RE: Sharing drives.

RE: Sharing drives.

[james miller]

>Hi James
>No, I must sheepishly confess I did not realize that.
>I always tried to partition whichever hard drive I was using and give
>whatever flavour I was using, a primary partition.
>

No, Linux can be installed to any partition - primary or logical within 
extended (to use M$ terminology) - it doesn't matter, as I understand it. The 
only potential limitation in this regard may be that the boot sector of the 
Linux partition should be within the 1024 cylinder limit - but that's only 
with older versions of Linux. At some point, that limitation was fixed. On 
newer versions of Linux (say, for about the last 4 years?), the boot partition 
may be anywhere on the disk, whether it be within or beyond the 1024th 
cylinder. (Note to the more experienced Linux users on this list: please 
correct any mistakes I may have made above).

>Partition Magic v 3 (very old I realize but it's what I've got)
>is not graphically showing all the logical drives I made in my W98SE
>install;

Older versions of PM have a disk-size limitation. I also have an older version 
of PM. It cannot edit any drive larger than 8.4 GB, or, more precisely, it can 
only edited the first 8.4 GB of any given drive. Maybe your version has the 
same limitation and is thus not allowing you to see the full drive?.

You might want to try Bootit for your disk editing needs. It is shareware, and 
is actually a program written for booting multiple operating systems. But it 
comes with a really great set of disk editing tools - complete with GUI. To 
use it, you have to download a file on a Win machine which allows you to 
create a bootable install disk. You then boot from this disk. BUT THEN 
(IMPORTANT!), you DO NOT let the booting prog install! Click "cancel". Then, 
you are taken to a maintenance menu where you can do your disk editing stuff, 
without ever having installed the booting program. It works great, and I've 
used it extensively. Just remember, do NOT let Bootit install. Click "cancel", 
and then you'll get to the disk editing screen. I can offer further pointers, 
if you end up using it.

>
>Instead of working any more with my drive and possibly losing all
>instead of gaining access to the other 20 free gigabytes, I downloaded
>KNOPPIX and am ecstatic to have been able to get it to run exactly as
>the website said it would.  It even found my network card and jumped
>onto the internet using my 3Com hub and Efficient Speedstream high
>speed modem from Bell Sympatico.  This is a first for me. Even Lindows
>wouldn't do that for me, and that is supposed to be it's strong
>point.
>

Knoppix is great. I've used it, too. Maybe you noted you can even create a 
temporary swap file on your Win/DOS drive for it to use to expand memory a 
bit? They've really got their act together.

>I'm beginning to suspect I was very close a lot of times with other
>versions, but was tripped up by the  network card(s).

I don't have alot of experience with Linux networking, but I have had the 
occassional problem with a NIC not being detected. It can be challenging to 
try and set up such a card manually, but can be done. Good luck with getting 
things running.

James

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Re: Sharing drives.

[John E. Jay Maass]

LL Phillips <lilo.phillips@sympatico.ca> wrote:

> [...] When I put in my W98SE boot disk to make a second PRIMARY
> partition I was not allowed because fdisk told me there was
> already a primary partition existing [...]

Lorraine,

I'm not the expert here. But I would like to predict that, upon
answering your querry, *the experts will recommend you use Linux
fdisk first, either not using Microsoft fdisk at all, or using
it as a follow-up to Linux fdisk when partitioning for Microsoft
operating systems within your large hdd.

All best,
Jay Maass,
suburban Philadelphia






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Sharing drives.

[geoff]

Many thanks to Chuck and Ray for interesting replies.

I am reminded that Debian Woody uses ext2, but SuSE 8.0 uses reiserfs.

I wonder if pushed to an extreme, could one kernel  work with  two 
(simultaneous/combined) distros, chosing the best bits of each :-)

Seriously, thanks for the though provoking information.

Best regards,

Geoff

G3FHL.


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Re: Sharing drives.

