Creating Bootable Partitions

Before creating a partition where you plan to install an operating system (a bootable partition), you should understand the following information.

 

 

Supported

Boot Code

Space

Operating System

Boots from

Partition Types

Boundary

Required

 

 

 

 

 

DOS 6.22 and

Primary

FAT

2 GB

8 MB

earlier

 

 

 

 

Windows 95a

Primary

FAT

2 GB

90 MB

Windows 95b

Primary

FAT or FAT32

8 GB

90 MB

Windows 98

Primary

FAT or FAT32

8 GB

175 MB

Windows 98SE

Primary

FAT or FAT32

8 GB**

190 MB

Windows Me

Primary

FAT or FAT32

8 GB**

300 MB

Windows NT

Primary*

FAT or NTFS 1.2

2 GB

120 MB

Windows 2000

Primary*

FAT, FAT32, or

8 GB**

650 MB

 

 

NTFS 3.0

 

 

Windows XP

Primary*

FAT, FAT32, or

8 GB**

>1 GB

 

 

NTFS 3.1***

 

 

Linux (LILO†)

Either

Linux Ext2, Linux

8 GB

>250 MB

 

 

Ext3‡ and Linux

 

 

 

 

Swap

 

 

*Windows NT/2000/XP must boot from a primary partition on the first drive. However, only a few files must reside on that partition; the remaining files can reside on a logical partition, which can be located on the first or a subsequent drive. The Windows NT/2000/XP boot partition can be shared with another operating system.

**Having an LBA-compatible (Logical Block Addressing) MBR (Master Boot Record) will make the boot code boundary null with Windows 98SE/Me/2000/XP.

***Windows XP automatically promotes NTFS partitions to version 3.1.

† If you install LILO to a logical partition, it must be the first logical partition in the extended partition.

Linux also supports the partition types FAT, FAT32, and NTFS (read-only) if Linux is installed to a Linux Ext2/Ext3 partition.

38Chapter 3: Managing Partitions

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Norton Abrasives 8 manual Creating Bootable Partitions