14 replies to this topic

[NNNOOOOOO]

I'm running it live CD right now. If i decide to install it, will it format my HDD? I want to keep Windows installed too (if I find what might be a cool program to tryout, games).

[rvalkass]

If you decide to install it, you will be given partition options. I believe now the installer has an automagical choice to say "Keep my Windows installation, free up some space for Linux to be installed on". If it doesn't then choose the option to manually edit the partitions, shrink your Windows partition, and use the free space to create a new partition for Linux.

[truefusion]

Since even after much defragging there is no telling whether or not you would lose (important) information after resizing a Windows partition, i would therefore recommend simply getting a new hard drive with small capacity (about 20 gigs) for using Linux.

[NNNOOOOOO]

OK, now to my original question. I figured out how to access my C drive and removable drives, but what about my CD drives and my secondary hard drive? My master HDD has my windows installation and programs on it @ 14GB total memory. My slave HDD has all my music and videos, a few programs and a couple of games on it @ 70GB total memory. Can I partition my largest drive into 2, so that the largest partition contains my music, videos, and everything else already on it and have enough room left for more. Then the smallest partition gets the Xubuntu installation?

[truefusion]

The average Linux distro only needs about 2 gigs for the system alone. So long as you place all your personal files else where, the most you'll probably ever need for a Linux system is 10 gigs (even then that may be a bit too much). You can create new partitions on which ever can provide room for the Linux system. In fact, you can even install and run Linux from a USB flash drive (though it would perform slower than from a regular hard drive). But i would still recommend getting an extra hard drive. Xfce, the desktop environment for Xubuntu, has support for picking up and displaying all kinds of drives: CD/DVD drives, USB drives and hard disk drives.

[rpgsearcherz]

If you decide to install the OS you will be given an option to install alongside Windows. It will install/configure the bootloader and everything for you, although I'm not sure if it will force you to repartition in the process.

I've personally never had a problem with repartitioning before and losing anything, but you should back up all your files anyways (you never know when your HDD will go out!).

[NNNOOOOOO]

I installed it and it made me partition the HDD. It still won't let me access my E(?) drive, nor my F(?) drive (I think E is my 2nd HDD and F is my 2nd CD drive).

[rpgsearcherz]

NNNOOOOOO, on 23 July 2010 - 06:34 PM, said:

I installed it and it made me partition the HDD. It still won't let me access my E(?) drive, nor my F(?) drive (I think E is my 2nd HDD and F is my 2nd CD drive).

That's weird because Ubuntu can read fat32 and NTFS without an issue (both of which are the only options with Windows OS's).

Since you still have Windows up (right?) are you able to view the drives in that?

[NNNOOOOOO]

rpgsearcherz, on 23 July 2010 - 08:33 PM, said:

That's weird because Ubuntu can read fat32 and NTFS without an issue (both of which are the only options with Windows OS's).

Since you still have Windows up (right?) are you able to view the drives in that?

Windows can red it just fine. The only time I can view the contents of the drives is when I do something like add files to the list in the media player. It can read the external drives in it (so far, it was just one flash drive.)

[rpgsearcherz]

NNNOOOOOO, on 23 July 2010 - 10:36 PM, said:

Windows can red it just fine. The only time I can view the contents of the drives is when I do something like add files to the list in the media player. It can read the external drives in it (so far, it was just one flash drive.)

So your second HDD is external, not internal?

If that's the case, try unplugging it/turning it off and turning it back on/plug it back in. Linux has to "mount" drives so that may be your issue (it might not be mounting properly).