Linux on a Small Partition

Matt555

Matt555

iMod
will 4.34Gb be big enough for a Linux install? i had that partition with a back-up .gho file on and i have put the backup onto a dvd (it was just over 1Gb big), now there is nothing on that partition (its a Fat32 partition). Will Linux (Mandriva) work on that? could i install the OS on that and have that as my Linux Partition to boot from but store everything (documents etc) on the other partition which windows is on (the windows partition is NTFS and takes up the rest of the disk space) also if i can do that how do you get the choice of booting up from the other OS, does a list come up with the different OS's on and you just chose which one you want to boot from?
Thanx for any help anyone can give me :good:
 
Matt555 said:
will 4.34Gb be big enough for a Linux install?...
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Yes, depending on what you want to install of course. You shouldn't have any problems. For a partition that small though, I'd make a tiny swap partition, say 256mb, and make the rest a ReiserFS mounted as "/" (root partition). Don't worry if that sounds tricky, the Mandriva installer makes it really simple. And, of course, I'll be around if you need a hand.
Matt555 said:
could i install the OS on that and have that as my Linux Partition to boot from but store everything (documents etc) on the other partition which windows is on (the windows partition is NTFS and takes up the rest of the disk space) also if i can do that how do you get the choice of booting up from the other OS, does a list come up with the different OS's on and you just chose which one you want to boot from?
Thanx for any help anyone can give me :good:
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By default, you can read all files on your NTFS partition, which will be mounted as /mnt/windows automatically. However, you can't write to it by default. The reason for this is that if your NTFS has any corruption, there is a possibility that writing to it will further damage the data. In order to gain R/W access to your NTFS filesystem, you'd have to compile a custom kernel which included the captiveNTFS feature, and then you'd have to change your /etc/fstab to make the NTFS R/W. Another trick if you transfer files a lot on a multiboot is to simply add another harddrive and format it with a FAT32 filesystem.

As for your boot choices, it will be handled automatically by LILO, the LInux LOader. You'll have the choice of booting to either OS when your system starts up.

-AT
 
so installing it wont be a problem...just make the partition bigger using mandriva? then if i want to save files i should use a fat32 system not ntfs...okay so should i try and make the partition for linux (fat32) a lot bigger so i have enough space for my files... also will the file that was originally on the small partition (a .gho backup file) be okay being moved onto an ntfs formatted partition ( i dont need to use it its only for backup if my computer ever goes down.)
 
Damn, AT beat me to it. Just for the record, a full installation of Slackware takes up 3GB of hard-drive space. Some other distros take up more so it all depends on what packages you choose to install. From what I know most of them should tell you at installation time how much space they'll require so you can pick and choose your options then. With 4GB you'll get quite a lot of software to play with.
 
yeah i am downloading mandriva at the minute, total of about 2Gb download. i was just wondering about the storage of files and whether or not i can save files on a ntfs formatted partition (the one with windows on) when using an OS on a fat32 partitioned hard drive (the one which will have mandriva on).
 
Matt555 said:
yeah i am downloading mandriva at the minute, total of about 2Gb download. i was just wondering about the storage of files and whether or not i can save files on a ntfs formatted partition (the one with windows on) when using an OS on a fat32 partitioned hard drive (the one which will have mandriva on).
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If I understand you correctly, you're talking about putting Mandriva on a FAT32? Please don't do that (ever)! Like I mentioned earlier, the Reiser filesystem is one of the most advanced filesystems in the world, and I'd recommend you use that (or any native Linux format) over the crusty old FAT32 any day. My point about FAT32 is that if you added a FAT32-formatted HDD to the equation, you could write to that FAT32 from both Linux (on a ReiserFS, etc) and from Windows (on an NTFS). See my point?
 
cool, well when this download finishes (sometime tomorrow) i'll have a go, i have the .gho backed up on disc plus i have all my important documents and pictures backed up as well, music is all on cd's as i bought them so if it doesnt work then i'll just re-install windows or go completely with linux.
One other question, i have the computer downstairs networked to this one, my computer (this one) connects to the internet through the one downstairs, is it easy to get them networked properly and have the internet connection shared? will i have to do any major networking techy stuff? (as i'm not that great with that)
EDIT: when i said " is it easy to get them networked properly and have the internet connection shared? will i have to do any major networking techy stuff? (as i'm not that great with that)" what i meant is: is it easy with this one running linux and the one downstairs running windows xp. (just in case anyone didnt get it)
 
yeah i got linux on my second hdd which is only 3.8 and still got 1.8 gigs left and got internet and games and office (linux loaded) but im using mandrake 10.1 official
 
Matt555 said:
One other question, i have the computer downstairs networked to this one, my computer (this one) connects to the internet through the one downstairs, is it easy to get them networked properly and have the internet connection shared? will i have to do any major networking techy stuff? (as i'm not that great with that)
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Linux is much easier, more reliable and more secure to use as a router than Windows ICS. In fact, Mandriva has an ICS wizard included with it which works quite well. That being said, I always recommend a dedicated firewalled router over using an endpoint PC to also act as a router. My router runs Linux, but it's a dedicated machine which doesn't even have a keyboard, mouse or monitor hooked up to it. I administrate it through a nifty secure web interface or by SSH. All you need for something like that is a minimum of a 486 with at least 24mb RAM and a few NICs. Mine is a K6-2 ~300MHz with 128mb SDRAM and a 4gb Western Digital HDD. Somebody actually gave it to me for free because it was running Windows ME which wouldn't boot anymore. I pulled out the modem and sound card, added two $5 realtek NICs, and boom! IPCop box.
 
