with Windows on it, the default is to resize this window and
partition the rest of the disk? I didn't think it was quite that simple.

I think one needs to make sure one has some unused space on the disk,
i.e., not used by any partition and then Ubuntu will make sensible use
of this space.

I think also you may be able to resize the Windows partition during an
Ubuntu install, but I'm not convinced it will do it automatically.

I must admit, I used Partition Magic when I first installed Ubuntu as I
was not confident about Linux ability to resize NTFS partitions. I've
since used qtparted on a Knoppix CD to resize my windows partition quite
successfully, so I don't see why the Ubuntu installer can't do the same!

This has probably confused our potential new user all together now, so
I'd be happy for someone to clarify this for all!

Regards,
Tony.
-- 
Tony Arnold, IT Security Coordinator, University of Manchester,
IT Services Division, Kilburn Building, Oxford Road, Manchester M13 9PL.
T: +44 (0)161 275 6093, F: +44 (0)870 136 1004, M: +44 (0)773 330 0039
E: tony.arnold at manchester.ac.uk, H: http://www.man.ac.uk/Tony.Arnold