[Ray Olszewski]

At 06:08 PM 10/2/02 +0100, geoff wrote:
>Many thanks to Chuck and Ray for interesting replies.
>
>I am reminded that Debian Woody uses ext2, but SuSE 8.0 uses reiserfs.

There is no requirement that all filesystems used by a kernel be the same 
type; the ability to combine ext2 and iso9660 (CD-ROM) filesystems is the 
most familiar example of this flexibility. I doubt Woody's stock kernel 
contains support for reiserfs, but I believe a custom kernel can add it in 
(Debian kernels are quite standard in most respects). I bet that the SuSE 
kernel already supports ext2 as well as reiserfs (but if not, once again, a 
custom kernel could fix this).

>I wonder if pushed to an extreme, could one kernel  work with  two
>(simultaneous/combined) distros, chosing the best bits of each :-)

Well ... Lawson has for years talked here about his "SlackHat" system, 
combining the part he likes of Slackware with the parts he likes of Red Hat 
(I prefer "he likes" to "best bits" because "best" is not well defined). 
And my Debian systems include some packages not distributed through the 
Debian packaging system (though they come from the creators directly, not 
via some other distro).

Except when a particular distro is missing a particular package, I think 
this "best bits" approach create more work then benefit for the everyday 
Linux user. A principal strength of ANY modern Linux distro is its 
packaging system, which does a lot of the work for you of handling 
dependencies, simplifying security (and other) upgrades, and providing a 
coherent framework for the boot/init process, filesystem organization, 
application configuration, and the like.

For the most common apps, the distros don't really differ all that much 
anyway. For highly specialized apps, you will need from time to time to go 
outside your distro's packaging system. (This is especially true for 
non-rpm distros like Slackware and Debian, since some developers package 
their stuff only as RPMs.)


--
-------------------------------------------"Never tell me the odds!"--------
Ray Olszewski					-- Han Solo
Palo Alto, California, USA			  ray@comarre.com
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------

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Sharing drives.

[geoff]

I have a dual-boot Linux system.  Debian 3.0 (Woody), and SuSE 8.0 (Prof).,
on separate drives sharing a common machine  (Pentium III at 600 MHz).

Both work well, and I am enjoying learning the differences between them,
running
them as separate alternatives.

Would it be inadvisable to have a third hard disk drive  on the same shared
machine,
which is mountable on either distro, in order to enable files from (say)
Debian to be transfered
into SuSE,   (or vice-vers) or would I be asking for trouble ?

Can I use a common  device  (say)  /dev/hdc  as  a common part of two
partition systems ?

A possible use would be to YaST/ RPM into Debian, or APT/ DEB into SuSE.

Best regards,

Geoff Bagley
G3FHL.






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Re: Sharing drives.

[chuck gelm]

Hi, Geoff:

 Yes.  Although the files (filesystem(s)) are not 'transferred'.
The filesystem is 'mounted'.
Each OS must be capable of mounting the filesystem's type:
second extended, reiserfs, third extended, minix, fat, vfat,
 ...whatever.

 I get the impression that each of the two distributions you mention
are on a separate physical hard drive. This is not necessary.
One can have multiple operating systems on a single physical drive.
Each would need a separate partition, AFAIK.

HTH, Chuck

geoff wrote:
> 
> I have a dual-boot Linux system.  Debian 3.0 (Woody), and SuSE 8.0 (Prof).,
> on separate drives sharing a common machine  (Pentium III at 600 MHz).
> 
> Both work well, and I am enjoying learning the differences between them,
> running
> them as separate alternatives.
> 
> Would it be inadvisable to have a third hard disk drive  on the same shared
> machine,
> which is mountable on either distro, in order to enable files from (say)
> Debian to be transfered
> into SuSE,   (or vice-vers) or would I be asking for trouble ?
> 
> Can I use a common  device  (say)  /dev/hdc  as  a common part of two
> partition systems ?
> 
> A possible use would be to YaST/ RPM into Debian, or APT/ DEB into SuSE.
> 
> Best regards,
> 
> Geoff Bagley
> G3FHL.
> 
> -
> To unsubscribe from this list: send the line "unsubscribe linux-newbie" in
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Re: Sharing drives.

