\documentclass{cmlab} \RCS $Revision: 1.1 $ \usepackage{alltt,key} \ifx\pdftexversion\undefined \else \usepackage[pdfpagemode=None,pdfauthor={Nick Urbanik}]{hyperref} \fi \newcommand*{\labTitle}{Repartitioning your hard disk without deleting Windows} \begin{document} \section{Aim} \label{sec:aim} Often when you buy a computer, Windows~98 (or now, Windows~ME) is installed in one partition, with most of that partition being empty. It's a shame to waste that space without installing Linux there. This guide tells you how to repartition your hard disk without losing any of your Windows that you paid for as part of the price of buying the computer. This guide is a guide only, and does not replace the documentation, which you will find on the first Red Hat 7 CD, in the dosutils/fips20 (and the dosutils/fipsdocs) directories. \section{Background} \label{sec:background} There are a number of commercial programs for non-destructive disk partitioning, the most famous being Partition Magic\@. However, there is at least one well-tested alternative that we look at here, called \texttt{fips}. There is a section from \emph{The Official Red Hat Linux Reference Guide} at \url{http://CSAlinux.tycm.vtc.edu.hk/doc7/rhl-rg-en-7.0/s1-dualboot-fips.html} which describes how to use \texttt{fips}. You can read the user manual for \texttt{fips} by typing: \begin{alltt} emacs /mnt/cdrom/dosutils/fips20/fips.doc \end{alltt} or you can see it from \url{ftp://CSAlinux.tycm.vtc.edu.hk/pub/redhat-7.0/dosutils/fips20/fips.doc}. \subsection{Warning} \label{sec:warning} Note that I have done this a number of times, always successfully. However, I make no guarantee that it will work for you. If your data is important, back it up first. \section{Procedure} \label{sec:procedure} \subsection{An overview of the procedure} \label{sec:overview} \begin{enumerate} \item make a DOS boot disk (see section~\vref{sec:dos-boot-disk}). \item copy the files \texttt{fips.exe}, \texttt{restorerb.exe}, \texttt{errors.txt} to this disk. Probably good to copy \texttt{fips.doc} there also. \item run \texttt{scandisk}, and (if you have an old installation), \texttt{defrag}. \item boot the computer with this disk. \item type \texttt{fips} \item \texttt{fips} shows lots of information about the disks. \item use the left and right arrow keys to adjust the amount of space you want to leave in the Windows partition, and the amount you want for Linux. \item press \key{y} to have \texttt{fips} write the changes to disk. \item The system will halt. Reboot it. \item Use the installation process to partition the hard disk as discussed in our first workshop. When you start \texttt{fdisk}, you will see two partitions: the original Windows partition, and a new FAT partition, which you can delete, and replace with whatever partitions you want. \end{enumerate} \subsection{Making a DOS boot disk} \label{sec:dos-boot-disk} There are many ways of making a DOS boot disk, but the quickest way is: \begin{enumerate} \item open an \acro{MS-DOS} prompt \item put a blank, formatted floppy in the drive \item type \texttt{sys a:} \end{enumerate} \end{document}