[ubuntu-za] Partitioning

[Hilton Gibson]

Hi Bill

I assume you installed Ubuntu first then Vista. I have not done this myself. I 
am not a Vista user at all. But the common problem with installing Ubuntu 
first and then XP, in my case, was the fact that XP thought it was the ONLY 
operating system on the disk and then proceeded to overwrite the crafted MBR 
(Master Boot Record) made by the Ubuntu installer previously.

This happened often with Ubuntu, then XP installations that there used to be a 
rescue option with the Breezy CD if I remember correctly that restored the 
correct MBR and fixed the grub bootloader.

My suggestion is this. First install Vista onto one partition. If the Vista 
installer allows it create another FAT32 partition (can only be 20GB - this 
is the FAT32 limit - you can create several FAT32 partitions if you want) and 
leave the rest as empty unused space.

Next during the Feisty installation, select manual partitioning. Create a root 
(system) partition of 20GB formatted using ext3, then a swap partition of 2 x 
installed RAM. The rest you leave for the /home partition/folder. Select to 
mount the FAT32 partitions under /media/win/C and /media/win/D, for example 
(try to use the same drive letters Vista does).

That should do it.

Remember, first Microsoft installation, then Ubuntu. Microsoft is not a good 
neighbour on your only hard disk.

Cheers

H.
On Monday 28 May 2007 13:37:40 Bill Cairns wrote:
> NB: This email and its contents are subject to the Eskom Holdings Limited
> EMAIL LEGAL NOTICE
>
> which can be viewed at http://www.eskom.co.za/email_legalnotice
>
> ------------------------------------------------------------------------
>
> Quite honestly, this has been a nightmare.
>
>
>
> I tried to partition using the feisty install disk "How do you want to
> partition" option, but could not partition my drive.
>
>
>
> On advice, I used Vista itself to partition the drive - but it would not
> allow me a Windows partition of less than 73 GB. I should have accepted
> that gratefully.
>
>
>
> Instead I went back to the live CD and used it to partition my drive. I
> wanted 30GB for Vista and the rest (130 GB) for Ubuntu. It seemed to work,
> so I installed Vista.
>
>
>
> So now I have a perfect running Ubuntu 07.04 system. But I managed to wipe
> out Vista. (I do have a 30 GB NTFS partition with nothing on it).
>
>
>
> In case anyone just writes all this off to my incompetence (which I will
> not deny), my son (who is also a computer professional with many yonks of
> experience) also tried to instal Feisty on top of his XP system. He also
> managed to wipe out Windows even if it was by following a different route.
>
>
>
> I wish someone would write a clear "how to" on this. And not a "how to"
> that says "Use Vista to partition your drive" but one that says. "Change
> the Windows NTFS partition size to the desired size by xxx and yyy and zzz.
> Then, if you want to, create a shared FAT32  partition  by xxx, yyy, zzz.
> Then create your root Linux partition by xxx, yyy, zzz." Then create a
> Linux swap partition by ...." etc
>
>
>
> I would do it myself if I could just figure out the xxx and the yyy and the
> zzz.
>
>
>
> Bill
>
>
>
> Who loves Feisty but is probably not smart enough to install it. And, quite
> honestly, if my son and I both manage to destroy Windows in an attempt to
> install Feisty, I hesitate to recommend that anyone else tries it.
>
> >>> On 28 May 2007 at 09:35 AM, in message
> >>> <200705280935.42566.hgibson at sun.ac.za>,
>
> Hilton Gibson <hgibson at sun.ac.za> wrote:
> > On Saturday 26 May 2007 21:26:18 pops at cairnsgames.co.za wrote:
> >> I wish I had a good story to tell about switching people to Linux, but
> >>
> >> unfortunately I have instead been faced with a few days of frusrtration.
> >>
> >>
> >>
> >> The problems have come with setting the dual boot. Easy, I tell
> >> everyone,
> >>
> >> just use the install disk (here is one for you) and when it asks you
> >> about
> >>
> >> disk partition, just give Ubuntu about 20 GB and you can play with it as
> >>
> >> much as you like.
> >>
> >>
> >>
> >> Well I was the first guinea pig myself. Ten days ago I got my new
> >> desktop
