Re: Dual boot on system with hidden recovery partition

In article <slrnf24et0.6fk.dcmoose@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>,
dcmoose@xxxxxxxxxxxxx says...
ray wrote:
On Sun, 15 Apr 2007 13:30:52 +0000, DC wrote:

I have an installation question. Hopefully someone can help me...

I wish to dual boot linux with Windows XP on a Dell laptop.

The laptop has a hidden recovery partition in lieu of recovery CDs.

If I install linux to the extended partition, will writing GRUB
to the MBR preclude me form doing a recovery of Windows XP at a later date?

The laptop does not have a floppy drive. What are my options?

Thank you.

'hidden' from whom? I believe that the Linux partitioning tools will find
it and act accordingly. Should be no problem. Why not boot the Gparted
Live CD and see?

I have Partition Magic installed. I can see it just fine. Companies
like HP/Compaq and Dell (this is a Dell Latitude laptop) don't supply
recovery CDs with their laptops anymore -- they put a recovery partition
containing the os and software on a hidden partition on the HDD
instead). What I want to know is the correct procedure to follow to
make this a dual boot system while ensuring that my ability to later
recover the Windows XP os from this partition will be unaffected.



I couldn't tell you about a Dell, but I just helped a friend set up a
HP laptop and there was a program on it to make up a set of restore CDs
< it took nine CDs BTW > in case the restore partition on the hard
drive or the hard drive itself failed. Of course they only set your
laptop back to the state it was in which you bought it. You might check
your Dell documentation to see if you have something similar.

Another way to go would be to clone your hard drive to another hard
drive using a program like Acronis True Image 10. Then you would have a
recent backup of your hard drive to fall back on in case you royally
honk up your present hard drive.

Bill
--
Gmail and Google Groups. This century's answer to AOL and WebTV.
.

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