I apologize if this is repeated or anything but I’ve googled and browsed this forum without finding a similar case.
I have a 320 GB HD and I’ll be formatting it completely.
I have my 32 bit opensuse 11.1 Dvd.
I have my 32 bit Vista business Dvd.
I’ll be getting my 64 bit windows server Dvd in a few months<:) I just wanna make the partition and leave it empty for now
As I said I’ll be starting clean and wipe out my entire hard-drive.
So how many partitions should i give opensuse ?
what sizes do you suggest (I install a lot of things (and i do mean A LOT),and i have 4GBs of ram)?
what file system should a shared partition use (between linux and windows) (i assume whatever i put there would show up in both systems, and even if the format is unusable it still can be moved and copied)?
I think my steps should be something like this (what are your thoughts?):
1:format entire Hard disk into desired partitions using a a bootable CD (what should I use?)
2:install vista, update vista(SP2 won’t update if you miss with boot manager)
3:install opensuse
4:later on install windows server 2008 then fix opensuse’s grub
so in what order should the partitions be (i don’t understand this whole extended partition stuff)?
IMO, you would be best served by getting another HD. It’s less complicated for inexperienced users. Dedicate one HD to windows and the other to SUSE.
It’s possible with one HD, but grub is tricky, especially now Vista and W7 won’t install service packs with grub.
You only need four partitions, at most. one for Vista, one for OpenSUSE
data (/) and another for swap, finally a last one for your other windows
environment. I believe, but do not know, you can even go without a swap
partition but have not tried it and it is not usually recommended (I’ve
never seen it recommended). swap can be handled via swap files as well as
swap partitions.
Anyway while you can have an extended partition I do not see a reason to
do so necessarily since you can have four primary partitions.
Good luck.
Saif-m wrote:
> I apologize if this is repeated or anything but I’ve googled and browsed
> this forum without finding a similar case.
> I have a 320 GB HD and I’ll be formatting it completely.
> I have my 32 bit opensuse 11.1 Dvd.
> I have my 32 bit Vista business Dvd.
> I’ll be getting my 64 bit windows server Dvd in a few months<:) I just
> wanna make the partition and leave it empty for now
>
> As I said I’ll be starting clean and wipe out my entire hard-drive.
>
> So how many partitions should i give opensuse ?
>
> what sizes do you suggest (I install a lot of things (and i do mean A
> LOT),and i have 4GBs of ram)?
>
> what file system should a shared partition use (between linux and
> windows) (i assume whatever i put there would show up in both systems,
> and even if the format is unusable it still can be moved and copied)?
>
> I think my steps should be something like this (what are your
> thoughts?):
> 1:format entire Hard disk into desired partitions using a a bootable CD
> (what should I use?)
> 2:install vista, update vista(SP2 won’t update if you miss with boot
> manager)
> 3:install opensuse
> 4:later on install windows server 2008 then fix opensuse’s grub
>
>
> so in what order should the partitions be (i don’t understand this
> whole extended partition stuff)?
>
>
> sorry for the long post:shame:
>
>
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thanks for the quick replies:)
but you didn’t really answer my questions
so opensuse will need 2 partitions but i’ll need 5 partitions
(i need a partition that can be read and written to by both systems unless opensuse can read/write safely to vista ntfs system partition)
@caf4926
I can’t have a second HD since it’s a laptop
and I didn’t understand the all about GRUB page:shame:
Sure I did. OpenSUSE can read/write NTFS. Google for ‘opensuse ntfs’
(without quotes) and the first hit is for you.
Good luck.
Saif-m wrote:
> thanks for the quick replies:)
> but you didn’t really answer my questions
>
> so opensuse will need 2 partitions but i’ll need 5 partitions
> (i need a partition that can be read and written to by both systems
> unless opensuse can read/write safely to vista ntfs system partition)
>
> @caf4926
> I can’t have a second HD since it’s a laptop
> and I didn’t understand the all about GRUB page:shame:
>
>
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I would decide in advance how much for the two windows installs and how much for Suse.
And I couldn’t help it, I’d set space for a spare partition as number 3 partition. I always do a “just in case” extra partition. With 320GB of space, you can afford the luxury and one day you’ll appreciate the flexibility.
Suse needs only maybe 20Gb all up – but of course you’d give it much more, maybe 30 Gb min from what you say, for the root, and 4Gb for swap, then a big bit for home storage of data, media, and so on.
Once you’ve decided that, maybe install first the first windows. Then from inside the first windows, with it running, make the partition you will reserve for the second windows and the spare partition, just as a placeholder (which you can format to whatever you want later, maybe Linux storage, Maybe Fedora, whatever).
Then I’d install openSUSE in the spare end space, letting it have it’s head and let it suggest a partitioning setup to you, and adjusting that to the pre-decided values before you click to “make it happen” during the installation.
alright
then i’ll download gparted
make bootable cd
partition the the HD into a 90 GB primary for vista
a 90 gb primary for windows server
a 96 gb primary for media and other data
a 44 gb extended for opensuse which will have 2 logical partitions 40 gb for system and 4 gb for swap
Its all your choice.
Now it also depends, which OS you are using mostly.
I would partition it like this.
50 GB for vista
50 GB for Windozz Server
46 GB for openSUSE (/)
4 GB for swap
And the rest for multimedia/documents/backup. And which will be mounted in Linux, not windozzz, because i use Linux all the time.
I don’t know what is the home directory :shame:
but some searching suggested that it contains user data (not related to OS) but all this info was outdated from 2000~2006
so please confirm this
and please confirm if it’s no problem installing opensuse’s system, swap and home directory on logical partitions in an extended partition
i want all my data (excluding installed programs and system files from os) to be in a partition that both windows and opensuse can read and write to
so if windows can read and write to the home partition then I’ll make a separate home partition
but if it can’t then i’ll put all my data on a 96gb separate NTFS partition so that it’s always accessible
Am I right or wrong ?:\
As i stated above, it depends on which OS you are using mostly. I use Linux all the time, so i will format it to ext3, not NTFS. Which will be mounted easily/auto on each boot in Linux.
Home will take care of all your applications you install. you can backup home later and use it next time after fresh install, that’s why we suggest to use separate home partition. Or you can keep it.
I am using logical/extended drive for openSUSE with Vista on primary drive with no issues. Works like a charm.
thanks for the quick answer:)
ok so i’ll make a 50 gb home partition but then the opensuse main system partition wouldn’t need alot of space (say 15 gb is ebough ?), right ?
alright then
so all preparations are almost ready
just need to download all drivers
final config is
90gb primary windows 7 x64 (god bless my college’s msdn )
90gb primary windows server
60gb primary ntfs partition
80gb extended opensuse 11.1 x86
>>>> 26gb root partition
>>>> 4gb swap partiton
>>>> 50gb home partition :’(
)