hi
i'm a newbie both to the forum and linux (well been toying around with it for the last 6 months)...i run Fedora Core 5 ...but did something that wasnt suppose to do and had to delete all....so now i have my 2 hd's (150gb each) free...and i'm looking for suggestions in how i should use them...but..
1.- i need windows back (...) need to record music and need software only available for windows.
2.- i play lots of videos and music (looking for a linux distro that goes smoothly with it...also need to have access from both OS to movies and music....)

so...any suggestions on how to install the dual boot system and partition setup...???...if specs of cpu are needed i'll post...thnx

I'm curious...what happened that required you to remove everything?

As for starting over, are you reinstalling Windows as well, or was it just Linux that fried? EDIT - duh, you said both drives are free...doh?

Since you have plenty of room, I'd suggest making a 50GB partition on one disk (formatted ntfs) and leave the rest alone (for now). Put a 100GB partition on the other disk (formatted fat32). Put Windows on the 50GB partition, and use the 100GB partition for media and shared stuff.

For Linux, I'd use the remaining 50GB on the second disk (partitioned how you see fit...at minimum a / partition, but I'd recommend /, /usr, /tmp, and /var (and perhaps /opt)) for Linux (Fedora didn't fare so well...what about Ubunutu?). Use the remaining 100GB on the first disk for /home and swap (I'm assuming you're wanting a desktop...adjust as necessary if you're building something else).

With this setup, you can access the disks in parallel from either operating system...which will give you a slight performance boost. If they're IDE drives you can also get a small boost by putting them on separate IDE channels (i.e. not master/slave on the same cable).

Also, since you're doing a fresh install of both OS's, it'd be an excellent idea to grab a copy of g4l (ghost4Linux: http://sourceforge.net/projects/g4l) and create backups of your disks in case something goes wrong down the line...preferably via ftp over your local network.

Hope this helps.

I have a few multi-boot systems, one at present has 7 OS's.
You should not use up the whole 300GB right now as you may want to get creative later on and build a more versatile system. I agree with using the second drive as a shared partition, but wouldn't worry about performance issues on a data drive, (keep it on the same channel). I also recommend using NTFS filesystem on the data drive as there is a Linux ported product out now called ntfs-3g that has no problem reading/writing to an NTFS filesystem safely that Windows XP uses. The advantage over FAT32 is the file size limit in Fat32 is 4GB and Fat32 cannot preserve Linux owner/permissions of a file. NTFS has unlimited file size. As time goes forward we will be working with much more data which is why we are moving to 64bit, DVD's which are 4.37GB for a single layer disc may also be more common than CD's, (editing video).
With a shared NTFS file system you do not need to make a separate /home partition for Linux.
On the first drive install Windows first, a 15GB partition is lots for XP when data is stored on another drive/partition and the smaller the partition, the better the performance. Then go with between 10GB and 20GB for Linux next, some distributions give you the opportunity to install the installation CD's/DVD to the hard drive for easier package installation in the future (not having to put discs in the drive when adding a package), if you want that feature you should have at least a 15GB partition. Then make a shared swap partition to share with the next Linux(s) distributions you more than likely will want to try in the future that you will install in remaining free space. (The smaller the partition, the better performance).
For now, go ahead and use the whole 150GB of the data drive, it will be easy enough to re-size later, but it is a little more cumbersome to re-size and slide existing root partitions and in some cases, dangerous.
Below is a link to a good tutorial on setting up a multi-boot with traditional partitioning methods. I recommend using an advanced boot manager called bootitng with some nice features including imaging your root partitions for back-up and restoring in-case you get creative and screw things up, it is a fast easy way to re-install without discs. On my Dell XPS Gen 5 computer with a Pentium 650 processor it takes about 8 minutes to wipe a 10GB partition with 0's and make a new 10GB partition and restore the image (stored on data partition, about 1.5GB to 2GB compressed size). No editing dick squat, just boot it up and hack at it again, (no fear). To use bootitng's (or others like Acronis) many features it is best to create your partitions with it also.

