Disk Partitions

This section describes:

Which Linux filesystem format should I use when installing?

When you install Linux, you are given a choice of which type of filesystem to create: Either ext2 or ext3. Choose ext3 since it has the following advantages over ext2: Whitepaper: Red Hat's New Journaling File System: ext3

Can I make a "dual-boot" system that boots Windows and Linux?

Yes you can. The choices you have: The key to remember is to install Windows first and Linux second: If you install Linux first and then install Windows, Windows will make the Linux partition bootable only via floppy (not a terrible situation, but not ideal).

During the Red Hat Linux installation, Red Hat Linux will notice that there is Windows partition and will automatically make the machine a dual-boot machine.

After you have Linux installed and boot the machine, you will be asked to choose which operating system (Linux or Windows) that you would like to boot to this time.

Shrinking any Windows partition with Partition Magic

Your computer may already have a Microsoft Windows operating system on it, but with unused space on the disk, just begging to run Linux.

The easiest (and most expensive) solution is to buy a disk repartitioner program such as Partition Magic and shrink the Windows filesystem.

Not as easy to use, but free: If you have a Windows 95/98/ME partition, you can shrink your Windows 95/95/ME partition with FIPS (discussed in the next section)

If you have a Windows NT/2000/XP system and uses an NTFS partition, then you can try using Linux NTFS to shrink the filesystem (discussed below),

Shrinking a Windows 95/95/ME partition with FIPS

First, backup any data from the Windows partition.

You can use FIPS to shrink a "FAT" filesystem that is used with Windows 95/98/ME. Create a floppy that has the following files, which can be found in a Red Hat distribution in the ftp://mirror.cs.wisc.edu/pub/mirrors/linux/redhat/9/en/os/i386/dosutils/fips20 directory:

You can create a floppy disk with the above FIPS files using Microsoft Windows or Linux. Below is a quick overview of how you would create a floppy disk on a Linux system that has the above files: 
fdformat /dev/fd0
mkdofsfs /dev/fd0
    This creates a DOS-format filesystem

mount /dev/fd0 /mnt
cp fips.exe restorrb.exe errors.txt fips.faq /mnt
umount /mnt
After you have the FIPS floppy disk, boot your Windows machine to DOS mode (use a windows boot floppy or a CD and exit to DOS).

Then put the FIPS floppy disk in and run fips. After answering questions from FIPS, you should eventually see something like this: 

Old partition           Cylinder              New partition
 550.1 MB                  89                   19000.8 MB
The above means the old windows partition is 550.1 megabytes and FIPS is going to split that partition and make a new partition that is 19 gigabytes. You can use the arrow keys to shrink or increase the size of the new (soon-to-be-Linux) partition. When the size is set the way you want, press the Enter key.

Shrinking a Windows NT/2000/XP partition with Linux NTFS

If the machine has Windows NT/2000/XP that uses an NTFS filesystem, one of the easier ways to resize an NTFS partition is to get Mandrake Linux 9.1, which includes the ability to easily resize NTFS partitions through a graphical user interface. You would start the process of installing Mandrake Linux. Then after you have shrunk the NTFS partition, you can either continue to install Mandrake, or you can then install another version of Linux.

Another option to shrinking NTFS partitions is by using the Linux-NTFS software. The Linux-NTFS software is used by Mandrake Linux 9.1, to do the resizing of NTFS partitions: Mandrake adds an easy-to-use graphical user interface to the Linux-NTFS software.

Finally, you could resize an NTFS partition by downloading and booting Knoppix Linux which includes the Linux-NTFS software (but does not include the easy-to-use graphical user interface that Mandrake 9.1 has for resizing NTFS partitions).

Where to get more information

Linux Quick Reference Home
Linux Migration Home