Installing Ubuntu as 2nd OS

[Peter Domanski]

Joseph wrote:
> Peter Domanski wrote:
>   
>> elmo wrote:
>>     
>>> Ilya Vishnyakov wrote:
>>>   
>>>       
>>>> Hello Lucky Ubuntu Users!
>>>>
>>>>  
>>>>
>>>> I have a Dell laptop with Win Xp and 1 partition on it. This laptop 
>>>> has very valuable information for me, personally. I was wondering if 
>>>> will be able to install Ubuntu as second OS on my laptop, without 
>>>> reformatting the hard drive. I need to keep the data on it intact.
>>>>
>>>>  
>>>>
>>>> Thank you for your advice.
>>>>
>>>>  
>>>>
>>>> Ilya.
>>>>
>>>>  
>>>>
>>>>     
>>>>         
>>> WARNING!!!!!!!!!!
>>> Unless you can install a second hard drive for your additional operating 
>>> systems you MUST do the
>>> following:
>>>
>>> Before you try to create a new partition for ubuntu you must (!!!!!!!!) 
>>> defragment the partition you are using for Windows to make sure all the 
>>> data is moved out of the way where you will make a partition for your 
>>> ubuntu installation.   OTHERWISE, you will lose some of your Windows data.
>>>
>>> To defragment the Windows  partition,  do:
>>>
>>> Start> My Computer>local disk C:>Properties>Tools>Defragmentation 
>>> Now>Defragment,
>>>
>>> The entire graph represents the entire C: partition, the full size of 
>>> your hard drive.  What we want to do is create enough space for another 
>>> partition to the right of the green block(s).  You can estimate the 
>>> space (GB) available for the new partition.
>>>
>>> This wlll display the entire C: partition in graphical form and you will 
>>> see the data moving toward the left side of the green block(s)
>>> There will be 1 or 2 green segments and possibly some other colored 
>>> blocks to the right.  The idea is to get all those to the right of the 
>>> green to move to the left side of the green ones.  This will create 
>>> space for a new partition for your ubuntu.
>>>
>>> After ALL the blue has been moved to the left side of the green all that 
>>> space to the right is available for a new partition  (D:)
>>>
>>> It may be necessary to repeat the operation to move everything to the 
>>> left of the green block(s).
>>>
>>> What you want to do first after the space becomes available is use a 
>>> partitioner to set  an upper limit  for  the size of the C:  partition.
>>>
>>> If this has been done carefully, you should have a smaller  partition  
>>> for all  your Windows with  its original data squeezed into a smaller  
>>> partition .  The green blocks will be more to the right when you do the 
>>> defragment again meaning that the C: partition has been shrunk.  You 
>>> won't notice any difference in operation.
>>>
>>> Use a partitioner to create a new ext3 partition that starts where the 
>>> C: partition ends.   This new partition will start somewhere to the 
>>> right of the green blocks.    You won't see the new partition if it has 
>>> been formatted ext3.
>>>
>>> The simplest way to avoid all the work of resetting the size of the 
>>> windows partition is to install a second hard drive.
>>>
>>>
>>>
>>>
>>>
>>>  
>>>
>>>
>>>
>>>
>>>   
>>>       
>> De fragmenting the windows partition is definitely recommended but after 
>> you do that I recommend booting Ubuntu from a cd then lunching gparted 
>> (a graphical partition manager/editor) from there you can very simply 
>> shrink the windows partition. Gparted will actually move around all the 
>> data on the partition so that it is not lost during the shrinking. Once 
>> that is done simply click on the icon on the desktop to install Ubuntu 
>> from the CD, and once the installation starts make sure to specify that 
>> you only want to use the free space on your hard drive and not the 
>> entire disk.  It sounds like a lot of work but is actually pretty 
>> simple, just make sure you take your time and read all the directions.
>>
>> Good Luck.
>>
>>     
>
>
> I've used XP and the defrag in it doesn't do a great job...   Shucks, it doesn't do as good as a lousy job.  It leaves 
> information from one end of the drive to the other....
>
> So how does one get it all together into one clump like the Sindows95 degfrag did.
>
>
>
>   
I wouldn't worry too much about it. If you use Gparted to shrink the 
partition it will move around the data for you. De-partion the drive as 
much as possible and then let gparted do it's thing. I did this many 
times and newer ran into any problems.