Now we are ready to actually partition the hard disk. First make a
DOS boot disk (type format a: /s at
the DOS prompt or in DOS). Put the following three files in the disk,
fips.exe, restorrb.exe and
errors.txt. Defragment your hard disk – this
puts all the data at the beginning leaving enough space for
Fips to create a new partition from. If you use
Norton SpeedDisk select the unfragment free
space option. Norton usually puts data at the
end of the disk and this will prevent Fips from
creating a new partition. Run Scandisk and
reboot using the bootdisk you just created.
Type fips at the prompt and
Fips will show you your partition table with a
warning about partition table inconsistency. If your disk has more than
1024 cylinders its usually safe to ignore this
warning. Next Fips will ask you is you want to
proceed – the program is extremely meticulous – answer yes
obviously and when prompted to save a backup of your partition table and
boot sector answer yes – this step is absolutely vital as it allows
you to restore your hard disk to its unpartioned single partition state
should anything go wrong. It also comes in handy if you want to uninstall
Linux or resize your Linux partition. It doesn't matter what happens to
the new partition in the meantime, if you have the back up you can restore
your hard disk to its original unpartioned state. This reversible
operation will work in all circumstances but one; if you format your
original (Windows) partition which was split to make space for Linux in
the meantime, the original FAT is overwritten with a
new and smaller one and the restore operation will not work.
After making the backup you will be presented with a screen with
3 numbers, the first represents your original partition
– notice it is at its smallest size, Fips
has allocated all free space in the hard disk to the new partition, this
is the default behavior. The second column shows the cylinder info which
will be the guide for those who plan to use
Lilo. The third shows the size of the new
partition you are going to create – it is at its largest size. Use
the arrow keys to resize the partition, you would just have to reduce the
size of the new partition since it is at its maximum to a size you
want. For Lilo users the new partition has to
be below the 1024 cylinder mark,
1000 is a reasonable beginning for the new
partition. After you are satisfied with the size of your new partition
press enter, Fips will ask you to confirm and
write the new partition table.
Reboot your system. Remember to change the BIOS
settings to boot from the hard disk or you will end up rebooting with the
floppy. Double click My Computer and you will see the
result of all the hard work, there will be a new drive labelled
D alongside the original
C. Don't touch D, run
scandisk on your original partition
(C) – hopefully there will be no errors
– and at this point you are ready to install Linux.
Some of the Linux documentation mistakenly ask you to delete the
newly created partition using Windows Fdisk. Do
not commit that blunder because if you do the Linux partitions will show
up in My Computer when you reboot after installing
Linux and since Windows obviously cannot read these drives and the
ext2 filesystem, using
Explorer and acessing your hard disk in Windows
will become a time consuming and destabilizing affair. So don't do
it.