Fedora Core Installation Problem - Partitioning

[David Hunt]

The Engineer wrote:

>
>
>I would like to know:
>
>Has anybody had a similar experience at all ?  
>And is there a way around this problem ? 
>Is this a known problem in general with FC1 and PM8 ? 
>
>  
>
I am using BootMagic 8 (Part of PartitionMagic) to boot into WinXP, 
Mandrake, and Fedora. This works fine, BUT...

I have also had issues with the partitioning of Fedora. The automatic 
partition option corrupted something that PM refused to even delete. 
Luckily the partition tools in Mandrake didn't have the same problem, 
and I was able to fix it. In the end I decided on a partition scheme, 
created that with PM, and I have not touched it since. And I haven't had 
any problems. I do know that while PM can create Linux partitions, it 
has real problems with resizing them, so get them right the first time, 
or be prepared to delete and recreate them. Personally I think 
PartitionMagic is overpriced, and the software has been less than 
impressive, but I do like the BootMagic setup.

To copy what I have done, (there may be better ways) load windows on the 
harddrive first. Using PartitionMagic, resize the windows partition to 
create a 50MB partition at the beginning of your primary drive. I think 
it needs to be FAT16. You can at this point also set up the remaining 
partitions. Then install BootMagic on the 50MB partition. BootMagic will 
then provide you with an interface at boot to select which partition to 
boot into. As you install Linux on other partitions, it will give you 
more startup options. Read the BootMagic instructions for the details.

This is important! When you get to the installation of the bootloader in 
Fedora (or any Linux install) DO NOT WRITE TO THE Master Boot Record! 
BootMagic now resides in the MBR, and writing to the MBR will mess 
things up. This is of course easily recovered by booting into the 
bootMagic CD and just refreshing the options. Another reason I prefer 
this method. For the bootloader location, select the other option, (you 
may have to select Advanced Options to see this) which I think is to 
install into the root partition of the Linux installation. Then run 
BootMagic (BM) again, and set it up to look at the Linux partition. You 
only need to do this once, as long as you don't change the partitions.

I hope this helps.

Dave