[Techtalk] partitioning under linux

Tue Feb 5 19:14:28 UTC 2013

Thanks for the input, Miriam. Grub is working fine, but Windows is being
finicky (Grub is even giving me options to boot OS X 32 or 64 bit, though
neither will boot, which isn't important as OS X does boot without Grub).
I'll probably, then, just move my swap and resize it and give the extra
space to Linux. Hopefully that'll fix the issue or else I think I'll have
to just wipe (which I really don't hope for because I could've done that a
few weeks ago).

Re: windows booting other operating systems:
I recently set up a computer with Fedora 17 and Windows 7 (it came
pre-loaded with Windows 7) for someone else. Though under the UEFI
bootloader, you can get to a BIOS (or at least BIOS-like
interface/control), what ends up happening if you just install Fedora
without installing rEFInd on a UEFI machine is that the machine will
auto-boot Fedora unless you have good reflexes and timing to get to the
BIOS menu to boot Windows. That rather amused me, honestly - that Microsoft
is trying to keep OSs like Linux out and it ends up acting like Windows
isn't even there unless you put rEFInd on the machine or go into the BIOS.
rEFInd works wonderfully and acknowledges both Grub and Windows. rEFInd
also allows customization of which one auto-boots and how long you want to
wait. So yes, the Windows UEFI bootloader *can* launch other OSs, but it
takes a bit of timing and reflexes.

On Mon, Feb 4, 2013 at 4:16 PM, Miriam English <mim at miriam-english.org>wrote:

