How to format ntfs or fat32 file system for linux installing?

already, i have winxp os.


how to install linux on my one ntfs or fat32 file system.


My hard disk drives are c:,d:,e:,f:,g:,h:.

How to format ntfs or fat32 file system for linux installing?
Ideally you should have an entire hard disk only for Linux; this way if you crash Linux your Xp will be left untouched. Just make sure , at install, to select "use entire disk" and pick it - all the formatting will be done automatically, next choose it as the location for the bootloader. Don't forget to pick it first in BIOS boot order.


You could select "use existing partition" and selecting one( also auto format) but this way the bootloader will overwrite the Xp one and if you trash your linux you may end up in (not big, but for a begginer nasty) trouble.


http://www.mandriva.com/ or http://www.pclinuxos.com/ are ideally suited for begginers (no drivers or complicated configurations required), and you don't even need to install them to try them, just boot from the optical disk and run them in Live-CD mode.
Reply:Do a bit of reading, preferably via google, or the website of your preferred distros, don't rely on the postings you are going to get here!





I have installed Linux many times, on a variety of different computers, and only two machines have had a separate hard drive for Linux, NONE of the installs have had problems, and I don't see any difference in performance.





You have to understand formatting of partitions, and you have to understand how Linux names partitions. Once you understand that, it is easy to reformat the partitions that you want to use for Linux, and assuming there are no hardware issues, your installation should go quite easily. If you don't understand these basics, IMHO you shouldn't be messing around - get someone who knows what they are doing to help you.

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