[plug] Dual Booting

[Bret Busby]

On Wed, 19 Mar 2003, James Elliott wrote:

> Date: Wed, 19 Mar 2003 16:07:59 +0800
> From: James Elliott <James.Elliott at wn.com.au>
> Reply-To: plug at plug.linux.org.au
> To: plug at plug.linux.org.au
> Subject: [plug] Dual Booting
> Resent-Date: Wed, 19 Mar 2003 16:08:09 +0800 (WST)
> Resent-From: plug at plug.linux.org.au
> 
> I was going to partition my 20 GB hard disk into two 10 GB partitions and
> install Windows in one partition and Debian Linux in the other, but an ISP
> Help Desk person told me yesterday I would have problems doing that because
> each OS needs to start in the first 2-4 GB of the disk space.  He suggested
> I would be much better off with two HDD's because then each OS would
> automatically be in the first 4 B of its respective disk.
> 
> Is that correct?
> I would appreciate any advice you can provide, before I proceed.
> 
> Kind regards,  James Elliott
> 
> 

I am unsure of the current status, but it used to be that Linux required 
being installed in the first 1024 cylinders.

A way around this, was to create a boot partition with a minimum size of 
16MB, in the first 1024 cylinders, and to use the remainder of the first 
1024 cylinders, for an alternative OS (eg, Windows).

My understanding is that the later kernels (after 2.0.x, or something 
like that), were supposed to have removed the 1024 cylinder requirement.

Personally, I tend to prefer to use separate partitions for the 
operating systems, the applications, and the data, so that it makes 
rebuilding easier. It also allows sharing of data between the OS's.

I have Win98, WinNT4, and RH 7.3 installed at present.

-- 
Bret Busby
Armadale
West Australia
..............

"So once you do know what the question actually is,
 you'll know what the answer means."
- Deep Thought,
  Chapter 28 of 
  "The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy:
  A Trilogy In Four Parts",
  written by Douglas Adams, 
  published by Pan Books, 1992 
....................................................