Disk Partitioning

[LTF]

I have an NTFS disk, i want to dual boot with linux, is there any free software i can get so that i can partition the disk to do this?
Or is there another way?

ta!

 

[Testin da Cable]

well...there is a little something called "fips"
it can split dos-alige partitions, but I don't know if it can handle ntfs. try a google for it.

 

[Will]

I couldn't find anything which worked on NTFS when I was in that situation. But I didn't look very hard.

 

[Kippa.]

partition magic 7 is free ;p

 

[Will]

From Debian Manual

3.6.1.1 Lossless Repartitioning When Starting From DOS, Win-32 or OS/2

One of the most common installations is onto a system that already contains DOS (including Windows 3.1), Win32 (such as Windows 95, 98, NT), or OS/2, and it is desired to put Debian onto the same disk without destroying the previous system. As explained in the Deciding on Debian Partitions and Sizes, Section 6.1, decreasing the size of an existing partition will almost certainly damage the data on that partition unless certain precautions are taken. The method described here, while not guaranteed to protect your data, works extremely well in practice. As a precaution, you should make a backup.

Before going any further, you should have decided how you will be dividing up the disk. The method in this section will only split a partition into two pieces. One will contain the original OS and the other will be used for Debian. During the installation of Debian, you will be given the opportunity to use the Debian portion of the disk as you see fit, i.e., as swap or as a file system.

The idea is to move all the data on the partition to the beginning, before changing the partition information, so that nothing will be lost. It is important that you do as little as possible between the data movement and repartitioning to minimize the chance of a file being written near the end of the partition as this will decrease the amount of space you can take from the partition.

The first thing needed is a copy of fips which is available in the tools/ directory on your nearest Debian mirror. Unzip the archive and copy the files RESTORRB.EXE, FIPS.EXE and ERRORS.TXT to a bootable floppy. A bootable floppy can be created using the command sys a: under DOS. fips comes with very good documentation which you may want to read. You will definitely need to read the documentation if you use a disk compression driver or a disk manager. Create the disk and read the documentation before you defragment the disk.

The next thing needed is to move all the data to the beginning of the partition. defrag, which comes standard with DOS 6.0 and later can easily do the job. See the fips documentation for a list of other software that may do the trick. Note that if you have Windows 95, you must run defrag from there, since DOS doesn't understand VFAT, which is used to support for long filenames, used in Windows 95 and higher.

After running the defragmenter (which can take a while on a large disk), reboot with the fips disk you created in the floppy drive. Simply type a:\fips and follow the directions.

Note that there are many other other partition managers out there, in case fips doesn't do the trick for you.

 

[(Shovel)]

You wont find a tool for repartitioning NTFS - except maybe in Windows itself.

MS have kept it under wraps so no one else has been able to reliably write to NTFS partitions - you can sometimes read from it in Linux.

You could try Ghosting it? then remaking the partitions (make it smaller) then restore the files to the smaller partition?

 

[Summo]

Pfft. PartitionMagic has been able to do all that for ages. I've done it myself several times.

 

[(Shovel)]

Originally posted by (Shovel)
You wont find a tool for repartitioning NTFS - except maybe in Windows itself.

Sorry, read to include: Windows Apps like partition magic.

To my knowledge, applications outside of Windows can't do NTFS fully.

 

[Summo]

Unless you use the PartitionMagic bootable utility disk!

HAWHAWHAW.

Summo 2 - 0 Shovel

 

[(Shovel)]

*looks around for support... Wij? TeeDee? .... anyone??*

*Runs from Summo-on-a-hatrick*

 

[Summo]

There's no-one else here... it's just you and me...

Summo 3 - 0 Shovel

*hump*

*hump*

Summo 4 - 0 Shovel

*hump*

Summo 5 - 0 Shovel

*hump*

*hump hump hump hump humphumphumphumphumphump*

*SLUUUUUUUUUUUDGE*

...

...

Summo Wins.

 

[(Shovel)]

 

[Summo]

<-- Shovel

 

[Kippa.]

Summo you cunt! I just spat coke all over my screen

 

[LTF]

Right.... looks like i'll have to 'get' partition magic :/

 

[S-Gray]

hheheeh

 

[FatBusinessman]

I'm sure Ben will be glad to know that his arse was violated in the spirit of scientific progress and enlightenment for the masses.

 

[Testin da Cable]

I do lots of things in the spirit of progress and enlightenment


*moon FBM*