The Engineer wrote:
I am using BootMagic 8 (Part of PartitionMagic) to boot into WinXP, Mandrake, and Fedora. This works fine, BUT...
I would like to know:
Has anybody had a similar experience at all ? And is there a way around this problem ? Is this a known problem in general with FC1 and PM8 ?
I have also had issues with the partitioning of Fedora. The automatic partition option corrupted something that PM refused to even delete. Luckily the partition tools in Mandrake didn't have the same problem, and I was able to fix it. In the end I decided on a partition scheme, created that with PM, and I have not touched it since. And I haven't had any problems. I do know that while PM can create Linux partitions, it has real problems with resizing them, so get them right the first time, or be prepared to delete and recreate them. Personally I think PartitionMagic is overpriced, and the software has been less than impressive, but I do like the BootMagic setup.
To copy what I have done, (there may be better ways) load windows on the harddrive first. Using PartitionMagic, resize the windows partition to create a 50MB partition at the beginning of your primary drive. I think it needs to be FAT16. You can at this point also set up the remaining partitions. Then install BootMagic on the 50MB partition. BootMagic will then provide you with an interface at boot to select which partition to boot into. As you install Linux on other partitions, it will give you more startup options. Read the BootMagic instructions for the details.
This is important! When you get to the installation of the bootloader in Fedora (or any Linux install) DO NOT WRITE TO THE Master Boot Record! BootMagic now resides in the MBR, and writing to the MBR will mess things up. This is of course easily recovered by booting into the bootMagic CD and just refreshing the options. Another reason I prefer this method. For the bootloader location, select the other option, (you may have to select Advanced Options to see this) which I think is to install into the root partition of the Linux installation. Then run BootMagic (BM) again, and set it up to look at the Linux partition. You only need to do this once, as long as you don't change the partitions.
I hope this helps.
Dave
