partitioning at XP instal

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Patosan

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I'm about to get a new pc and want to multi-boot, initially with XP & Linux. I'll get XP up and running first but want to get the partitioning done best I can from the start.

I intend to use the XP partitioning tool at installation to create the partitions that Linux will later use ? Initially they'll have apha (win) names which later when installing Linux I can change to Linux. Does this seem fine ?

Should I use FAT32 or NTFS for Linux ? I thought NTFS was best then I read somewhere that in fact it was FAT32 ... so I'm confused.

Any other advice is welcome.
 
I guess that Linux would format them as it needed anyway.
Perhaps it would be best to leave the relevant partitions UN formatted ... would this be best ?
 
Yes, unless you really NEED the space before putting linux on. Otherwise its best to just create the proper sized windows partition and leave the rest unpartitioned. Then let linux's install guide you through the partitions for it.
 
I certainly can afford to allocate space which may not be used for some time. I meant to leave partitions for Linux between those used by XP, something like this :

025G .. C .. NTFS .. Primary .. XP and related programs.
015G ......... ext3 .. Primary .. Linux ...... initially leave UN-formatted.
005G .........swap .. Primary .. Linux ...... intially leave UN-formatted.
010G .. D ... NTFS ... ext/logical Another OS
008G .. E .. FAT32 .. ?? .. DOS Disk utilities
100G .. F .. NTFS ... ext/logical .. Music, pics, etc
040G .. G ...NTFS ... ext/logial ...Games, multi-CD apps
020G .. H .. NTFS ... ext/logical ... Video Editing
050G ...J ... FAT32 .. ext/logical .. Disk Image Back-up
018G ...K ....NTFS ... ext/logical
...........
300G

Does this seem at all reasonable, especially leaving 2nd & 3rd partition un-formatted ?
 
Seems ok, but during the XP install you will have to make a 15 and 5 and format them as fat32 or ntfs because it won't let you skip space like that. (you can then reformat them as ext3 and swap during linux install)

What I'd do then if you want it set up like that is create that 25G from within the windows install, and don't mess with the rest of the space yet. Let Windows finish installing and then create the rest through disk management.

Also you may have to use a 3rd party app to create that 50G FAT32 partition, because I don't think XP allows you do do that for larger than 30.
 
It's all too obvious that this is my 1st time to be partitioning isn't it !
I've read "Radified" and wanted to get it right from the start ... but I suspect you are right ... just format the initial C drive then do the rest AFTER instal. Even things like the partition for video editing I could split from a larger music partition later when need be I guess. Perhaps I should try to keep it simple ... KISS.

I haven't done imaging before either, so I don't know how much to keep. Radified said to format that partition as FAT32 is this right ?
Also what is a sensible size for image storage ?
 
Well you can create a disk image like that and have it on that drive I suppose, but its really not recommended. You'll end up losing it if your hard drive dies. You don't need 50 gigs for it, its not going to be any bigger than the partition you are imaging.

H J and K might be better off being 1 partition... but thats your decision.
 
From what I've read the images are approx 50% to 80% of the original (imaged) drive, so it would depend on what I was imaging. I intended to store some in the pc ... but of course the main copies would be on DVD.

Just yesterday I stumbled onto what I think is a truely useful software which would handle a lot of what I'm interested in now. BootIt_ng by TeraByte. It is a boot manager, imaging and partitioning package all in one very small simple and apparently reliable program ... and only $30. Have you heard much about it ?

Regarding boot manager ... is one needed ? Sounds as though many multi-boot people don't bother.
 
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