Re: Downloading Debian CDs or DVD(s)?
- From: Dances With Crows <danSPANceswitTRAPhcrows@xxxxxxxxx>
- Date: Mon, 16 Jan 2006 21:19:43 -0600
On Mon, 16 Jan 2006 21:43:56 -0500, David L. Johnson staggered into the
Black Sun and said:
> On Mon, 16 Jan 2006 11:50:39 -0500, (PeteCresswell) wrote:
>> Per David L. Johnson:
>>>[Debian net-install CD has] only one iso file to download, then it
>>>installs what you ask for over the net.
>> Any idea whether it will preserve my existing partitions?
I think the Debian Stable netinstall CD doesn't offer a friendly
interface to resizing/moving Windows filesystems. It does include the
ntfsresize utility, but you have to execute that manually IIRC. That
may be more work than you want to do. Other distros (Mandriva and SuSE
at least, maybe others) have a friendly GUI-fied interface on top of
ntfsresize and FIPS.
> In order to install, you need a partition (or raw space) to install
> on.
Aye. You can create that raw space or partition with ntfsresize or
FIPS.
>> I read a couple of accounts of people trying to create a multi-boot
>> box and losing their Windows system altogether.
Yeah, I did that back in 1999. Haven't done it since :-) . The tools
available and the documentation have improved tremendously since then,
so just Read The Fine Manual and see what you get.
> There are, or used to be, third-party programs that would allow you to
> re-partition a hard drive to make room for something like this.
> Windows, for some reason.... does not supply such a utility.
They don't supply such a utility because A) it'd confuse Joe User B)
there's really not that much demand for it. ntfsresize (for NTFS
filesystems) and FIPS (for FAT32 filesystems) are available and so
forth.
> I don't think they understand the advantage of multiple partitions
Try "multiple partitions confuse Joe User and badly-written commercial
apps". There are a fair number of Windows commercial programs that will
refuse to install in anything but C:, which is dumb but understandable
since C: is the only "drive letter" that's guaranteed to be there. That
and badly estimating the size required for partitions can lead to Stupid
Problems unless you have an LVM equivalent.
> certainly they have no desire to make it easy for you to add another
> operating system.
True dat.
> Find such a program (someone will recommend one -- it used to be that
> Partition Magic was highly recommended, but my memory harkens back to
> Windows 3.1 days), or get a separate hard drive to use just for linux.
ntfsresize and FIPS are (or should be) on every distro CD. See above
for the distros that provide more friendly interfaces for those
programs. Debian is a good distro, but it may be a little too much for
someone with little Linux experience to digest.
> There are no guarantees that re-partitioning can be done without
> hosing your Windows partition, so be sure to back up everything before
> you begin.
Yep. I've never had FIPS eat any data, and ntfsresize is supposed to be
very stable now, but backups never hurt.
--
Matt G|There is no Darkness in Eternity/But only Light too dim for us to see
Brainbench MVP for Linux Admin / mail: TRAP + SPAN don't belong
http://www.brainbench.com / "He is a rhythmic movement of the
-----------------------------/ penguins, is Tux." --MegaHAL
.
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