[LL Phillips]

Regarding the statement "Each would need a separate partition, AFAIK"
I've recently considered dual booting my W98SE hard drive which is 40G
total size with only 20G used made up of C: primary partition and
D,E,F,G,H all logical drives in one extended partition (each around
3-6G each)  

When I put in my W98SE boot disk to make a second PRIMARY partition I
was not allowed because fdisk told me there was already a primary
partition existing.

If I wanted to have W98SE, Debian and Peanut Linux all on the same
drive how would I go about that. Was I wrong to put in the W98SE boot
/ rescue disk.  Lindows (I'm an insider
/pre-general-release-by-subscription user) will install beside windows
if one has space on the drive, (it is called a friendly install).  I
felt it was too risky to proceed because I didn't want to damage my
W98SE main everyday machine.  Asus A7V motherboard.

Would you advise using a Linux distribution root / boot diskette
combination to set up my hard drive.  (I've ruined about 8 laptop
drives in the past trying so am nervous).
Lorraine

chuck gelm wrote:
> 
> Hi, Geoff:
> 
>  Yes.  Although the files (filesystem(s)) are not 'transferred'.
> The filesystem is 'mounted'.
> Each OS must be capable of mounting the filesystem's type:
> second extended, reiserfs, third extended, minix, fat, vfat,
>  ...whatever.
> 
>  I get the impression that each of the two distributions you mention
> are on a separate physical hard drive. This is not necessary.
> One can have multiple operating systems on a single physical drive.
> Each would need a separate partition, AFAIK.
> 
> HTH, Chuck
> 
> geoff wrote:
> >
> > I have a dual-boot Linux system.  Debian 3.0 (Woody), and SuSE 8.0 (Prof).,
> > on separate drives sharing a common machine  (Pentium III at 600 MHz).
> >
> > Both work well, and I am enjoying learning the differences between them,
> > running
> > them as separate alternatives.
> >
> > Would it be inadvisable to have a third hard disk drive  on the same shared
> > machine,
> > which is mountable on either distro, in order to enable files from (say)
> > Debian to be transfered
> > into SuSE,   (or vice-vers) or would I be asking for trouble ?
> >
> > Can I use a common  device  (say)  /dev/hdc  as  a common part of two
> > partition systems ?
> >
> > A possible use would be to YaST/ RPM into Debian, or APT/ DEB into SuSE.
> >
> > Best regards,
> >
> > Geoff Bagley
> > G3FHL.
> >
> > -
> > To unsubscribe from this list: send the line "unsubscribe linux-newbie" in
> > the body of a message to majordomo@vger.kernel.org
> > More majordomo info at  http://vger.kernel.org/majordomo-info.html
> > Please read the FAQ at http://www.linux-learn.org/faqs
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RE: Sharing drives.

[James Miller]

On 3 Oct 2002, LL Phillips wrote:

> Regarding the statement "Each would need a separate partition, AFAIK"
> I've recently considered dual booting my W98SE hard drive which is 40G
> total size with only 20G used made up of C: primary partition and
> D,E,F,G,H all logical drives in one extended partition (each around
> 3-6G each)  
> 
> When I put in my W98SE boot disk to make a second PRIMARY partition I
> was not allowed because fdisk told me there was already a primary
> partition existing.
> 
> If I wanted to have W98SE, Debian and Peanut Linux all on the same
> drive how would I go about that. Was I wrong to put in the W98SE boot
> / rescue disk.  Lindows (I'm an insider
> /pre-general-release-by-subscription user) will install beside windows
> if one has space on the drive, (it is called a friendly install).  I
> felt it was too risky to proceed because I didn't want to damage my
> W98SE main everyday machine.  Asus A7V motherboard.
> 
> Would you advise using a Linux distribution root / boot diskette
> combination to set up my hard drive.  (I've ruined about 8 laptop
> drives in the past trying so am nervous).
> Lorraine
> 

