I would like to have a dual boot machine. The machine specs are: PII 300 160 MB SDRAM 20 GB 7200 PRM HD I would like to have Windows NT 4.0 w.s. (serv.6) and Linux OS on the same HD. I was thinking 3 partions would be nice with fat16, NTFS and Linux all installed on one 20GB IDE drive. Should I use Lilo or NT boot up window? Any ideas on the best set up and partions sizes? Much appreciated. Thanks shaun

First a little on partition types and their native OS. 1: DOS (95a =<) only understands FAT 16. 2: DOS (95b >=) understands FAT 16 and FAT 32 3: Windows NT only understands FAT 16 and NTFS (FAT 32 is supported w/ mods) 4: Linux understands all the above, however NTFS write is experimental. So if you want to be able to go from Linux (ext2) to NT (NTFS) you are not in the best of situations. And NT does not understand Linux's FS (ext2). I would recommend that you do something like this. Have Linux be your main OS, and have it use most of the drive, and give Windows NT 8 GB (NT's system partition can only be 8 GB, and see note below on large drives). I would probably make an 8-10 GB Linux (ext2) partition, and make a 2 GB FAT 16 partition to share files between Linux and Windows NT. I would put your Windows NT partition first on the drive, followed by you Linux and then you FAT 16. I would also use LILO, installed in the MBR of the drive, not the partition, and have that boot the Windows NT partition when you want. I do this b/c Linux can boot off any drive partition you want, even out of an extended partition. NOTE: Windows NT 4.0 has a known bug that will keep it from working correctly w/ large IDE drives, and a driver is needed to install correctly. (see http://support.microsoft.com/support/kb/articles/Q197/6/67.asp) NOTE: Windows NT's boot loader has to reside on the first bootable drive under the 1024 cylinder limit.

Just a thought... I have NT 4.0 Server and Linux sharing a box. I have elected to boot Linux from a boot disk exclusively and leave the NT boot loader alone. This is the most conservative approach in my mind. Also, I've elected to pass on the additional features of the NTFS partition; my NT resides on an FAT32. This way I can safely write to the NT partition from within Linux. Note, I would avoid attempting rw to an NTFS partition under Linux. The Linux folks seem to urge you NOT to do this at all, and I'm not sure you wanna risk it under any circumstances. This really sounds like more of a serious warning than a recommendation. So, if you wanna have safe, full access to NT under Linux, put NT on an FAT32. Finally, NT Diskeeper seriously trashed my Linux drive, and I ended up back at square one - reinstall. Therefore, I caution you against using any defrag utilities at all. Perhaps my bad experience was just a fluke; I don't know if this has happened to others or not, just beware. TIP: to keep your NT swap file from fragmenting over time, set your max and min swap file sizes to the same value. If you install NT first, run diskeeper once so your swap is contiguous. Then install Linux, and avoid running Diskeeper again (if you have a full backup mechanism then go for it). Perhaps these suggestions are too conservative for your tastes, but my OSs have been living together nicely for quite some time. That's how I like it!!!! Good luck, Scott

Hi, How did u put NT on FAT32?. microsoft says winnt 4.0 doesn't understand FAT32. please tell me how could u do that still.

Hi John, if you want to boot linux with lilo, just configure the lilo.conf and start lilo!lilo won´t have problems with the NT-bootloader! i´ve done the same! DarkAngel (Dont think of my bad english)