Want to reformat, partition, add Linux, lost XP CD

[Guest]

My dad's Toshiba laptop is about three years old, and as such has collected
an extreme level of trash on its drive. I brought up the topic of
reformatting, to clear the trash, as well as the viruses and spyware that are
probably sitting around. Since the drive will be clean, the idea of
partitioning part of the drive for a Linux install seemed good. Then I
realized that I can not find the Windows XP CD that came with the computer.

I do have one XP CD "For distribution with a new Standard PC only," which is
probably from when we upgraded an old Dell (Which I believe is still at my
dad's office), and for which I do not have any of the numbers or keys.

My questions are:
1) How should I go about partitioning the drive for Linux?
2) Can I use this CD without worrying about WG"A" or other problems ending
the OS's functionality on this or other computers?
3) If not, is there a way to get a new CD without having to pay an arm and a
leg?

 

[Shenan Stanley]

My dad's Toshiba laptop is about three years old, and as such has
collected an extreme level of trash on its drive. I brought up the
topic of reformatting, to clear the trash, as well as the viruses
and spyware that are probably sitting around. Since the drive will
be clean, the idea of partitioning part of the drive for a Linux
install seemed good. Then I realized that I can not find the
Windows XP CD that came with the computer.

I do have one XP CD "For distribution with a new Standard PC only,"
which is probably from when we upgraded an old Dell (Which I
believe is still at my dad's office), and for which I do not have
any of the numbers or keys.

My questions are:
1) How should I go about partitioning the drive for Linux?
2) Can I use this CD without worrying about WG"A" or other problems
ending the OS's functionality on this or other computers?
3) If not, is there a way to get a new CD without having to pay an
arm and a leg?

It may not have come with a Windows XP CD or any CD of any kind. Toshiba
laptops often come with a method of making restoration CDs or a restoration
partition/utility.

Your Dell CD will likely fail.
You might be able to use a generic OEM with whatever product key is posted
on thelaptop itself - but no promises that will even work.

I would first contact Toshiba and see what they can provide/sell to you.
If that fails - you are likely going to have to buy a new copy of Windows XP
and any other software you do not have the media for.
If you buy OEM - it's significantly cheaper - but there are underlying
reasons.

 

[Guest]

The older Dell CDs were pretty-much unmodified MS copy, and should work for a
standard OEM install. The Tosh should have a licence key on a sticker
somewhere on its case. If it doesn't suggest contacting Tosh as they should
have supplied you with a licence key in some form or other.

For linux, leave enough space for a large ext3 partition, and a small swap
partition. 10GB/1GB would be sensible minimum sizes, in fact Linux tends to
be a bigger user of space than Windows. These partitions will be created by
the Linux setup. When installing Linux beware that some distros, if told to
do an automatic install, will over-write the entire disk(!) If you select a
custom install you should be presented with a partition-manager allowing you
to add partitions.

Most modern distros now have read/write NTFS capability, so you can use NTFS
for Windows. However for older distros you might want to put your Windows
onto a FAT32 partition, to ensure interoperability.

To dualboot you can use grub, but I prefer to use the Ranish bootloader, and
install the Linux bootcode into its own partition, instead of the MBR. That
way if something goes horribly wrong you don't lose access to BOTH OS's, only
the failed one.