Arch Linux

jmull

Member

Registered: 2004-05-31

Posts: 14

Partitioning questions

Ive been toying with the idea of dual booting between Windows and Arch for a little while, and since I recently setup an old box as a server running Arch, and like how it performs, ive decided to add linux on to my main laptop as well, but, ive got a few worries about partitioning. 

Up until now, all of my linux installs have involved completely wiping the hard drive, so ive got some partitioning expierence, but now much.  My laptop has a 60 gig HD, so I was thinking of devoting around 10 to Arch and the existing 50 to Windows, as I still use windows for games and such.  Is this a reasonable partition?  As far as the actual partitioning goes, whats the safest way, it terms of preserving my windows, to partition?

EDIT: One other thing.  How does wireless networking go with Arch.  I once tried with Fedora with no success?  Would I have any better luck on Arch?

iBertus

Member

From: Greenville, NC

Registered: 2004-11-04

Posts: 2,228

Re: Partitioning questions

You might want another partition for linux swap space. What i do is create a shared partition formatted in vfat to hold any files I want to be able to access for either OS. Also, make sure to install Arch first. Answering your question, 10GB should be enough for Arch, no problem.

deficite

Member

From: Augusta, GA

Registered: 2005-06-02

Posts: 693

Re: Partitioning questions

Well I would say 10GB would be fine for most things. I have my computer loaded down with quite a bit of software and MP3's and I just now hit the 3GB mark. For about a year I was running Arch on a 10GB hard drive.

Like iBertus said, you're going to want to set up a swap partition more than likely. There are a lot of theories about how much swap space you should use, and I think it's mainly trial and error based on what your workload consists of. I have 512MB of system RAM and use a 256MB swap and my system runs just fine.

I don't know why iBertus said to install Arch first because Windows will overwrite GRUB on the bootsector, but what I always do is install Windows first and then install Arch, which will make sure GRUB won't be overwritten. Make sure that you create a partition for Windows before you enter the install program for it because I don't think windows will let you enter a size when you create a partition in the setup.

After you have Windows installed just run the Arch install like normal, just be careful not to erase the Windows partition and all that other common sense stuff. If you want to be able to boot Windows using GRUB's menu, add this to the end of menu.lst

# (1) Windows
title Windows
root (hd0,0)
chainloader +1

Wireless networking is pretty easy in Arch. I didn't have to set any parameters; I just loaded my wireless module, updated rc.conf, and started the network daemon. Linux's support for wireless can be kind of tricky at times though, so if you have any problems I'm sure we can help you iron them out .

PS: Welcome to the board!

jmull

Member

Registered: 2004-05-31

Posts: 14

Re: Partitioning questions

I went to partition my HD using the arch CD, and unless I looked over something, I couldent figure out how to resize my existing Windows partition.  How would I go about doing this?

Euphoric Nightmare

Member

From: Kentucky

Registered: 2005-05-02

Posts: 283

Re: Partitioning questions

yeah, cfdisk doesn't let you do that.  Your best bet is probably either partition magic (windows), or qtparted (linux--its also on knoppix).  I don't think that partition magic is free of cost, so that may also be a factor.

---

http://www.enightmare.net

iphitus

Forum Fellow

From: Melbourne, Australia

Registered: 2004-10-09

Posts: 4,927

Re: Partitioning questions

If you dont want to pay for partition magic, theres gparted, qtparted, or if you have one, boot a Mandrake CD, go through the installation to the partitioning stage, partition the hard drive and then quit it. It wont install mandrake.

iphitus

iBertus

Member

From: Greenville, NC

Registered: 2004-11-04

Posts: 2,228

Re: Partitioning questions

:oops: oops... that was a typo. i meant to say install windows first and then Arch. You can get into a world of mess by doing it the other way around. I've had to install Windows second before and would rather not have to do it again.

jmull

Member

Registered: 2004-05-31

Posts: 14

Re: Partitioning questions

Any version of mandrake, or a newer version?  Also, there arent any free windows partition programs avaiable, as thats what Im running off of right now?

iphitus

Forum Fellow

From: Melbourne, Australia

Registered: 2004-10-09

Posts: 4,927

Re: Partitioning questions

Any version, some of the older ones might not resize as happily though.

9.x and up ought to be right.

jmull

Member

Registered: 2004-05-31

Posts: 14

Re: Partitioning questions

Well, a relative had an older version of Partition Magic, so I managed to partition my harddrive and installed Arch fine.  Both Arch and Windows boot up, however, the computer restarts after the windows bootup screen.  TO make sure I didnt acdentially wipe Windows, I mounted my NTFS partition in Arch and I can read the Windows data fine, so its still there.  The only problem I can see is when I look at 'fdisk -l', it shows my NTFS partition as 'Hidden HPFS/NTFS'.

Also, I went through the process of setting up wireless using ndiswrapper, and when I get to the step where I activate wlan0, the wlan light on the laptop flickers on and off, then turns off.  Any thoughts?
'

jmull

Member

Registered: 2004-05-31

Posts: 14

Re: Partitioning questions

Ok, windows boots fine now.  I kept channging the ID from hidden NTFS to NTFS, but I kept forgetting to rewrite the partition table after I made the changes.  :oops:  Still no luck with wireless though :evil: