Different OS in different partitions

[lancer]

I have one disk drive with two partitions. The first one is /dev/sda1 and has a windows on it. The second one is /dev/sda2 and has Gutsy 32 bit installed. I got tired of windows and I deceided to ban it form my computer. So I did the following sudo mkfs -t ext3 /dev/sda1 to convert that partition to a linux partition. Now I would like to install in sda1 the 64 bit Gutsy and would like also to include the option to choose which OS to start at the boot up . How do I do that without delete or compromising the data I have in sda2?

Thanks
Lancer

[Snowhog]

Re: Different OS in different partitions

First, is your CPU a 64-bit processor? I'll never assume what isn't stated.

You should first split the sda1 partition into at least two, which will result in an sda1 and sda3. The sda1 should be set to 10G and sda3 to the remaining amount, or less, if you want to reserve some for future use.

That done, install the 64-bit Gutsy. When asked where to put Grub, point to sda1 (the root partition). Grub will recognize that another OS exists on the HD and configure the Grub Menu accordingly. You will have the ability to launch either OS from the menu list.

[lancer]

Re: Different OS in different partitions

Yes you are right, Its an AMD64 3800+
I am trying to use gparted but I will not start ( it says scanning all devices...and nothing happens). I found out that when I type sudo fdisk -l ,I get this:

Disk /dev/sda: 300.0 GB, 300069052416 bytes
255 heads, 63 sectors/track, 36481 cylinders
Units = cylinders of 16065 * 512 = 8225280 bytes
Disk identifier: 0x00079719

Device Boot Start End Blocks Id System
/dev/sda1 * 1 18240 146512768+ 7 HPFS/NTFS
/dev/sda2 18241 36103 143484547+ 83 Linux
/dev/sda3 36104 36481 3036285 5 Extended
/dev/sda5 36104 36481 3036253+ 82 Linux swap / Solaris

It still show that sda1 is NTFS.....
What is sda3? ( I thought that Sda2 has it's swap file in Sda5)

When I type sudo blkid I get this:

/dev/sda1: UUID="831e4ae8-a5f7-4686-b958-a9f399cb0564" SEC_TYPE="ext2" TYPE="ext3"
/dev/sda2: UUID="3212e8f6-4f11-4f91-a6cf-c6e7574f1f8c" SEC_TYPE="ext2" TYPE="ext3"
/dev/sda5: TYPE="swap" UUID="162d1115-cef3-461c-af14-b8d712d63b9

There it shows that sda is already a ext3. Do I have to edit the fstab file? Why is it not automatically updated when I did the sudo mkfs -t ext3 /dev/sda1 command?

Thanks
Daniel

[Snowhog]

Re: Different OS in different partitions

/dev/sda1 * 1 18240 146512768+ 7 HPFS/NTFS
/dev/sda2 18241 36103 143484547+ 83 Linux
/dev/sda3 36104 36481 3036285 5 Extended
/dev/sda5 36104 36481 3036253+ 82 Linux swap / Solaris

Ensure first, that you have your boot order in the BIOS set so that booting from CD is first in the list.

You will want to use GParted to delete the sda1 partition. Then set the unallocated space up as you want: 10G for 'root' and then an additional amount, up to the remaining amount of unallocated space (or less) for /home. As you already have an Extended partition (sda3), your will end up with partitions labeled as follows:

/dev/sda1 83 Linux
/dev/sda2 83 Linux
/dev/sda3 5 Extended
/dev/sda5 82 Linux swap / Solaris
/dev/sda6 83 Linux

/dev/sda1 would be the (recommended) 10G 'root' partition for the 64-bit Gutsy installation and /dev/sda6 would be the /home partition. You can share the swap partition between the two OS's.

***IF YOU ARE NOT SURE, COMFORTABLE WITH, OR DO NOT UNDERSTAND THIS, THEN DON'T DO IT***

[lancer]

Re: Different OS in different partitions

I did that with the Gutsy installation disk and I ended with this

Device Boot Start End Blocks Id System
/dev/sda1 1 1216 9767488+ 83 Linux
/dev/sda2 18241 36103 143484547+ 83 Linux
/dev/sda3 36104 36481 3036285 5 Extended
/dev/sda4 1217 18240 136745280 83 Linux
/dev/sda5 36104 36481 3036253+ 82 Linux swap / Solaris

The only thing is that I never couldn't finish the insyallaton process of the 64 bit 7.10 Kubuntu. At 90% of the installation (at the harware configuring) the computer hung up and the only I could de was to restart it. I repeated the process 3 times and in all happened the same.

Any idea why this happened?

Lancer

[Snowhog]

Re: Different OS in different partitions

Ensure that you don't have power management settings enabled in the BIOS. What is likely, is that your PC is going to sleep before the installation finishes. This problem has affected other members. It's worth checking.

[lancer]

Re: Different OS in different partitions

Thanks for the advice Snowhog, but everything seems to be Ok. I couldn't find the problem
Lancer