Matt555 said:
yes i do, so what format should i use or does mandriva format it for you?
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The Mandriva installer can automatically partition it for you, but I recommend doing it manually using the installer (it'll give you the option). Just follow what I said in my earlier post: remove your Ghost partition and create a small maybe 265mb swap partition and use the rest of the empty space for a ReiserFS mounted on '/'. It's really easy, you'll see when you get to that point. The default filesystem Mandriva, Red Hat, and many other Linux distros use is EXT3. It's basically the equivilent of NTFS for speed, but it's super-stable - it can survive about 300 power-cycles without losing a single file. Don't try that with a Windows box! However, EXT3 is an older filesystem, and it's pretty slow comapred to the newer journaling filesystems. I recommend ReiserFS, which is a journaling filesystem written by Hans Reiser. It is just about as solid as EXT3, but it's much, much faster. If there's an unexpected hard reboot, it can recover its journal about 1,000% faster than EXT3 can. Quite an amazing filesystem, I trust it enough to run on production servers.

-AT
 
KenshinX said:
what if my wireless usb adapter doesnt have linux drivers will it work?
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What do you think? :P If the chipset is suported in Linux the device will be also, no matter how generic. But if it's not... :ohah:
 
cool thanks for all the help anti-trend and thepenguincometh but i really dont understand the whole 'swap partition' thing, so i should get rid of my small fat32 partition completely? and just have the one big partition? then when i install mandriva i can make another partition for that using the installer and format it as reiserfs? will this happen without losing any of my data on the partition? (i've got it backed up but it would still be annoying) :x:
Also i know it woud be better to run the internet through this one when it has linux but it cant happen, it would mean lots of hassle with wires as the modem runs through our BT phone line and all the sockets are downstairs. It could be done but i'd rather avoid if it at all possible.
P.S. (sorry about all the questions, i'm a linux n00b)
 
okay i found one of those little programs that you put onto a floppy and boot from it, then it lets you re-size partitions on your hard drive, so i resized the partition for linux to 9.8Gb so i have enough space, now that should be okay right? when i install linux it should format it to reiserfs as its fat32 at the minute and anti-trend told me not to install linux on that format, so now i have more space i just have to install linux when i get it, joy! :good:
 
9.8GB is more than enough for any distro that I know about. It depends upon what you plan to add to the hard drive once you've installed Linux but the OS itself will have no trouble with that amount of space.

As for using reisferfs, yes, go with it. Running Linux on FAT32 is wrong just on general principles as much as anything else. When you come around to the installation whatever distro you use should be able to do it for you so you don't need to do anything with it right now.

Good luck with your installation and have fun! If you have any questions at all with it you know where to find me :good:
 
thanx a lot, yeah i dont plan on putting a lot on it right away, if i get on well with it and i like the way it works then i'll consider doing away with windows and going with linux completely
 
okay i got my linux discs through today, and i formatted the partition for linux using the Journaled ReiserFS and then clicked next in the install process, it said i dont have a swap partition and so i went back and clicked aotu allocate which sets swap and ext3 partitions or something and it said it didnt have enough space....should i set these partitions up seperately and with the mandriva install partitioner will any data be lost if i re-partition the windows partition so it can have a swap and ext partitions (also how much space would be needed?)
Many Thanks
 
Matt555 said:
okay i got my linux discs through today, and i formatted the partition for linux using the Journaled ReiserFS and then clicked next in the install process, it said i dont have a swap partition and so i went back and clicked aotu allocate which sets swap and ext3 partitions or something and it said it didnt have enough space....should i set these partitions up seperately and with the mandriva install partitioner will any data be lost if i re-partition the windows partition so it can have a swap and ext partitions (also how much space would be needed?)
Many Thanks
Click to expand...
I want to help you, but please help me to help you by actually reading my posts. Here's from earlier:
Anti-Trend said:
The Mandriva installer can automatically partition it for you, but I recommend doing it manually using the installer (it'll give you the option). Just follow what I said in my earlier post: remove your Ghost partition and create a small maybe 265mb swap partition and use the rest of the empty space for a ReiserFS mounted on '/'. It's really easy, you'll see when you get to that point. The default filesystem Mandriva, Red Hat, and many other Linux distros use is EXT3. It's basically the equivilent of NTFS for speed, but it's super-stable - it can survive about 300 power-cycles without losing a single file. Don't try that with a Windows box! However, EXT3 is an older filesystem, and it's pretty slow comapred to the newer journaling filesystems. I recommend ReiserFS, which is a journaling filesystem written by Hans Reiser. It is just about as solid as EXT3, but it's much, much faster. If there's an unexpected hard reboot, it can recover its journal about 1,000% faster than EXT3 can. Quite an amazing filesystem, I trust it enough to run on production servers.
Click to expand...
 
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