Installing new HDD with Win98/Linux Partition

[rthielemann]

Hi All. I am currently running win 98 on my system with a 6gb hdd. I am upgrading to a 30gb hdd and I figured this would be tha perfect time to partition and throw Red Hat Linux on there. Question is... how is this done? I want to keep my data on the current disk and transfer it to the new disk in a windows partition but I would like to set up a small Linux partition as well. Also, I wonder if I can be prompted, upon boot up, to chose which OS I would like to boot to. Anyone have any info on this project?

------------------
Bob

[abacus]

I'm not an expert, but I've done it several times with few problems.

1. If you have a new disk, you can create a partition you intend to use for linux using msdos fdisk. If you need to shrink a partition non-destructively to make room for linux, you can use fips.exe.

When you run the Red Hat installation program, you can create and format your linux partition with linux fdisk or with Disk Druid. (Actually, you can even do a partitionless redhat installation with redhat 6.2.)

2. During the installation program, you can install LILO (LInux LOader), which will allow you to boot either linux or msdos [windows].

3. One thing I don't know is whether LILO will have problems with such a large disk. You can check out http://www.linux.com/howto/mini/Large-Disk-1.html. I haven't read it yet myself, since I don't have a large disk, so I'm clueless on this point.

My experience was that linux is not that hard to install. The harder part is getting proficient at using it well.

[rthielemann]

Would it be easier if I replaced the 6gb hdd with the 30 gb hdd for windows 98 and used the smaller 6gb hdd for linux? BAsically having 2 hdds running independantely of each other. Could I still set up lilo to boot to one hdd or the other if each has a different os on there?


------------------
Bob