Debian install on NTFS HD?

rsteve · February 8th, 2004, 10:32 PM

I have just finished (?) building a spare computer to experiment with. I intend to load Debian to try the Linux world.

The system has a 80 GB hard drive with nothing on it. However, it is NTFS formatted with WinXP. Will Debian load on a NTFS formatted hard drive? I plan to just buy the Debian CD set for the installation.

QCompson · February 8th, 2004, 11:15 PM

No, Debian will not run off of a ntfs formatted drive. Linux runs on a different file system type (ext2, ext3, reiserfs to name a few). If you are planning on only running linux on that box, then you can reformat anyway. You can also dual-boot, having XP and Debian on your computer, and linux will be able to read ntfs partitions.

If this is your first foray into the linux world, may I suggest not starting off with a Debian install. They are notoriously difficult. I would instead recommend that you check out Mandrake, Fedora, or SuSe to give linux a spin.

rsteve · February 8th, 2004, 11:42 PM

Thanks for the prompt reply. I did not ask my question very well. Trying again.

The HD is now ntfs formatted. To load linus, do I have to reformat it to something else, or will Linux do its own thing and reformat, or whatever, and load. I understand it will no longer be ntfs format if Linux loads, but will it load ?

Don't know if I will load another OS on this machine. I have WinXP on my main computer. Wanted to load Win95 on the second (the only other Win I have to legally load), but so far cannot get it to work right (with another HD not formatted in ntfs. Some of hrdware does not support Win95, so that is probably the problem. No big loss.

Thanks for the comments on Debian,etc.

krohnjw · February 9th, 2004, 12:14 AM

If you use Mandrake, and more than likely Red Hat, it will have a nondestructive repartitioner that will allow you to repartition your drive, leaving X space for windows still formatted NTFS and Y space for linux formatted in your file system of choice, (ext3, reiserfs...).

And I wouldn't reccomend Debian as a first install

It is a text install that really isn't overly difficult if you understand everything that is happening, but is very overwhelming if you dont.

Scott Tiger · February 9th, 2004, 12:19 AM

<off topic>

I thought they were going with a GUI based installer with Sarge?

</off topic>

rsteve · February 9th, 2004, 01:25 AM

Thanks for the comments.

Scott, if I understand it correctly, Sarge is still not quite ready to be labeled a "stable release".

My first Linux try was Knoppix. I think it is rather neat, but want something loaded on the hard drive rather than a CD. I have read that it is possible to install it to HD, but thought I would try something else.

I then downloaded Mandrake, but it will not install. I first tried it on the spare computer and then on my main computer, which has an unused partition. It would not load to either. The error message said "Could not uncompress second stage of ram disk. This is probably an hardware error while reading the data. (This may be caused by a hardware failure or a linux kernel bug)." Since it would not install on either machine and since Knoppix ran ok, I suspect the "bug".

At that point, I decided to try Debian, with the purchased CDs. Thought I might get a good install from the purchased CDs and they are cheaper than Mandrake CDs.

At this point, I am not too concerned about dual booting with Windows. This is basically a learning experience. Nothing important will be put on this computer for a while. So, screwing up and having to completely reinstall does not bother me. I wanted to load Win95, but it apparently will not load even without Linux. Don't really care. I just had it and said "why not".

Thanks again for the comments

rsteve · February 11th, 2004, 11:55 PM

Just an update should anyone be interested. After the advise to not start with Debian, I downloaded Mandrake from a different site and burned the CDs at 4X instead of 24X. The third CD download hung at 98% complete, so evidently I will have to restart the download.

I have installed the first two CDs and had absolutely no problem. Quite honestly, I was surprised it went so well. I already have the Debian CDs on order, but will play around with Mandrake a while before doing the Debian install. I don't know if the original problem was a bad download, or a bad CD burn.

Thanks again for the advice. (Hey, I even followed it.)