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<h1 class="title"><a name="bigfat-warning"></a>Coexisting with
Other Operating Systems
</h1>
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<a class="indexterm" name="BIdNEW-bigfat-warning-it3"></a>
<p><a name="BId-bigfat-warning-pa1"></a>If you plan on
using
<span class="application">Windows
<sup>®</sup></span> as well as
<span class="application">GNU/Linux</span> by dual-booting (being
able to access either system on the same computer), please note
that it is easier to install
<span class="application">Windows
<sup>®</sup></span>
<span class="emphasis"><em>before</em></span>
<span class="application">GNU/Linux</span>. If
<span class="application">Windows
<sup>®</sup></span> is already set up
on your system, and you have never installed
<span class="application">GNU/Linux</span> before,
<span class="application">DrakX</span> —
<span class="application">Mandriva Linux</span>'s installation
program — will have to re-size your
<span class="application">Windows
<sup>®</sup></span> partition. This
operation can be harmful to your data. Therefore, you
<span class="emphasis"><em>must</em></span> perform the following steps before
proceeding:
</p>
<div class="procedure">
<ol type="1">
<li>
<p><a name="BId-bigfat-warning-pa2"></a>
<a class="indexterm" name="BId-bigfat-warning-it1"></a>
<a class="indexterm" name="BIdNEW-bigfat-warning-it4"></a>
<a class="indexterm" name="BIdNEW-bigfat-warning-it7"></a>
<a class="indexterm" name="BIdNEW-bigfat-warning-it8"></a> Run
<span class="command"><strong>chkdsk</strong></span> on your
<span class="application">Windows
<sup>®</sup></span> computer (also
called
<span class="command"><strong>scandisk</strong></span> on some non-
<span class="application">NT</span> systems, such as
<span class="application">Windows
<sup>®</sup> 9x</span>). The
resizing program can detect some obvious errors, but
<span class="command"><strong>chkdsk</strong></span> is better suited for this task.
Refer to the
<span class="command"><strong>chkdsk</strong></span> documentation for more information
on the different options it has.
</p>
<div class="note" style="margin-left: 0.5in; margin-right: 0.5in;">
<table border="0" summary="Note">
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<td rowspan="2" align="center" valign="top" width="25"><img alt="[Note]" src="images/note.png"></td>
<th align="left">Note</th>
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<tr>
<td align="left" valign="top">
<p><a name="BId-bigfat-warning-pa3"></a>Before using
<span class="command"><strong>chkdsk</strong></span> make sure your screen saver and
any other program that might write to the hard disk is
turned off. To obtain even better results, you should run
<span class="command"><strong>chkdsk</strong></span> from
<span class="application">Windows
<sup>®</sup></span>'s
“<span class="quote">Safe Mode</span>”, though it will take
longer.
</p>
</td>
</tr>
</table>
</div>
</li>
<li>
<p><a name="BId-bigfat-warning-pa4"></a>
<a class="indexterm" name="BId-bigfat-warning-it2"></a>
<a class="indexterm" name="BIdNEW-bigfat-warning-it5"></a> For maximum data security, also run
<span class="application">defrag</span> on your partition if you
use
<span class="application">Windows
<sup>®</sup> 9x</span>
<sup>[<a name="d5e9481" href="#ftn.d5e9481" class="footnote">15</a>]</sup>. This further reduces the risk of data loss. This
isn't mandatory, but it's
<span class="emphasis"><em>highly recommended</em></span>. Doing so will make
the resizing process much faster and easier.
</p>
</li>
<li>
<p><a name="BId-bigfat-warning-pa5"></a>The ultimate
insurance against problems is to always
<span class="emphasis"><em>back up your data</em></span>! Of course, you should
back up your data on
<span class="emphasis"><em>another</em></span> computer, upload your back-ups
onto the web, on a friend's computer, etc.
<span class="emphasis"><em>Do not</em></span> back it up onto the computer on
which you want to install
<span class="application">GNU/Linux</span>.
</p>
</li>
</ol>
</div>
<div class="footnotes"><br><hr width="100" align="left">
<div class="footnote">
<p><sup>[<a name="ftn.d5e9481" href="#d5e9481" class="para">15</a>] </sup>On
<span class="application">NT</span>-based operating systems,
defragmentation has little to no effect, provided the disk
is formatted with
<acronym class="acronym">NTFS</acronym>.
</p>
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distrib
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Mandriva
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2008.1
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x86_64
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media
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main-release
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by-pkgid
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275bc5f884d593fea8c87799d871d7f1
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files
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