Lorraine:

It would help if you were to explain a bit more about what you're trying 
to do. Perhaps you know already that Linux does not need to be installed 
to a primary partition? And yes, M$'s fdisk is very limited in the way you 
can manipulate your hard drive. M$ would like for you to have only one 
primary partition on your drive (and would like for it ot be the exclusive 
property of Windows, in case you didn't know :) ). Of the OS's you 
mention, perhaps only Peanut Linux would require a primary partition 
insofar as, as I understand it, it is meant to install to a DOS partition. 
If it does *not* require a primary partition, there are other utilities 
(freeware/shareware) that will allow you to create either primary or 
extended DOS (FAT whatever) partitions. I could recommend some, if that 
would help you. Unfortunately, partitioning drives is *always* tricky, and 
there is always some risk of data loss. Commercial progs with a nice gui 
(e.g., Partition Magic) give some greater sense of security inasmuch as 
they give you a visual representation of what they're doing. But even they 
warn about the potential for data loss.

Based on some more information about precisely what you'd like to do, 
perhaps I can make some more helpful suggestions. Sorry if I've 
misunderstood your inquiry.

James 

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Re: Sharing drives.

[LL Phillips]

>Perhaps you know already that Linux does not need to be installed
 to a primary partition?

Hi James
No, I must sheepishly confess I did not realize that.
I always tried to partition whichever hard drive I was using and give
whatever flavour I was using, a primary partition.

Partition Magic v 3 (very old I realize but it's what I've got)
is not graphically showing all the logical drives I made in my W98SE
install;  and when I tried one of its stand alone DOS programs
(PARTINFO dot exe) I was given an error so I stopped for the time
being.
Will get back with the exact details later.  

Instead of working any more with my drive and possibly losing all
instead of gaining access to the other 20 free gigabytes, I downloaded
KNOPPIX and am ecstatic to have been able to get it to run exactly as
the website said it would.  It even found my network card and jumped
onto the internet using my 3Com hub and Efficient Speedstream high
speed modem from Bell Sympatico.  This is a first for me. Even Lindows
wouldn't do that for me, and that is supposed to be it's strong
point.  

I'm beginning to suspect I was very close a lot of times with other
versions, but was tripped up by the  network card(s).
Lorraine


James Miller wrote:
> 
> On 3 Oct 2002, LL Phillips wrote:
> 
> > Regarding the statement "Each would need a separate partition, AFAIK"
> > I've recently considered dual booting my W98SE hard drive which is 40G
> > total size with only 20G used made up of C: primary partition and
> > D,E,F,G,H all logical drives in one extended partition (each around
> > 3-6G each)
> >
> > When I put in my W98SE boot disk to make a second PRIMARY partition I
> > was not allowed because fdisk told me there was already a primary
> > partition existing.
> >
> > If I wanted to have W98SE, Debian and Peanut Linux all on the same
> > drive how would I go about that. Was I wrong to put in the W98SE boot
> > / rescue disk.  Lindows (I'm an insider
> > /pre-general-release-by-subscription user) will install beside windows
> > if one has space on the drive, (it is called a friendly install).  I
> > felt it was too risky to proceed because I didn't want to damage my
> > W98SE main everyday machine.  Asus A7V motherboard.
> >
> > Would you advise using a Linux distribution root / boot diskette
> > combination to set up my hard drive.  (I've ruined about 8 laptop
> > drives in the past trying so am nervous).
> > Lorraine
> >
> 
> Lorraine:
> 
> It would help if you were to explain a bit more about what you're trying
> to do. Perhaps you know already that Linux does not need to be installed
> to a primary partition? And yes, M$'s fdisk is very limited in the way you
> can manipulate your hard drive. M$ would like for you to have only one
> primary partition on your drive (and would like for it ot be the exclusive
> property of Windows, in case you didn't know :) ). Of the OS's you
> mention, perhaps only Peanut Linux would require a primary partition
> insofar as, as I understand it, it is meant to install to a DOS partition.
> If it does *not* require a primary partition, there are other utilities
> (freeware/shareware) that will allow you to create either primary or
> extended DOS (FAT whatever) partitions. I could recommend some, if that
> would help you. Unfortunately, partitioning drives is *always* tricky, and
> there is always some risk of data loss. Commercial progs with a nice gui
> (e.g., Partition Magic) give some greater sense of security inasmuch as
> they give you a visual representation of what they're doing. But even they
> warn about the potential for data loss.
> 
> Based on some more information about precisely what you'd like to do,
> perhaps I can make some more helpful suggestions. Sorry if I've
> misunderstood your inquiry.
> 
> James
> 
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Re: Sharing drives.

