Loading an Operating System Chapter 10 CIT 1100

Minimum Requirements Hardware Windows XP Windows Vista CPU P II 300 Mhz PIV 1 Ghz RAM 128MB 1 GB Hard Drive 2 GB 15GB

Windows Vista Current release Support from Microsoft Will not allow you to run legacy hardware Platform upgrade Limited software available written to take advantage of Vista

Linux Numerous versions of Linux exist Some will run very well on 486 platforms Support is “iffy” Various Free versions exist Popular for use as Web Hosts Secure / Reliable

Disk partitioning Disk partitioning is the act or practice of dividing the storage space of a hard disk drive into separate data areas known as partitions. A partition editor program can be used to create, delete or modify these partitions. The way space management, access permissions and directory searching are implemented depends upon the type of file system installed on a partition. Careful consideration of the size of the partition is necessary as the ability to change the size depends on the file system installed on the partition.

Partitioning Partitioning depend on user requirements Large disks make partitioning attractive Can be set up to allow multiple operating systems Makes backing up data easier

Partitioning - Benefits Separation of the operating system files from user files. Having an area for operating system virtual memory swapping/paging. Keeping frequently used programs and data near each other. Having cache and log files separate from other files. These can change size dynamically and rapidly, potentially making a file system full. Protecting or isolating files, to make it easier to recover a corrupted file system or operating system installation. If one partition is corrupted, none of the other file systems are affected, and the drive's data may still be salvageable. Having a separate partition for read-only data also reduces the chances of the file system on this partition becoming corrupted.

Partitioning - Benefits Use of multi booting setups, which allow users to have more than one operating system on a single computer. For example, one could install Linux, Mac OS X, Microsoft Windows or others on different partitions of the same hard disk and have a choice of booting into any operating system (supported by the hardware) at power-up. Raising overall computer performance on systems where smaller file systems are more efficient. For instance, large hard drives with only one NTFS file system typically have a very large sequentially-accessed Master File Table (MFT) and it generally takes more time to read this MFT than the smaller MFTs of smaller partitions.

PC Partition Types Primary partitions. Extended partition A primary partition contains one file system. In MS-DOS and earlier versions of Microsoft Windows systems, the first partition (C:) must be a primary partition. Some operating systems are not limited in this way; however, this can depend on other factors, such as a PC's BIOS. There can be up to a maximum of four primary partitions on a single basic disk Extended partition An extended partition is a primary partition which contains secondary partition(s). A hard disk may contain only one extended partition; which can then be sub-divided into logical drives, each of which is (under DOS and Windows) assigned additional drive letters (not limited by 4 as indicated as primary partition).

PC Partition Types

Partition and Drive letter For example, under either DOS or Windows, a hard disk with one primary partition and one extended partition, the latter containing two logical drives, would typically be assigned the three drive letters: C: for the primary partition, and D: and E: for the two logical drives.

File System: Fat32 or NTFS Security FAT32 provides very little security. A user with access to a drive using FAT32 has access to the files on that drive. NTFS allows the use of NTFS Permissions. It's much more difficult to implement, but folder and file access can be controlled individually, down to an an extreme degree if necessary. The down side of using NTFS Permissions is the chance for error and screwing up the system is greatly magnified. Compatibility NTFS volumes are not recognized by Windows 95/98/Me. This is only a concern when the system is set up for dual or multi-booting. FAT32 must be be used for any drives that must be accessed when the computer is booted from Windows 95/98 or Windows Me. An additional note to the previous statement. Users on the network have access to shared folders no matter what disk format is being used or what version of Windows is installed. FAT and FAT32 volumes can be converted to NTFS volumes. NTFS cannot be converted to FAT32 without reformatting. http://www.theeldergeek.com/ntfs_or_fat32_file_system.htm

File System: Fat32 or NTFS Space Efficiency NTFS supports disk quotas, allowing you to control the amount of disk usage on a per user basis. NTFS supports file compression. FAT32 does not. In Windows XP, the maximum partition size that can be created using FAT32 is 32GB. This increases to 16TB (terabytes) using NTFS. There is a workaround for the 32GB limitation under FAT32, but it is a nuisance especially considering the size of drives currently being manufactured. Reliability FAT32 drives are much more susceptible to disk errors. NTFS volumes have the ability to recover from errors more readily than similar FAT32 volumes. NTFS supports dynamic cluster remapping for bad sectors and prevent them from being used in the future.

