Install: Partition WindowsXPPro on IBM T30

Hi there,

I am about to install Suse 9.2 on my IBM T30 laptop, but have one fear:

what will happen to my possibility to press F11 (or something) at boot and install XP?
(and to the partition holding the data to do this?)



thanks in advance,

Keep it simple

First of all, if you have a boot disk for Windows, and you have your bios set up to check that drive first, nothing will happen. Secondly, if you are really planning to use this as a dual-boot computer, I strongly recommend installing WinXP first, as I have heard a lot more horror stories about WinXP disabling the Linux partition or boot-loader than I have heard about Linux disabling a windows partition (I don't think I've heard any horror stories to that effect).

Originally posted by curt_grymala@Mar 22 2005, 04:41 PM
First of all, if you have a boot disk for Windows, and you have your bios set up to check that drive first, nothing will happen.

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The problem is that the window installation is on a "hidden" partition of the hard-disk.
Any idea if that can go wrong?

keep it simple,

What do you mean by a hidden partition?

One piece of advice: Before you start playing around with partitions and new operating systems, BACK UP any data you can not afford to lose!

Well, when booting, I always get the option to hit the F11 key in order to format my hard disk (at least the windows-running-partition) and install WinXP from the other partition. This partition is invisible in WinXP (I've heard PartitionMagic didn't see it either, but never tried that one out).

When running the install-procedure of SuSe9.2, it does see that partition, and seems to be able to keep it untouched.

Thus, I was wondering if my IBM would still give me the F11 option after installing SuSe9.2. The option appears at the same time as the "enter bios" etc appears.

And if I could still install WinXP afterwards...

Originally posted by anomie@Mar 22 2005, 11:16 AM
keep it simple,

What do you mean by a hidden partition?

One piece of advice: Before you start playing around with partitions and new operating systems, BACK UP any data you can not afford to lose!

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Oh. S/He's talking about the installation disc or whatever, most likely. I know with Compaq's (don't know about IBM's for sure), they put all of the important installation files on some sort of invisible partition of your harddrive, and the "Recovery Disc" simply unlocks that partition for you. I found out the hard way that the "Recovery Disc" doesn't actually have any important files on it (after I re-formatted my harddrive, losing all of the original restore information that Compaq put on there).

So, it's not that you Windows XP installation is on an invisible partition, it's that the recovery files are on an invisible partition.

I really don't know what to say. I'm not 100% sure what will happen if you install something else on there, and I know that your tech support is going to say "Don't install anything. We won't offer you any support whatsoever if you do anything to your computer that we didn't do already..." :angry:

Originally posted by curt_grymala@Mar 22 2005, 05:32 PM
Oh.* S/He's talking about the installation disc or whatever, most likely.* I know with Compaq's (don't know about IBM's for sure), they put all of the important installation files on some sort of invisible partition of your harddrive, and the "Recovery Disc" simply unlocks that partition for you.* I found out the hard way that the "Recovery Disc" doesn't actually have any important files on it (after I re-formatted my harddrive, losing all of the original restore information that Compaq put on there).

So, it's not that you Windows XP installation is on an invisible partition, it's that the recovery files are on an invisible partition.

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There is no recovery-disc in fact. Everything is on the hard-disk. Everything...

If it is important that you do not lose that data, I would suggest booting with one of the live CDs (my personal favorite is Ubuntu Live, but others might have suggestions too) first.

That would tell you if the partition is visible to Linux at least. (And hey, if it is, you could always burn the data to a CD/DVD if you wanted.)

keep it simple,
I have installed Suse on my Thinkpad T41 and I had the same fear before doing it. IBM has this special partition where the installation disk is and which gives you access for data recovering. It is nice, what can I say. My problem, as I can see that your too, is that I don't use windows, therefore I had to install linux.

So I have installed linux and IBM still gives me the possibility of entering into the hidden partition. I never tried to go into it since then, but I assume is still working fine. Basically, I don't need it anymore. suse solves everything

Partition Majic will see the "hidden partition" and so will Linux-SuSe. You will be able to install Suse without messing with this partition. To make sure, make sure you go into custom partitioning and make sure that you see it and that SuSe doesn't want to install on it. It should not. Because it is marked as a (hidden partition-typically fat32 some have been installing as NTFS)

Grub will not add this as a boot option. However, allot of the new computers "F11" are through the BIOS, so you should still see this and it should still be an option when the computer is booting up and just before the SuSe Grub Menu.

If you want to modify or delete the "Recovery Partition" you can use PTEDIT, which is Symantec's Partition Table Editer. You can change your partition types, sizes, hide and unhide them.