problems installing mandrake 9.1

okay, this is a real pain for me and i would be very greatful if anyone could help me out.

i need to install linux on my system. i need it for college as i am doing quite a bit of c++ that requires linux specific operations. ie. fork, threads etc. i already have knoppix (linux on a disk) but it doesnt have gcc on it so its completly useless. i tried downloading gcc and installing it but it just didnt happen. so ive decided to try install mandrake 9.1.

this is where the problem gets even more anoying. i only have one drive and its nearly full. i un-installed a few things that i didnt use often and defragged. when i try to install mandrake i select the 'use free space on windows partition' but it tells me that the drive is too fragmented. so i restart, let windows load and defrag. every time i go back and try install mandrake it keeps telling me the same thing. i must have defragged at least 10 times now. i dont think that this is the problem. ive also gone back to windows and un-installed more stuff to make more space. nothing. still wont work. keeps telling me the same thing.

i really need to get this working. i have stuff to hand up on monday before 9 and the college aint open weekends. im getting quite ticked off with linux, between knoppix and this problem.

the drive is a 60 gig maxtor. its FAT32.

can anybody help me out with this one? ive looked on the net but cant find anything to help. im a my wits end with this.... :mad:

You could get Virtual PC (formerly owned by Connectix, now by Microsoft.) and install it onto that. It will have a "virutual" hard drive which will be a file on your disk - linux will see that as the drive in the system.

Otherwise you could repartition your system so Mandrake has REAL partition to use. You'd need partition magic or something like that to get that job done.

How much spade have you l;eft on the disk? For a better defrag try diskeeper llite - freeware. Also if you're already working on less than approx 15 percent of the disk you aren' going to get a full defrag done anyway using.

Also make sure the 'reorganise programs so they start faster' widget ain't selected.

Best bet though is to give it its own partition - its the way its meant to be.

i had 15% left and when i started to get errors i uninstalled a few games that i wasnt playing. i now have 25% free but still no joy.

im gonna get patition magic but im worried that if i try to partition my drive i will loose everything! i will be using partition magic ver 8.0. i have a few programs installed that i cant get back again so backing up is not an option. any ideas??

Any of your college friends have a cd burner ?

Why not use emotional blackmail to borrow one for a few hours? Backup the files. Then use partition magic. I DO RECOMMEND BACKING THESE FILES UP FIRST. I got burned once when using it to resize a windows partition. but that is once out of a few uses. It is usually quite safe.

Alternatively. If you can telnet into your college network. you can use their copy of gcc. And ftp to put your progs to college.

well my dilemma is over. successfully partioned my drive with no loss of data. did a small install of mandrake and so far so good.

:D :D