partitioning hard drive

[user]

I would like to do a dual boot on my laptop with openSUSE 11 and windows XP. I checked out the tutorial in the FAQ section, but still have many questions. One thing I was wondering about is if I need to get something like gparted and set up a partition first? It seems like that is what the tutorial is saying to do. Isn’t there some sort of way of having all of that done automatically during the install?

[gropiuskalle]

Yes there is, you do not need to use GParted at all. SuSE will recognize Windows and integrate it in the bootloader so you can choose which system to start.

The usual way is this:

1. Install Windows

2. Install SuSE

3. Become a vegetarian

…and everything will work out just fine.

[caf4926]

@captainCrunch

I would like to do a dual boot on my laptop with openSUSE 11 and windows XP. I checked out the tutorial in the FAQ section, but still have many questions. One thing I was wondering about is if I need to get something like gparted and set up a partition first? It seems like that is what the tutorial is saying to do. Isn’t there some sort of way of having all of that done automatically during the install?

You don’t need gparted. You can do it all from the openSUSE installer partitioner. You may need to consider defrag of windows if you intend to re-size windows.
This may help
Partitioning/Install Guide - openSUSE Forums

[erikro]

Hi,

@captainCrunch

I would like to do a dual boot on my laptop with openSUSE 11 and windows XP. I checked out the tutorial in the FAQ section, but still have many questions. One thing I was wondering about is if I need to get something like gparted and set up a partition first? It seems like that is what the tutorial is saying to do. Isn’t there some sort of way of having all of that done automatically during the install?

First question: Is Windows installed on this system? Second: Does it use the whole disk?

It’s true that you don’t need gparted but I recommend it because with it’s grafical user interface it’s much easier to use than the partitioner of Suse. You can download a live CD here:

GParted – Live CD/USB/PXE/HD

It comes with a small Linux and starts up automatically. You have a user interface like partition magic but gparted can handle all partitions well. Just a hint: Think first and move/resize a partition only once. Every resize or move is another operation which will take very long (hours if the partition is very big).

You don’t need an extra primary partition for Linux. Logical partitions are enough. You should have at least four:

/boot (about 100MB, ext2)
/ (about 50 GB or more, depends on what you want to install, ext3)
/swap (double of your RAM <= 1GB, same size of your RAM >1GB, swap)
/home (the rest, ext3)

ext2/3, swap are the file systems.

hth

Bye

Erik

[vendetta18]

@captainCrunch

I would like to do a dual boot on my laptop with openSUSE 11 and windows XP. I checked out the tutorial in the FAQ section, but still have many questions. One thing I was wondering about is if I need to get something like gparted and set up a partition first? It seems like that is what the tutorial is saying to do. Isn’t there some sort of way of having all of that done automatically during the install?

Gparted will give you more control of where you want what. It is easy. But if you do not want to use it, its your choice. As gropiuskalle said, install windows. Install openSUSE using automatic configuration and it will do everything for you, even set up the boot-loader. But keep in mind, if you are installing openSUSE 11.1, do not modify/edit bootloader before you get all the updates that will come after you do a re-install. You will loose your bootloader and will have to make a re-install of entire openSUSE.

Now, go ahead, install opensuse and enjoy

[gropiuskalle]

True, when one likes to have a special disk-configuration, GParted might be easier to use than the SuSE-partitioner - remember that especially when resizing or moving a partition it should be backed up before doing so.