Dennis J. Tuchler [mailto:dennis.tuchler@earthlink.net] wondered:

A friend of mine has a computer loaded with M$ Windows. She would like to try Linux but does not know how much room to make on the disk by partitioning (and whether SuSE will do the job for her or whether she should use Partition Magic). Where is there a guide that I can give her that will answer her questions?

YaST can do partitioning and formatting and stuff, where there's an existing unused partition or unused unassigned space, but I don't think you'd want to try shrinking an existing Windows partition that way. Since she already has only Windows on the computer, we can assume that all hard disk space is alloted. She would need something like Partition Magic to shrink the existing Windows partition without disturbing what's already there, and leave room for the new OS. (Probably want to clean up and de-frag before using Partition Magic...) After that, YaST can have its way with the new, empty partition during installation, and it will be very polite about the existing Windows partition. Perhaps a live-CD Linux would provide an equivalent service without it having to already be on the hard disk? However, you didn't specify a laptop, so I'll assume she has a desktop/tower of some kind. If there's room for another hard disk, it would make sense to add one for exclusive use by Linux. Hard disks are cheap. It takes between five minutes and two hours to install one... five minutes if she has the HD and cables and any mounting rails that are required... two hours if she has to go to the computer store to purchase a piece... :-) In other words, no big deal. The only caveat is to open the computer _before_ the trip to buy the hard disk, to see what flavor is already in place (IDE, SATA, SCSI...) and whether there are sufficient free connectors on the HD data cable and the power-supply cable... and whether the bay, into which a new drive will go, is 3.5 or 5.25 inches (i.e., will some kind of mounting bracket be needed... they're cheap, too, just a couple of bucks/pounds/euros/marks/kroner/...) I've installed small drives using nylon cable ties when there wasn't a good ready-made location with screw-holes and such), and encountered no problems... but that's me... Once she has it in place, she can install whatever she likes on the second drive without any need to disturb a working Windows setup. All that changes is what's in the boot sector of the primary drive. If your friend later decides that she doesn't like Linux, she just reformats that second disk and has a ton(ne) of extra room for her Windows stuff. The boot-loader chain can be adjusted to put Windows first, with no delay, so it's basically unnoticable. Kevin The information contained in this electronic mail transmission may be privileged and confidential, and therefore, protected from disclosure. If you have received this communication in error, please notify us immediately by replying to this message and deleting it from your computer without copying or disclosing it.