80GB, 4 OS, how to partition?

[tuxfan]

I have just bought a new 80 GB hard disk and would like to have some opinions and suggestions on partitioning scheme. This is what I intend to do.

10 GB FAT32 (main installations)
10 GB FAT32 (data and misc installations)
12 GB FAT32 (music, accessible from all OS)
12 GB FAT32 (music, accessible from all OS)

10 GB PCQ Linux 2004 (based on Fedora Core 1, personal preference, pcquest.com)
10 GB Debian (on strong recommendation from some experienced users)
10 GB Suse (or may be any other, please recommend)

 6 GB Wastage (its never 80 GB :roll: )
--
80 GB TOTAL
==

I have following quesries:
1. What partitions should I create for using Linux distros the way I want to use?
2. Can there be only one swap and one boot partition amongst all distros?
3. Can GRUB handle so many OS? I guess it can.
4. Can I create one common partition for all Linux data, accessible from all distros?
5. In future, if I want to replace one distro with another, will it be possible? For example, Mandrake in place of Suse.
6. Should I leave some space for GNU/Herd? Is it coming any time soon? If yes, I will not install Suse.

I am not a total newbie to partitioning. But so far I have handled hard disks with only one Linux distro dual booting with Win98SE (having 3 partitions). But with the luxury of 80GB, I intend to have a look at some more distros

Please guide me generally, give me tips and point out the pit falls that I should avoid. Thanks.

[Ricky]

Well

You  can keep as many distro you want!'

Your first question is little unclear to me!

Grub can handle unlimited Nos. of OS.

Well  you can have common linux partitions like home but that will be little tricky as you have to make identical user settings in both. You can't share /etc like stuff .. basically you want to have separate partition for music etc then you don't need extra space in home partition !

You can easily replace any distro anytime.

Having common swap is applicable !!

[tuxfan]

My first question is the main questions. What partitions should I create? How many /boot, how many /swap, how many /. I mean I have *not* kept more than one distro earlier, so need proper guidance.

[Ricky]

just create a /swap partition and and give separate / to every distro .. every thing else will be done automatically !!

[tuxfan]

Ok. Thanks.

What care do I need to take if I want a common partition for data from all distros?

[Ricky]

Well.

NOthing.. just create / for every distro and a swap partition

[tuxfan]

I am not able to partition my 80GB correctly :cry: FDisk (Win98) only recognises 10GB!! What should I do to partition my HD. Does Knoppix 3.4 have any good partition software? I couldn't do it with Disk Druid that comes with PCQ Linux 2004 :cry:

[Ricky]

Well I don't think your fdisk (win98) can't work on that .. I have used that on 40 HDD.. anyway . from Linux you and use fdisk of linux but that is too advance but very powerful ! try to use that otherwise there is cfdisk , a simplified version .. look if it is there in Knoppix.. I use Slack LIVE and it has both !

[tuxfan]

fdisk did not report the size in MB properly. It was showing only 10 GB. But specifying percentages while partitioning did the job.

It has earlier worked on my 40GB so even I was quite surprised to see that it doesn't work on 80GB. But I think the maximum number a variable can store in C/C++ must have been the case here When fdisk of win98 was made, it did not cover the eventuality of such a large hard disk.

BTW, GNUrag dropped in to my place and did the debian (knoppix) installation. I had already installed PCQ Linux (kernel 2.4 and 2.6). 15GB is still empty for future installations

[GNUrag]

But I think the maximum number a variable can store in C/C++ must have been the case here When fdisk of win98 was made, it did not cover the eventuality of such a large hard disk.

There we see a seasoned C/C++ programmer.... who is stuck in some other profession...:-) :-) :-)