Installing Linux on Dell Dimension 3000 without erasing current partitions

Question

Well, the title was self-explanitory...how do I install (Gentoo) linux on my computer without erasing my current partitions?

doanster · Answer

You can use software like Partition Magic to create a new partition with the free space you have rite now. Or simply use the utility that comes with some Linux distros to do the same thing. Although u should bak up ur data b4 anytime u create a new partition using this method.

psgalbraith · Answer

The Linux software that does partition re-sizing is called parted. There is a front-end called qtparted. You could boot into Windows, defragment, boot a live CD such as Knoppix and use its version of qtparted to resize the Windows partition to make it smaller, and create a new partition for Linux.

doanster · Answer

How risky is it to do this?

Mero42 · Answer

I have backed up all of my data. I think the problem is that my windows partition is taking up all my room...I have to reduce the size, but how? I don't want to buy any software.

psgalbraith · Answer

I used qtparted a few times without any problems. The reduced sized Windows partition always booted fine afterwards.

As I said, defragment your partition from within Windows (right-click on the disk and select this function) and then try qtparted from a live Linux CD such as knoppix. No need to buy anything. You might be able to find a smal CD ISO image with qtparted on it just for this task if you don't want to download knoppix (700 MB).

Mero42 · Answer

Thanks.

Linux General

Installing Linux on Dell Dimension 3000 without erasing current partitions

Was this post helpful?