[Chuck Gelm]

LL Phillips wrote:
> 
> Regarding the statement "Each would need a separate partition, AFAIK"
> I've recently considered dual booting my W98SE hard drive which is 40G
> total size with only 20G used made up of C: primary partition and
> D,E,F,G,H all logical drives in one extended partition (each around
> 3-6G each)
> 
> When I put in my W98SE boot disk to make a second PRIMARY partition I
> was not allowed because fdisk told me there was already a primary
> partition existing.

 Probably a few reasons:
- the disk has no room for another partition, PRIMARY or otherwise.
- perhaps, once an 'extended' partition is created,
  no further 'primary' partitions can be created.
- Perhaps [MS|PC]DOS cannot create a second primary partition.
- perhaps you should use a 'linux' fdisk to create partitions
  to install linux. ;-)
/dev/hda1 20G /WIN98SE
/dev/hda2 20G extended
/dev/hda3  3G /Debian '/'
/dev/hda6  3G /Peanut '/'
/dev/hda7  3G /share7 ;shared filesystem
/dev/hda8  3G /share8 ;whatever filesystem that both Debian and Peanut
                      ;can r/w.
...
Install either of the linux distributions last as Windows(r)
 overwrites the MBR.
Linux 'lilo' can boot with a menu to choose which o/s to boot
 and a default o/s to boot after # seconds.

> If I wanted to have W98SE, Debian and Peanut Linux all on the same
> drive how would I go about that. Was I wrong to put in the W98SE boot
> / rescue disk.  

 I recommend using linux fdisk to create/modify partitions to install
the linux o/s into.  Also, create/modify them to be a linux type;
'second extended' and 'swap' are the only filesystems the I have used
(Type 83 linux native & type 82 linux swap).

 Yes, you can install linux into DOS type partitions, however I
 do not recommend it.

 Yes, linux can read/write DOS/WIN (2.x, 3.x,9x, ME filesystems
 (but can only read WIN-NT & WIN-2000 filesystems).

 Lindows (I'm an insider
> /pre-general-release-by-subscription user) will install beside windows
> if one has space on the drive, (it is called a friendly install).  I
> felt it was too risky to proceed because I didn't want to damage my
> W98SE main everyday machine.  Asus A7V motherboard.

 You might damage your W98SE files, but I doubt that you will damage
 your 'machine'. :-|

> Would you advise using a Linux distribution root / boot diskette
> combination to set up my hard drive.  (I've ruined about 8 laptop
> drives in the past trying so am nervous).

