Linux Partition

[azntiger0586]

i have an 80 gig hd with 2 partitions (C: and D. Currently, C: is windows xp os and d: is just a bunch of files that i have.

- usually when i reinstall windows xp for any reason, i would just reformat C: partition and reisntall xp on it and still able to have my old D: without losing any files.

1) if i were to do a linux os installation, reformat c: and install linux on it, will i still be able to have my D:?

2) if i wish to return back to windows xp, can i expect my D: to still be there?

many thanks.

 

[civad]

1) Yes
2) Yes
Link
Another one

Have fun

 

[Farfrael]

Before you do anything ... BACKUP your data
Just a friendly reminder.

Ah, one last thing, if you screw up the Master Boot Table don't start formating left and right.
Your data should still be there, the first thing you should try is to rebuild it (MBT).

 

[drag]

The hard part I had in the beginning was the naming convention differences between windows and linux.

Windows designates a abratrary name to the partition/drive. Like C:, D: etc etc. It's not based on anything other then the order the OS sees the drive stuff.


Linux has a directory tree system. It's logical system based on conceptial ideas about directory systems. It's "directory tree" all based on a "root" directory. The root is "/". Then branches all go from that. Like your home directory would be /home/username, config files are found in /etc/ directory etc etc. All filing systems are "mounted" to it. Like I could have the whole thing on one drive, or you could have your /home directory on a entirely different drive, or even a network share from a entirely different computer. It's completely flexible on how you want to set it up. Generally you "mount" you cdrom to /cdrom or /mnt/cdrom. But that doesn't mean that you can't mount it to /home/username/cdrom if you feel like it.

The drives are represented by files in the /dev/ directory. The /dev directory is full of special files that represent hardware and software/kernel resources. Like /dev/dsp is generally for audio, you can "cat" a wav file into it and your speakers can play the sound. /dev/zero is infinate zeros, /dev/urandom is infinate random junk, /dev/null is a black hole were you can copy files to it and they will be gone for ever etc. etc.

You IDE harddrives would be represented by /dev/hd* files.
/dev/hda =primary master device,
/dev/hdb =primary slave device
/dev/hdc =secondary master
/dev/hdd =secondary slave.

Then if you have a promise IDE to PCI drive card you can have more then that...

then each partition is just the partition number + the drive letter. Like the 2nd partition on the first harddrive would be:
/dev/hda2

Also a cdrom drive may be /dev/hdc for isntance if it's the secondary master ide device. In *nix everything is a file, text files/directories/harddrives/ everything are just files. It's a bit weird at first, but it makes it easy once you get used to it.