Ubuntu 7.10 dual boot w/XP keeping rescue partition

[archer6]

How do I setup my T60 as dual boot with XP Pro (already there) and Ubuntu 7.10 without wiping out the hidden rescue and recovery partition?

Thanks

[rmcder]

There's no reason why an install should "wipe out" your recovery partition - however - it would probably disable your thinkvantage button recovery function. There are ways around this, but I don't know them myself.

[GomJabbar]

Good question. I have a T42 I received that had a version of Linux installed. The original recovery partition is still there and begins to boot, but errors out before I get into Rescue and Recovery.

I have not personally tried to install any version of Linux while starting from the original working IBM/Lenovo partitions.

[archer6]

There's no reason why an install should "wipe out" your recovery partition - however - it would probably disable your thinkvantage button recovery function. There are ways around this, but I don't know them myself.

As long as I do not wipe out the recscue partition I will be fine as I have found that if for any reason your blue "ThinkVantage Button" will not launch the rescue partition, the alternate method is to do a restart and hold down the F11 key until you see the rescue menu appear. At that point it's easy as you simply follow the prompts. Another point, is that I have used this partition, as well as restoring the XP Pro OS from recovery disks that I have burned and found that using the partition is considerably faster, and easier than having to use the disks which take much longer and must be fed in by hand. Therefore one cannot walk away and have it done automatically, as the partition will do for you.

I'm at the beginning of the learning curve for Ubuntu Linux. The install routine is to install the CD, then boot from it. After the initial boot you are presented with a menu of choices. 1) Wipe the drive and install Ubuntu in place of Windows. 2) Click on a button that will divide the remaining free space into two partitions, leaving windows on one, and formatting the other for Ubuntu. 3) A slider is available for the user to choose the size of the partition he/she wants for Linux. Since I have not used this I was unsure if it would "show" the existing hidden rescue and recovery partition, which is what I want to preserve. In addition, since I do not know where on the disc this partitoin is, I wish to be careful so as not to destroy it.

Since I have a 100 GB HD I have plenty of room for each of them as I only store files I'm working on. The rest are copied to my external drive for storage. Therefore I don't need to recover or partition every last GB of storage, as I will have plenty. Thus I thought I would ask here, just in case someone had experience that they would share with me in the form of cautions or other tips, suggestions etc.

I did a fair amount of research on this before posting here, yet I have not found a post or entry addressing this. Nonetheless, I will forge ahead as this information is bound to be out there.

Cheers!

[GomJabbar]

I am a Linux N00b, but I know that the boot information for GRUB can be placed in different locations. I would be wary of overwriting the original MBR.

In Linux, the "grub-install" command is used to install stage1 to either the MBR or a partition.

There is also the LILO bootloader. I think Ubuntu normally uses GRUB, but I don't really know - I use Mandriva.

[archer6]

I am a Linux N00b, but I know that the boot information for GRUB can be placed in different locations. I would be wary of overwriting the original MBR.

In Linux, the "grub-install" command is used to install stage1 to either the MBR or a partition.

There is also the LILO bootloader. I think Ubuntu normally uses GRUB, but I don't really know - I use Mandriva.

Good Point! While I was aware of this, I had forgotten about it, so thanks for the reminder!

Cheers!