Windows, DOS, and OS/2 With Microsoft Windows, DOS, and OS/2, the standard partitioning scheme is to create a single active primary partitions or drive. The designation for this drive is the C: drive, where the operating system (OS), utilities, applications, user data, and page/swap file all reside. The experienced computer users typically prefer to create multiple partitions so that the (typically) trouble-prone operating system can be separated from personal, original, or otherwise valuable user files. User data is thus stored on other partitions (D:, E:, F:, etc.), in case an OS issue prevents the OS from booting. On multi-partition single-disk setup where system and data are kept separate, OS crashes can be easily handled by the end user by simply repairing or even reinstalling the OS. Examples of partition management programs are Acronis Disk Director, Norton PartitionMagic, Norton Ghost. Windows XP and Windows Vista includes an inbuilt 'Disk Management' program which allows for the creation, deletion and movement of partitions.

Unix In Unix-based and Unix-like operating systems such as Linux and Mac OS X, it is possible to create multiple partitions on a disk device. Each partition can be used for a file system or as a swap partition. Multiple partitions allow directories such as /tmp, /usr, /var, or home directory space to be allocated its own file system. Such a scheme has a number of potential advantages: if one file system gets corrupted, the rest of the data stay intact, minimizing data loss However, the disadvantage of subdividing the drive into fixed-size partitions is that a file system in one partition may become full, even though other file systems still have plenty of usable space. Typical Linux desktop systems often use only two partitions: a single "/" (root directory) containing the entire filesystem plus a much smaller swap partition. By default, Mac OS X systems use a single root directory containing the entire filesystem (including a swap file) as a point of simplicity (but other setup options do exist).

Multi-boot and mixed-boot systems Multi-boot systems are computers where the user can boot into more than one distinct operating system (OS). In such systems, the user is given a choice, at startup, of which OS they wish to use, as only one can run at a time on a single-processor computer. Multi-boot systems are typically mixed-boot systems, with different OSes installed. A typical case is a machine with Windows (XP, Vista, Windows 7) as the default OS and Linux as a second OS. "Linux" can refer to any of hundreds of different Linux distributions (OS package), as there is no canonical "Linux" OS. Multi-boot systems generally have three fundamental issues which need to be understood and handled before any installation. In short, the disk must be partitioned with consideration for 1) the proper installation and setup of each operating system, 2) the sharing of files across non-mutually intelligent systems. In general, machines with Windows installed should use Windows-based partition tools and not Linux ones. (Linux tools work, but Windows can be picky when dealing with a boot partition that was created under Linux or Mac). 3) The third issue deals with the boot manager and its installation, and the required configurations and settings a boot manager must have in order to boot each OS. Linux boot managers always recognize NTFS partitions and Windows OSes, but Windows variants generally do not do a good job of recognizing either Linux or Mac.

Multi-boot and mixed-boot systems However, computers with virtual operating systems installed or with multiple separated processors, may allow either running another OS within a window, such as Linux on Windows, or switching between OSes. www.vmware.com

Multi-boot and mixed-boot systems

Partitioning Tools FDISK – DOS based Menu Driven Disk Manager – XP uses Graphical user interface after initially loaded Linux uses many different variations Partition Magic Works with virtually all file system types Allows resizing of partitions Graphical user interface

LAB Inspect your hard drive to determine its size in GB Be certain to save any important data before deleting any partition Boot using Partition Magic Disks Remove all existing partitions

LAB Create Emergency Repair Disk Save any data from your system Adds many troubleshooting tools into RAMDISK Save any data from your system Use Partition Magic to remove all partitions Create an initial Primary partition to load Windows 98 Load Win 98 Load XP in a Dual Boot Environment Create “Data” Drive in XP

LAB Creating a DATA drive in XP Right Click on My Computer  Manage Select Disk Management