 If you have a BIOS that can boot from a CD-ROM drive,
I recommend installing linux from a bootable CD-ROM disk.  ;-)

 I'm hoping you mean that after you created linux filesystems
on a hard drive, Windows could not recognize the drive. :-|

 I'd like to hear more about how a drive was damaged by a linux
boot/root diskette.  Sounds like a 'Slackware' install to me.
If you 'linux fdisk' a hard drive and place only linux type partitions
on it, it will not be recognized by DOS-Windows*.  If you use
linux fdisk to create DOS/WIN partitions, DOS/WIN will recognize it
(I think it will recognize the first partition and any sequential
partitions that are DOS/WIN, but no further partitions after the first
non-DOS/WIN partition).
;-)

> Lorraine
> 
> chuck gelm wrote:
> >
> > Hi, Geoff:
> >
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Re: Sharing drives.

[LL Phillips]

Hi Chuck
I guess you are in UK ?
Had you been in Canada or U.S. I would have offered to send you 4 of
these drives as I've put them in a plastic bag in disgust.  By the
time I had finished they were making grinding noises.

You are correct in that it was Slackware I was using.
Now that I've discovered Knoppix I anticipate I will be a lot less
dangerous when I get near a hard drive.  Knoppix can boot off a
bootable CD and run inside RAM.  It will make a swap file on a DOS
partition if it can find one and you give it permission.

Working on getting BootIt as recommended in this list and will report
as I progress.  Hopefully I will not ruin any more drives.
Lorraine

Chuck Gelm wrote:
> 
> LL Phillips wrote:
> >
> > Regarding the statement "Each would need a separate partition, AFAIK"
> > I've recently considered dual booting my W98SE hard drive which is 40G
> > total size with only 20G used made up of C: primary partition and
> > D,E,F,G,H all logical drives in one extended partition (each around
> > 3-6G each)
> >
> > When I put in my W98SE boot disk to make a second PRIMARY partition I
> > was not allowed because fdisk told me there was already a primary
> > partition existing.
> 
>  Probably a few reasons:
> - the disk has no room for another partition, PRIMARY or otherwise.
> - perhaps, once an 'extended' partition is created,
>   no further 'primary' partitions can be created.
> - Perhaps [MS|PC]DOS cannot create a second primary partition.
> - perhaps you should use a 'linux' fdisk to create partitions
>   to install linux. ;-)
> /dev/hda1 20G /WIN98SE
> /dev/hda2 20G extended
> /dev/hda3  3G /Debian '/'
> /dev/hda6  3G /Peanut '/'
> /dev/hda7  3G /share7 ;shared filesystem
> /dev/hda8  3G /share8 ;whatever filesystem that both Debian and Peanut
>                       ;can r/w.
> ...
> Install either of the linux distributions last as Windows(r)
>  overwrites the MBR.
> Linux 'lilo' can boot with a menu to choose which o/s to boot
>  and a default o/s to boot after # seconds.
> 
> > If I wanted to have W98SE, Debian and Peanut Linux all on the same
> > drive how would I go about that. Was I wrong to put in the W98SE boot
> > / rescue disk.
> 
>  I recommend using linux fdisk to create/modify partitions to install
> the linux o/s into.  Also, create/modify them to be a linux type;
> 'second extended' and 'swap' are the only filesystems the I have used
> (Type 83 linux native & type 82 linux swap).
> 
>  Yes, you can install linux into DOS type partitions, however I
>  do not recommend it.
> 
>  Yes, linux can read/write DOS/WIN (2.x, 3.x,9x, ME filesystems
>  (but can only read WIN-NT & WIN-2000 filesystems).
> 
>  Lindows (I'm an insider
> > /pre-general-release-by-subscription user) will install beside windows
> > if one has space on the drive, (it is called a friendly install).  I
> > felt it was too risky to proceed because I didn't want to damage my
> > W98SE main everyday machine.  Asus A7V motherboard.
> 
>  You might damage your W98SE files, but I doubt that you will damage
>  your 'machine'. :-|
> 
> > Would you advise using a Linux distribution root / boot diskette
> > combination to set up my hard drive.  (I've ruined about 8 laptop
> > drives in the past trying so am nervous).
> 
>  If you have a BIOS that can boot from a CD-ROM drive,
> I recommend installing linux from a bootable CD-ROM disk.  ;-)
> 
>  I'm hoping you mean that after you created linux filesystems
> on a hard drive, Windows could not recognize the drive. :-|
> 
>  I'd like to hear more about how a drive was damaged by a linux
> boot/root diskette.  Sounds like a 'Slackware' install to me.
> If you 'linux fdisk' a hard drive and place only linux type partitions
> on it, it will not be recognized by DOS-Windows*.  If you use
> linux fdisk to create DOS/WIN partitions, DOS/WIN will recognize it
> (I think it will recognize the first partition and any sequential
> partitions that are DOS/WIN, but no further partitions after the first
> non-DOS/WIN partition).
> ;-)
> 
> > Lorraine
> >
> > chuck gelm wrote:
> > >
> > > Hi, Geoff:
> > >
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Re: Sharing drives.

