Creating partitions

Now you should plan the layout of your hard disk partitions regarding file system and size. I recommend creating three or four partitions in addition to the Windows partition. The following example assumes you have exactly one Windows partition (drive letter C). Your hard disk would then look like this:

First partition: NTFS or FAT32 (Windows)
Second partition: ext2 or ext3 (this is where Puppy will be installied to)
Third partition: Linux swap (for page files)
Fourth partition: FAT32 (for exchanging data between Windows and Linux)
Optionally, a fifth partition: ext2 or ext3 (Linux)

Windows will continue to reside on your first partition with all its programs and data. The second partition (recommended size about 1-2 GB) has a Linux file system (ext2 or ext3). This is the partition Puppy will be installed to. The third partition (exactly as large as your computer's memory) will be a Linux swap partition that Linux can ... well, swap files to. The fourth partition has a FAT32 file system, which is recognized by both Windows and Linux. This partition (recommended size about 5 GB) is used for files that you want to access from both Windows and Linux. If you want to manage large amounts of data under Puppy (e.g. music collection, pictures), you should create a fifth partition with a Linux file system (ext2/ext3). This file system cannot be accessed from Windows and is meant for Linux only.

To create the partitions, proceed as follows:

Start Puppy Linux from CD with the "pfix=ram" boot option.

Start the Gparted program: "Menu | System | Gparted partition manager".

First, shrink your Windows partition (NTFS file system). To do this, select the Windows partition /dev/hda1.

Click the "Resize/Move" button.

Reduce the "New Size" value until the "Free Space Following" field shows enough free space following for the new partitions. My test computer's hard disk has only 3 gigabytes; I am using half of that for the mew partitions. You probably have a much larger hard drive so your partition sizes can be increased accordingly.

Then press the "Resize/Move" button.

Next, select "Edit | Apply All Operations" from the menu.

In the dialogue box that comes up, click the "Apply" button.

Click the "Close" button. You now have an "unallocated" area on your hard disk.

Select the line saying "unallocated" and click the "New" button.

Enter the size of the second partition in the "New Size" field. This is where Puppy Linux will be installed to. I recommend a size of 1 to 2 gigabytes (i.e., 1024 to 2048 MB). Select ext2 from the "Filesystem" box and click "Add".

Again select the line saying "unallocated" and click the "New" button. (You can see where this is going.)

Enter the size of the third partition in the "New Size" field. This partition is to hold Linux's swap files as a Linux swap partition. You should make it as large as your computer's memory (RAM). With my test computer, this amounts to 128 megabytes (MB). Select linux-swap from the "Filesystem" box and click "Add".

Again select the line saying "unallocated" and click the "New" button.

Enter the size of the fourth partition in the "New Size" field.This partition is meant for shared access to files from Windows and Linux. I recommend a size of about 5 gigabytes (5120 MB). Since my test computer does not have a large enough hard disk, I am using 396 megabytes (MB) as an example. Select FAT32 from the "Filesystem" box and click "Add".

Hint: if you want to create additional partitions (e.g., for very large files under Linux), repeat the process outlined above accordingly. In this case, you may have to create so-called logical partitions. Please consult additional sources if you are unsure about how to do that.

To actually write the changes to disk, select "Edit | Apply All Operations" from the menu.

In the dialogue box that comes up, click "Apply".

Click the "Close" button.

Exit GParted.