> >>
> >> and happily installed Feisty on top of Vista without a problem in the
> >>
> >> world. Everything was working like a dream - even Vista and even if a
> >> Vista
> >>
> >> dream is like a bad nightmare. But all was not rosy because the machine
> >> had
> >>
> >> an ASUS motherboard instead of the 965 that I had ordered. The supplier
> >>
> >> insisted on taking it back and replacing it.
> >
> > Hi Bill
> >
> >
> >
> > Sorry to hear about your dual-boot troubles. This might be the cause....
> >
> > There is a problem with modern SATA drives being reliably detected. The
> > web
> >
> > site that deals with this is: http://linux-ata.org. You will notice from
> > the
> >
> > web site that SATA is an ongoing issue. This is normal in the open source
> >
> > world where "drivers" for hardware are first written for Microsoft and
> > then
> >
> > normally reverse engineered for Linux.
> >
> >
> >
> > Your installs should work great on IDE drives. Check out this link for
> >
> > programs to resize windows partitions safely;
> >
> > http://www.ubuntu.sun.ac.za/wiki/index.php/ResizeWindowsPartition
> >
> > But, always backup the clients data first ! This is a basic precaution.
> >
> >
> >
> > Cheers
> >
> >
> >
> > H.
> >
> >> So here I have the new machine and I did exactly what I did last time.
> >> You
> >>
> >> know what I mean - when it comes time to partition the disk, the install
> >>
> >> program comes up with a little bar and you can move the cursor to give
> >> so
> >>
> >> much to Vista and so much to Feisty. Except that nice bar does not come
> >> up
> >>
> >> and I geta choice between using the whole hard disk for Feisty or doing
> >> a
> >>
> >> manual configuration. Well I try the manual configuration, but it seems
> >>
> >> that my installer does not see the Windows system at all - so I can I
> >> give
> >>
> >> it a partition if it aint there?
> >>
> >>
> >>
> >> Onto Ubuntu forums to be told that I can't use the installer with Vista
> >> and
> >>
> >> that I have to partition the disk using the Vista tool. I have trouble
> >>
> >> believing that (heck I did it myself not ten days ago) but all other
> >>
> >> research seems to confirm it. So I use the Vista configuration tool ...
> >> and
> >>
> >> it will not allow me to give Vista less than 73 GB. I only want Vista as
> >>
> >> very much a secondary engine for special programs and don't see why I
> >>
> >> should give it half of my valuable hard drive.
> >>
> >>
> >>
> >> Frustrations are not finished yet. Off I go to my son with my faithful
> >>
> >> install disk. He develops games for fun and wants to use Free Pascal on
> >>
> >> Linux for an extra platform. So we shove the disk into his XP machine
> >> and
> >>
> >> wait for the partition window to come up ... and it doesn't. So we watch
> >>
> >> the rugby instead and then he tries to partition the disk using other
> >> tools
> >>
> >> and I left him to it.
> >>
> >>
> >>
> >> Phone call from my boss. I had given him a Feisty disk to install. He
> >> says
> >>
> >> that the wiindow I told him about does not seem to come up.
> >>
> >>
> >>
> >> .I am still sure that I will have great success as an Ubuntu evangalist
> >> If
> >>
> >> I could only get the darn thing to work!
> >>
> >>
> >>
> >> I am sure that my problems are born out of ignorance. I do not
> >> understand
> >>
> >> disk partitions very well and am terrified of overwriting existing
> >>
> >> partitions (well it would not be too serious on this new machine of
> >> mine,
> >>
> >> but other people have a lot of time invested in their disks and I would
> >>
> >> hate to destroy that). The installer is just not very clear about what
> >> it
> >>
> >> is doing and I have to go very slowly and carefully.
> >>
> >>
> >>
> >> Bill



-- 
Hilton Gibson
Ubuntu System Administrator
Departement Elektriese en Elektroniese Ingenieurswese
Department of Electrical and Electronic Engineering
Universiteit Stellenbosch / Stellenbosch University
Privaat Sak/Private Bag X1 Matieland 7602 
Suid-Afrika/South Africa

Tel: +27 21 808 4989 | Cell: 084 646 4758
E-pos/E-mail: hgibson at sun.ac.za
Website: http://staff.ee.sun.ac.za/~hgibson
Maties Ubuntu: http://www.ubuntu.sun.ac.za