[achtung]

Ok, here's the sitrep.

I've got SuSe 10.0, I'm wanting to put it on my laptop which has XP Home on it.  I've already succesfuly installed linux on a machine with ME and one with 98se and succesfuly partitioned the drives on both.  Now I think. "Gosh would it be neat to have it on my laptop!".  I go on to defrag windows to make sure everything's sectioned off niceley for my SuSe install, I then shut down and put the first SuSe CD in the drive, everything goes along smoothly.  I get to the configuration screen and decide I want windows to have around 38 gigs, the swap space for SuSe to have around 1 gig, and for SuSe itself to have 15 gigs.  Well I get everything set up properly then click accept.  It starts and makes it to about 1-2 percent and says "Cannot Resize Windows Partition".  I try again after defragging again to no avail.

So here are my questions:

Is windows being a ***** and deciding it should fill random parts of my HDD with it's Bull****?  So I cannot install another OS on another partition?  Or is it something else?

[WMCoolmon]

I don't even want to read this thread. It sounds only slightly better than "Fun with matches, dry leaves, and my eye."


Slightly better than I was thinking. It might be that there are...file table thingies...on those spots on the hard drive so SUSE can't move them around. You might check if there's a newer version with SUSE with better NTFS handling, or if you can partition the drive with something else.

Be warned that you should use _one_ program to partition the drive. Using multiple programs has spawned many a plea for help on Linux forums.

[Descenterace]

NTFS, being a closed 'standard' that is altered with every version of Windows NT, can only be reliably handled by commercial software. Linux is coming close to dealing with it (the filesystem can be read but not yet reliably written) but is not quite there.

The best way to get around this kind of problem is to partition the disk prior to installing any OS. If blanking the disk and starting over is not an option (never install Windows after Linux; it will fsck up GRUB) go look for PartitionMagic; it'll handle pretty much any filesystem ever invented.

[achtung]

I don't even want to read this thread. It sounds only slightly better than "Fun with matches, dry leaves, and my eye."


Slightly better than I was thinking. It might be that there are...file table thingies...on those spots on the hard drive so SUSE can't move them around. You might check if there's a newer version with SUSE with better NTFS handling, or if you can partition the drive with something else.

Be warned that you should use _one_ program to partition the drive. Using multiple programs has spawned many a plea for help on Linux forums.

Got any suggestions for some good progs?

EDIT:

NTFS, being a closed 'standard' that is altered with every version of Windows NT, can only be reliably handled by commercial software. Linux is coming close to dealing with it (the filesystem can be read but not yet reliably written) but is not quite there.

The best way to get around this kind of problem is to partition the disk prior to installing any OS. If blanking the disk and starting over is not an option (never install Windows after Linux; it will fsck up GRUB) go look for PartitionMagic; it'll handle pretty much any filesystem ever invented.

You posted while I was typing.

Thanks, I'll get partition magic and try it out.

[Kamikaze]

Laptops are very strange creatures (or maybe it's Windows). I once tried to install Linux on an IBM Thinkpad and an HP laptop (both virtually brand new). The HP laptop had issues with resizing the WinXP partition, but the Thinkpad had absolutely no problem. I was using the exact same LiveCD to resize both.

[achtung]

Laptops are very strange creatures (or maybe it's Windows). I once tried to install Linux on an IBM Thinkpad and an HP laptop (both virtually brand new). The HP laptop had issues with resizing the WinXP partition, but the Thinkpad had absolutely no problem. I was using the exact same LiveCD to resize both.

Uh, oh.  I'm using an HP laptop. 

[Scuddie]

Don't worry about it.  On every fairly recent HP/Compaq machine there is a hidden protected partition on the disk.  This is the way HP allows for a full system restore in the event that the primary partition become invalid.  These things are a real pain in the ass to deal with, but I think Partition Magic or Partition Manager Pro should be able to see it.  What you need to do in this case is to move/resize the primary partition and allocate some space.  In linux FDISK or whatever tool SuSE uses, you must use the unallocated space, and ignore the rest of the partitions.  Doing this will make sure you get the appropriate allocation, while not worrying about the recovery partition.  I did this with my HP laptop, it is not a problem once you obtain Partition Magic.

[Nix]

If you can get enough free unallocated space with Partition Magic, then let your linux installer configure it's partitions in the unallocated space (automatically set up swap partitions, root and other partitions if necessary), it should be a breeze.  Partition Magic has saved my ass multiple times in moving stuff around.  Remember though if you move  a partition past the 1024 boundary, it will NOT be bootable, as stated in partition magic.  Make sure whatever partition your bootloader resides on is within that boundary.  Otherwise, you might be able to install, but your BIOS wont see the boot partition if it's on the end of your drive.  Just a heads-up there.

[kasperl]

I'd say use FDISK (the Linux variant). That always worked for me when repartitioning NTFS drives. The rest of the install heavily ****ed up my MBR, though, so you really want to see if you can backup that before you let a linux bootloader near it.

[futureshock]

HI, this is what I did with some Thinkpads running XP and different flavours of SUSE and Debian.
It helps to defrag but often the "system parts" (green in the Defrag-program) cannot be moved. What you have to do then is to disable the swap-file Windows is using. (Right click "My Computer"; choose Lowest entry; Click the tab containing "Improving performance or something like that"; there you should be able to set swap temporarily to 0MB)

Then SUSE is able to do the partitioning. Do not forget to reset the swap file for windows before you start any programs in XP.
Have fun.
(Sorry if the XP part is unclear, have only XP in german at hand. )

[achtung]

Would you guys say that parition magic 8 is worth the  $70?

[kasperl]

I wouldn't pay for it.

[Nix]

If you can get your hands on the floppy disk version, that's all you need.  It fits on two regular floppies.  There's gotta be images of the files somewhere....

[kasperl]

Or just start the Linux install disk, go to the console,. and use FDISK. Manual can be found using man fdisk before typing fdisk. Beware, don't do this if you can't afford to start over from scratch. Typos are dangerous.

[Scuddie]

FDISK will not work in this situation, Kasperl.