EDIT: This way you can try many Linux distros as one person's personal favorite might not necessarily be "your cup of tea".

http://www.justlinux.com/forum/showthread.php?t=147959

thnx for the posts ...i'm still going over them...i aint no pc wiz..takes me time...hehe
rocket357 - to answer what went wrong (...what i did wrong)...i typed as root in console something like mv /* /etc/usr...don't remeber where it went...linux didnt boot...said something about not syncing: kernel panic...tryed linux rescue...but could not make it...just a newbie...i need to read...any suggestions on material i should take a look...so i can go up some levels....
going back to the dual boot - what distro goes well with music, movies and graphics...or are they all just the same and it depends on how u set them up....rocket357 - u suggested ubuntu...is it good for such tasks...i was considering debian (choosing by brand)....how good is fedora for those...?...compared to rest of the distros???.....
i gtg i'll try post later...
thnx for the replys

Ubuntu, and it's half a dozen spinoff distros, are usually quoted as being very "user friendly". (Ubuntu is based on Debian) Fedora, in my experience, is much the same.

As for movies, music, etc... any distro can be set up to play movies, music, etc... but some take more work than others. I don't have much experience with recent Fedora and I have virtually no experience with Ubuntu, so I really couldn't tell you. Perhaps JuniorHacker would be of more assistance?

As for that move command, yeah, that explains why it wouldn't boot afterwards. The shell is an amazingly powerful tool...and it *can* be unforgiving.

JuniorHacker - thanks for the info about bootitng...it sounds awesome, and worth checking out. As for not using the entire 300GB, you're quite right...I should've known better than to suggest something like that Thanks!

For megadammed

Generally the easier distributions to install and have most if not all your hardware recognized and set up are as rocket357 mentioned, in the Ubuntu family, and Mandriva is usually easy to set up and play with. All the Linux distributions use the same "brain" so to speak, called the "kernel". So you can install the same music players, movie players etc. on any of them. It is more of a question of how soon do you want to play instead of setting up. The biggest challenge with the ones I mention should be setting up the right repositories where you'll get software that did'nt come on your disc and where to get bug fixes "updates" for software you have installed. In the Ubuntu family you have to do a little research to figure out the best way to set up your repositories. With Mandriva you go to this site: http://easyurpmi.zarb.org/ and select the appropriate entries in the the drop down menus and follow instructions. There will be about 80MB of data to download, but it is easy to set up by just following instructions on that page.

For rocket357

When I first got bootitng a couple years ago, I was an average home computer user, now thanks to bootitng whom took the fear of buggering things up out of me, I am a n entrepreneur with a computer repair branch in my business. Most people ask me to repair their virus infected or slow Windows box, and have to give up their computer for a few days, and pay me $$$. When I have similar problems with any of my systems, I take care of it in less than ten minutes and the computer stays home. Bootitng cost me $35.00 US when I finally decided to pay for it (can be used for free0. I make images of customers computers after I have it fully updated and configured after a fresh install, if the computer comes back, I restore the image in very little time and charge again. It put's money in my pocket. Below is a link to another thread where I mention some of the many advantages of having this product which are far beyond it's basic features:

http://www.linuxquestions.org/questi...03#post2659303

Cool. I've been using g4l for backing up my systems, but my main machine has around 400 GB of storage room and my ftp server only has about 20GB left =\

Perhaps backing up directly on this machine would give me more flexibility with backups...heh.

Thanks again for the info.

couldn't post earlier....
i gotta decide soon how will i set up my pc....main problem is asigning the right size for each partition...and also which distributions to install (and process of installation - i probably will need a step by step...)...
till now i've only thought about having XP (it should be installed first.right?) and fedora (since i've already been playing around with it)...also i want to have 2 more linux distributiones (to test them and play around with the multi OS stuff)...been thinking about having Debian or Ubuntu and maybe SUSE...don't really know which ones to try...but those seem to be very popular...also i've seen in http://distrowatch.com/dwres.php?resource=major where they have like some listing on distributiones that there are distros focused to the purpose of just multimedia stuff...what do u guys think about those distros???
related on partitions ans sizes - more info - i got 2 lacies 250gb each...so consider that most of my movies and music could go there...but surely wont take me long to fil it (just one with free space).how much disk space should i give XP? i'm gonna use it for Free Hand Drawing...some vid and mp3 playback (but could do it from fedora also)...Qbase and recording apps (those may need more free disk space
For linux distributions - hom much disk space for each one? i think i'll use them for everythin else...openoffice..irc..amule (donwloads asigned to which partition)...mp3 vids.....
All this about space asigning is cause i would like an efficent system...for the first time...i always just install everything...stoopid me...hehe....
thnx for the posts
i'll try to post back sooner this time....