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sharing a harddrive between windows and linux

post #1 of 5
11/18/04 at 4:58pm
Thread Starter 
is there a format where i can convert my current existing hd so i can use it in both windows and linux on a dual boot system?

thanks
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post #2 of 5
11/18/04 at 6:15pm
Quote:
Originally Posted by keitaro
is there a format where i can convert my current existing hd so i can use it in both windows and linux on a dual boot system?

thanks
I would just partition your drive up, do a decent windows partition, then in the linux install, leave some extra space after all the partitions, then what you can do is that last space... you can create a Fat32 drive, which both OS's can read and write just fine.
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post #3 of 5
11/18/04 at 8:14pm
Quote:
Originally Posted by Sedorox
I would just partition your drive up, do a decent windows partition, then in the linux install, leave some extra space after all the partitions, then what you can do is that last space... you can create a Fat32 drive, which both OS's can read and write just fine.
Make sure you use a good partition program to do this as some wont resize partitions, and make sure you defrag your HD first to prevent any problems.

Most major Distros come with a partition program capable of doing this.

Seablade
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post #4 of 5
11/18/04 at 9:41pm
Quote:
Originally Posted by seablade
Make sure you use a good partition program to do this as some wont resize partitions, and make sure you defrag your HD first to prevent any problems.

Most major Distros come with a partition program capable of doing this.

Seablade
Magic Druid (or something like this) is a good example. About the defragmentation, watch for defrag apps that put some files on the end of the partition (Norton SpeedDisk is one example based on own experience), when finishing. If you let those files there, you will only resize down to the last thing written. Example (a picture is worth a thousand words):

|-------.--....-................................................................--...|
/dev/hda1 (NTFS) = 100% /dev/hda

- = used / .. = free space

If you have this configuration, you barely can resize this partition (down to the last "-" which is nothing, almost useless).
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post #5 of 5
11/19/04 at 1:32am
If the system is already set for dual-boot, BTW, make sure the common partition between Windows and Linux is FAT32, NOT NTFS. Linux only has experimental support for NTFS and it is quite liable to screw the partition up if you try to write anything.

Regards,

zakaluka2.
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