[LL Phillips]

Hi Hal
Thanks for the tips.  It was the OPERATOR's fault I'm sure.   Too much
enthusiasm combined with a thick skull.  The drives were working fine
when I got them.   I did find them delicate to work with. Went through
a couple adapters which quit on me too.  I'm moving up soon to
possible motherboard destruction.  Looking to flash the bios on EPOX
P55-BT.

With Linux I've become less dangerous now that I've discovered and
downloaded KNOPPIX which runs in RAM; and just read today that SUSE
has a LIVE CD version as well.  Must investigate.
Lorraine


<snip>
> 
>                 Why software problems could cause drives to become
> "grinders" is beyond me, except that laptop/notebook drives are 2"
> jobs so you can visualize all that capacity in a very small and
> compact space.. They've _got_ to be less rugged than normal..
> 
>                 Anyway good luck and hope you get things in order.
> 
>     Hal - in Terra Alta, WV - Slackware GNU/Linux 8.0   (2.4.13)
>                haltec@iceweb.net | w8mch@iceweb.net..
> .
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Re: Sharing drives.

[Ray Olszewski]

I can't speak to "inadvisable", but the approach you ask about is perfectly 
feasible. A common use of this sort of setup is to have a /home partition 
that is common to the two distros.

It is more than you need, though. Each distro can mount the other's root 
partition (and its other partitions, depending on what you created) 
directly on any convenient mount point(s).

For example, if you have Debian's root (/) partition on /dev/hda1 and 
SuSE's on /dev/hdb1, you can mount the SuSE partition on Debian with these 
two commands (run as root):

         mkdir /mnt/SuSE_root
         mount -t ext2 /dev/hdb1 /mnt/SuSE_root

The first line just creates the mount point (assuming /mnt already exists, 
as it usually does) and need be done only once. The second does the actual 
mount and needs to be done whenever you reboot (modify the -t argument if 
you use a different filesystem type). Or, once you've created the mount 
point, you can add a line to /etc/fstab to automount it every time (a look 
at /etc/fstab will probably be enough for you to figure this part out).

BTW, for converting packages between .rpm and .deb, you might want to look 
at "alien".

At 08:52 AM 10/2/02 +0100, geoff wrote:
>I have a dual-boot Linux system.  Debian 3.0 (Woody), and SuSE 8.0 (Prof).,
>on separate drives sharing a common machine  (Pentium III at 600 MHz).
>
>Both work well, and I am enjoying learning the differences between them,
>running
>them as separate alternatives.
>
>Would it be inadvisable to have a third hard disk drive  on the same shared
>machine,
>which is mountable on either distro, in order to enable files from (say)
>Debian to be transfered
>into SuSE,   (or vice-vers) or would I be asking for trouble ?
>
>Can I use a common  device  (say)  /dev/hdc  as  a common part of two
>partition systems ?
>
>A possible use would be to YaST/ RPM into Debian, or APT/ DEB into SuSE.




--
-------------------------------------------"Never tell me the odds!"--------
Ray Olszewski					-- Han Solo
Palo Alto, California, USA			  ray@comarre.com
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