Create a 1GB partition from 10GB WinXP partition

[gcb]

Hello. This is my first post @ LJR. Nice Forum

I'm wanting to do a Linux From Scratch & I need a partition to work with it.
I have a WinXP partition that is around 10 gigs & i was wondering what i'd use to safely pull a 1 gig partition from it...i've never worked with NTFS partitions & don't know what program to use...thanks. ;D

[Inctoan]

The only non destructive partition tool I've used was Powerquest's Partition magic http://www.powerquest.com/partitionmagic/ .
It seemed to do a pretty good job with fat32 and according to the site it "Supports FAT, FAT32, NTFS, and Linux ext2/Swap file systems "
Hope that helps *

[gcb]

cool

now, if only it were free....... :-[

i guess i could always get destructive and use fdisk. :
then reformat in reinstall...maybe i'll do that tonite.

[kenshi]

Yep, the only way I know is with Partition Magic. Otherwise you'll just have to back up and use fdisk.

[gcb]

okay, i'm needing some help with fdisk in linux...

Here's a printout of my partition table from fdisk:

Disk /dev/hda: 255 heads, 63 sectors, 3739 cylinders
Units = cylinders of 16065 * 512 bytes

  Device Boot  Start    End  Blocks  Id System
/dev/hda1  *     1   1274 10233373+  7 HPFS/NTFS
/dev/hda2     1275   3739 19800112+  5 Extended
/dev/hda5     1275   1720  3582463+ 83 Linux
/dev/hda6     1721   1751  248976  82 Linux swap
/dev/hda7     1752   3739 15968578+ 83 Linux

My NTFS partition is Primary & my Linux partition are all on the Extended

These are the commands:

Command action
  a  toggle a bootable flag
  b  edit bsd disklabel
  c  toggle the dos compatibility flag
  d  delete a partition
  l  list known partition types
  m  print this menu
  n  add a new partition
  o  create a new empty DOS partition table
  p  print the partition table
  q  quit without saving changes
  s  create a new empty Sun disklabel
  t  change a partition's system id
  u  change display/entry units
  v  verify the partition table
  w  write table to disk and exit
  x  extra functionality (experts only)

I just need to take 1gig from that NTFS partition, and make it a ext2fs partition, so I can work on my linux from scratch.

[pbharris]

hello,
you can just do a w at the point if you like - it would write the two ext2 partions plus a linux swap partiton. else you could delete them all, make a ntfs partions (toggle to type 7) which is the size of your drive - 1 Gig, plus what ever you wanted for swap space. then create a linux swap (toggle to type 82) and a linux ext2 (the default). to toggle a partition hit the t key in case ya did not know.

[gcb]

oh man...i thought i trashed my whole entire system!
i used diskdrake, which is a mandrake disk utility program, to resize my NTFS partition. i created a new one & saved all this & rebooted to see if it worked.

surprise! kernel panic! oh jeeze, i thought to myself as i punched my own face. i then knew that i couldn't get discouraged...& i powered off & grabbed my handy Linux books & quickly searched for LILO parameters...i had never used anything but default lilo commands & had no idea what i was doing!

okay, i found something that looked like it may come in handy 'root=<device>' yes! a little patience & fifty wrong commands later...'linux root=/dev/hda6'
whew! it boots! sort of...some kinda maintenance mode i guess...

well, i got to thinkin'..."what would someone who knows what they're doing do at this point?"

that's when it hit me....i probably just needed to change my /etc/lilo.conf and my /etc/fstab to work with my new partitions....one fdisk to check my partition table later, a few mounting & umountings, &......i did it!

reboot & hooray! all my beautiful files and programs are intact!!!
oh man, it was a miracle...only the help of the good Lord saved me from this one, man...i had absolutely no idea what i was doing & somehow it worked! i am so proud of myself... ;D

lost WinXP, of course...oh well, HOORAY for that too! ;D

congratulations! (for getting the partitioning done and getting rid of XP )