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Operating Systems Linux Slackware Install more than one OS in a single partition... Post 302160582 by niterobin on Tuesday 22nd of January 2008 06:41:02 AM
Old 01-22-2008
My thought is that it depends on the file system. If both operating systems use the same file system and one of them has dual boot capabilties, then it's possible. The only example I know of this was OS/2 and MS-DOS/Windows, if the partition was formatted as FAT16.

I'm not sure it would be possible with Unixes, as I don't know very much about the file systems concerned. I personally run Slackware, which is formatted as EXT2, and also WINXP, which uses NTFS formatting for its partition. Because the formatting of the file systems are different, it isn't possible, as far as I know, to install both of the operating systems on the same partition. And, even if it was, then you'd need a boot loader to switch between each of the operating systems. If one doesn't exist, then you'd have to write it yourself - and I *really* don't have a clue as to how to go about doing that.

If you're trying to install a second operating system without losing data from the first one, then maybe Gparted would be useful to you. It runs from a bootable CD, and enables you to resize a partition to free up disk space and to create new partitions outside the existing one. The homepage for it is here: GParted -- LiveCD

Some caveats: back up your existing partition before you use Gparted. I used it with no problems, but it's always best to err on the safe side. And, if you're installing a form of Linux, you'll need *two* partitions, a bigger one for the Linux installation, and a smaller one to use as the swap partition.

HTH.
 

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CFDISK(8)							 GNU fdisk Manual							 CFDISK(8)

NAME
GNU fdisk, lfdisk, gfdisk - manipulate partition tables on a hard drive SYNOPSIS
fdisk [options] [device] DESCRIPTION
fdisk is a disk partition manipulation program, which allows you to create, destroy, resize, move and copy partitions on a hard drive using a menu-driven interface. It is useful for organising the disk space on a new drive, reorganising an old drive, creating space for new oper- ating systems, and copying data to new hard disks. For a list of the supported partition types, see the --list-partition-types option below. It comes in two variants, gfdisk and lfdisk. Lfdisk aims to resemble Linux fdisk 2.12, while gfdisk supports more advanced disk operations, like resizing the filesystem, moving and copying partitions. When starting fdisk, the default is to run gfdisk. OPTIONS
-h, --help displays a help message. -v, --version displays the program's version. -L, --linux-fdisk turns on Linux fdisk compatibility mode. This is the same as running lfdisk. -G, --gnu-fdisk turns off Linux fdisk compatibility mode. -i, --interactive where necessary, prompts for user intervention. -p, --script never prompts for user intervention. -l, --list lists the partition table on the specified device and exits. If there is no device specified, lists the partition tables on all detected devices. -r, --raw-list displays a hex dump of the partition table of the disk, similar to the way Linux fdisk displays the raw data in the partition table. -u, --sector-units use sectors, instead of cylinders for a default unit. -s, --size=DEVICE prints the size of the partition on DEVICE is printed on the standard output. -t, --list-partition-types displays a list of supported partition types and features. The following options are available only to lfdisk. -b, --sector-size=SIZE Specify the sector size of the disk. Valid values are 512, 1024 and 2048. Should be used only on older kernels, which don't guess the correct sector size. -C, --cylinders=CYLINDERS Specify the number of cylinders of the disk. Currently does nothing, it is left for Linux fdisk compatibility. -H, --heads=HEADS Specify the number of heads of the disk. Reasonable values are 255 or 16. -S, --sectors=SECTORS Specify the number of sectors per track. A reasonable value is 63. BUGS
Before editing a BSD disklabel, the partition with the disklabel should already exist on the disk and be detected by the OS. If you have created a BSD-type partition, you need to write the changes to the disk. If fdisk fails to notify the OS about the changes in partition ta- ble, you need to restart your computer. As fdisk tries to guess the device holding the BSD disklabel, it might fail to edit it at all, even if the OS has detected it. In this case you are adviced to simply open the device with fdisk directly. It is possible that it doesn't work on some operating systems. Getting the size of a partition with -s might fail, if fdisk fails to guess the disk device, for the same reasons as with the previous bug. SEE ALSO
mkfs(8), cfdisk(8), parted(8) The fdisk program is fully documented in the info(1) format GNU fdisk User Manual manual. fdisk 18 August, 2006 CFDISK(8)
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