> If you use grub to start the machine, giving a boot menu for Linux and
> Windows then Linux will happily run in any partition. I usually have 3
> Linuxes on my main machine and I choose which one I want to boot from
> grub's boot menu. There used to be some major limitations in the days when
> lilo (instead of grub) was used to boot machines.
>
> I don't think there is any limitation at all on where or how big a swap
> partition is. There are some vague recommendations as to the size, but
> equally, I've read that these days, with so much RAM in our machines, that
> the swap partition is not really needed. Nevertheless I keep one on each of
> my machines (though *not* on my flash-drive-based machines). As memory and
> drives have gotten larger, applications have bloated to take up the extra
> space, so in a sense we haven't really gained as much as it might at first
> seem.
>
> It has been a long time since I had a Windows partition on any of my
> machines, so I can't speak much about Windows, but from memory I think its
> defragmenter is in the "accessories" submenu from the main "Start" menu.
> These days Windows is able to boot and launch not only itself, but other
> operating systems from its own boot menu, I believe. I don't know anything
> about it. I've set up machines for friends with Windows and Linux on them,
> but have always used grub for the boot menu. It works nicely and always
> finds the Windows and Linux installations automatically and lets me
> customise the boot menu easily afterwards. I have heard that Windows likes
> to clobber grub, but again I don't know much about that.
>
> You can use Puppy Linux as a rescue/maintenance disk. The boot disk is
> usually only about 100MB -- less than a sixth of a CD! -- and also works
> well for booting off a thumbdrive.
> http://www.puppylinux.com/
>
> You can use it to set up the machine and install grub, and it has gparted
> for fiddling with partitions, as well as do most of the things you'd want
> to do normally. It has a cut-down, but surprisingly complete Linux, along
> with oodles of other stuff such as wordprocessor, web browser, spreadsheet,
> movieplayer and so on. It doesn't touch the hard drive unless you tell it
> to because it runs entirely in RAM (when booted off CD or flash drive).
> I've used it a number of times to rescue friends' Windows machines, and one
> friend's machine running Ubuntu.
>
> You don't have to install Puppy Linux from its boot disk. You can just use
> it to set up the machine for some other kind of Linux. I used to run
> various flavors of Linux on my machines (Red Hat, Mandriva, Suse, Ubuntu,
> Debian), but after trying Puppy Linux from its boot disks I came to prefer
> its speed, ease of use, and tiny footprint. Now all my machines have
> various versions of Puppy linux installed on them. Two of the most popular
> versions are Puppy Lucid, which is able to add Puppy packages and Ubuntu
> packages to extend itself, and Puppy Slacko, which is able to add Puppy
> packages and Slackware packages to extend itself. Getting the devx package
> lets you compile from sourcecode so you're not reliant on pre-built
> software.
>
> Cheers,
>
>
>         - Miriam
>
>
> Gnat Alie wrote:
>
>> Thank you for all your help and information. Though I do not intend on
>> resizing windows XP what should I defrag with (I figure I probably should
>> do that anyway and should probably update to SP3 - you don't have to tell
>> me to be conservative with Windows changes XB)? Thankfully, I have my
>> system backed up. I think then, from what I gather, a gparted live disk
>> would be the best option.
>>
>> Would it not really work out well if I moved my swap to partition 5, and
>> had windows at 4, with linux at 3? Or would linux be smart enough? XB
>>
>> Thanks a lot again.
>>
>>
>> On Sun, Feb 3, 2013 at 5:00 PM, Billie Walsh <bilwalsh at swbell.net> wrote:
>>
>>  Just my opinion but, whenever I've wanted to resize a Windows partition
>>> I've always done it in Windows. My theory is that Windows knows how to
>>> deal
>>> with moving it's own files better than another OS. I can't say that my
>>> theory is correct but I've never had an issue doing it that way. And,
>>> definitely defrag first.
>>>
>>> Having said that I have a few times let the install script resize on the
>>> fly during an install and never had a problem either.
>>>
>>> Not saying that the very next time I do it it won't totally bork the
>>> system. Maybe I've just been lucky so far. *<]:oD
>>>
>>>
>>> On 02/03/2013 03:27 PM, Miriam English wrote:
>>>
>>>  I've had an easy time of manipulating lots of drive partitions with
>>>> gparted. It is easy and intuitive.
>>>>
>>>> A word of warning: back everything up. I've never lost anything with
>>>> gparted, but when fiddling with partitions the risk is always there.
>>>>
>>>> I know you didn't specifically say you wanted to resize a Windows
>>>> partition, but if at any point you decide to then do defragment it first
>>>> and be aware that XP and Windows7 seem to stick some system stuff in the
>>>> middle of the disk address space which risks getting clobbered. Be
>>>> conservative in your Windows changes.
>>>>
>>>> Using gparted to resize, move, delete, create Linux partitions, swap
>>>> partitions, and any of several other format partitions is very simple
>>>> and
>>>> easy.
>>>>
>>>> Note that if you want to use solid-state flash-memory drives (such as SD
>>>> cards, thumbdrives, etc) then be aware that you need to be careful of
>>>> several quirks of that hardware so that whatever partitioning and
>>>> formating
>>>> program you use doesn't radically shorten the drive's life.
>>>>
>>>> Best wishes,
>>>>
>>>> - Miriam
>>>>
>>>>
>>>> Gnat Alie wrote:
>>>>
>>>>  I have heard that gparted is the best program for partitioning under
>>>>> linux.
>>>>> I'm using Fedora 18 KDE. Is there a better option or is gparted the
>>>>> best?
>>>>> It looks nice. I want to delete and resize and possibly move & create
>>>>> partitions.
>>>>>
>>>>> If I delete my swap space, can I then re-create the swap space? If so,
>>>>> will
>>>>> it be last in the partition table? My problem is I think windows on my
>>>>> tri-booted mac machine wants to boot from partition 4 and it's
>>>>> currently
>>>>> on
>>>>> partition 5 (and my swap is in the 4th spot).
>>>>>
>>>>> I'd also like to resize my swap and linux partitions.
>>>>>
>>>>> Thanks.
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>>>>>
>>>>>
>>>>>
>>>>>
>>>>
>>> --
>>>
>>> “Only two things are infinite, the universe and human stupidity, and I’m
>>> not sure about the former.”
>>> -Albert Einstein
>>>
>>>
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> --
> If you don't have any failures then you're not trying hard enough.
>  - Dr. Charles Elachi, director of NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory
> -----
> Website: http://miriam-english.org
> Blogs:   http://miriam-e.dreamwidth.org
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