O/S Partioning, formatting and LILO In order of age let's call the Maxtor 80Gb, HD1; the Maxtor 40Gb, HD2 and the 9Gb Sagate medalist ATA33, HD 3. S4) Once HD2(Win98 only) has all my personal files & runs Win98 then I'll remove HD3 from the bay and keep it as a backup drive whenever I need it. S5) Partion HD1 for linux primary partion(later on wish to install BOTH Linux & Win98 on HD1) - Would like to create as FEW partions as possible for linux - I hate logical drives. 1 big partion would be nice but I haven't heard of it. S6) Partion HD1 for Win98 FAT32 small partion. -This will definitly require no more than 1 DOS partion. - I'd like to give Linux primary active partion for compatibility(start) reasons. Plus it'll be my main O/S with 70Gb of HD1 for Linux and Win98, 1 partion of 10gb. S7) format it(high level format) -comment on this plz. -Both FAT32 for Win98 & Linux slackware. -Should I use Linux or Win DOS programs for formatting? S8) Install Linux on HD1(wish to install Linux 1st on HD1 before Win98 install on HD1) S9)Install Win98 on HD1 Also could anyone tell me what I'll have to edit into LILO manually(i.e. the commands for Win98 secondary on same HD1 & recognising HD2's Win98 too). Also can I create LILO boot up disk if Win98 overwrites LILO? By the end of the project, system HDDs and partions will look like this: C:\ 80Gb Maxtor HD1 running primary partion as Linux Slackware8.1, Linux 2.4.18, WinMaker W.M. - IDE 0 D:\ 80Gb(same HDD) Maxtor HD1 running secondary partion as Win98 swap area - IDE 0 E:\ 40 Gb Maxtor HD2 running only Win98 4.10 on primary DOS partion(active partion) - 1st RAID F:\CDR G:\CDRW Note #1:I don't like dividing the drive up into too many partions. I'd like to install Linux primary active(start 1024) and have as few extended logical partions as possible as too many drive letters irritate me.

when installing linux you should be presented with the option of making a boot disk... that will allow you to boot linux if your win os install over writes the boot sector. and simply type "lilo" at the linux prompt to restore the boot sector of lilo to boot other OS's ie windows from lilo it is quite simple... you edit the /etc/lilo.conf file and add a few lines something like this: other=/dev/hdb1 optional label=windows the /dev/hdb1 means primary slave drive partition 1 so why not make the partitions like this 80 gb drive 1 pri partition 30MB mounted as /boot (so lilo will boot) ext2 or ext3 format) 2 pri partition 67 GB mounted as / (ext2 or ext3 format) 3 pri partition 10 GB fat32 C: for windows 4 extended partition (256 MB) 5 256 MB Linux swap partition in extended partition you only have 1 drive letter in windows so far. and with any linux install there is usually minimum 2 or 3 partitions for it.

heres a handy little device for you in case you were interested. http://www.tigerdirect.com/applications/SearchTools/item-details.asp?sku=R75-1000

Thank you so much for your expertise Chris. Just 1 Question, "4 extended partition (256 MB) 5 256 MB Linux swap partition in extended partition" - Does it (4th, extended partion) encapsulate the remaining (Swap) into a logical partition? Since each drive can have 4 primary, why can't I just put the 256Mb swap partion as the 4th primary?

Getting advice elsewhere. Thanks. Bye.