WEBVTT - What is multi-boot? 0:00:00.320 --> 0:00:02.880 Brought to you by the reinvented two thousand twelve camera. 0:00:03.200 --> 0:00:08.920 It's ready. Are you get in touch with technology with 0:00:09.080 --> 0:00:17.840 tech Stuff from how stuff works dot com. Hello again, everyone, 0:00:17.880 --> 0:00:20.040 welcome to tech Stuff. My name is Chris Polette and 0:00:20.040 --> 0:00:22.320 I am the tech editor at how stuff works dot com. 0:00:22.320 --> 0:00:25.360 Sitting across from me as usual as senior writer Jonathan Strickling. Hey, 0:00:25.400 --> 0:00:29.760 there is today. Actually, what are we going to talk about? Well, 0:00:29.800 --> 0:00:31.840 today we're gonna talk about something that comes to us 0:00:31.920 --> 0:00:38.760 courtesy of a little listener mail. This listener mail comes 0:00:38.760 --> 0:00:41.519 from Jeff and Jeff says, Hey, Chris and Jonathan or 0:00:41.640 --> 0:00:44.920 the unfortunate intern who must sift through listener mail first. 0:00:45.440 --> 0:00:49.680 Uh no, Jeff, that's us. I am absolutely in love 0:00:49.720 --> 0:00:52.040 with the podcast. I just finished listening to your show 0:00:52.120 --> 0:00:55.360 on Hackintosh's and the unfortunate comment at the end of 0:00:55.360 --> 0:00:58.080 the show about sticking with a PC if you want 0:00:58.120 --> 0:01:01.360 to do the useful things. I love my Mac, but 0:01:01.440 --> 0:01:04.240 I do have to agree I miss gaming too, which 0:01:04.280 --> 0:01:07.240 is why I used Apple's boot camp to install Windows 0:01:07.319 --> 0:01:10.640 XP on my Mac, resulting in a to the dual 0:01:10.760 --> 0:01:15.839 boot system. A delusion. Questions is about to begin. How 0:01:16.000 --> 0:01:19.840 the heck does it work. Boot Camp is provided by 0:01:19.959 --> 0:01:23.680 Apple as if they're encouraging people to also install Windows 0:01:23.680 --> 0:01:26.440 on their max. Of course, you still have to purchase 0:01:26.480 --> 0:01:29.120 your own copy of Windows. Is that a violation of 0:01:29.120 --> 0:01:32.319 the you love for either Apple or Microsoft? How or 0:01:32.400 --> 0:01:36.120 why did Apple make their machines compatible with both operating systems? 0:01:36.440 --> 0:01:39.600 And then how do other programs like Parallels, which allow 0:01:39.640 --> 0:01:42.560 you to operate Windows while running your Mac work? Keep 0:01:42.640 --> 0:01:45.280 up the great work. Jeff ps. A show on green 0:01:45.319 --> 0:01:48.120 technology would be awesome too. I would not complain about that. 0:01:48.480 --> 0:01:52.279 We're not doing a show on green technology. No. Today, 0:01:52.320 --> 0:01:56.920 we're doing a show about multibooting. Yes, because your computer 0:01:57.040 --> 0:01:59.760 will depending on your computer, but we'll get in a second. 0:01:59.760 --> 0:02:01.960 Your Peter may or may not be able to run 0:02:02.080 --> 0:02:05.520 multiple operating systems, not just you know, for example, Windows 0:02:05.520 --> 0:02:07.960 and Mac. As you said, right, yeah, we when we're 0:02:07.960 --> 0:02:12.320 talking about multibooting, it's uh, it's it's a wider net 0:02:12.360 --> 0:02:15.640 than that. We're talking about things like a Lenox, Unix 0:02:15.720 --> 0:02:19.359 things like that, not necessarily all of them at the 0:02:19.400 --> 0:02:21.280 same time. Some of them work together and some of 0:02:21.320 --> 0:02:25.839 them don't. Um And when we say work together, we'll 0:02:25.840 --> 0:02:27.560 have to get into that a little bit. Too. It's 0:02:27.639 --> 0:02:30.480 kind of, um, it's kind of an unusual situation. So 0:02:31.040 --> 0:02:33.959 when you turn your computer on, right, and I'm talking 0:02:34.000 --> 0:02:35.720 about like when you flip the power switch, and I'll 0:02:35.760 --> 0:02:37.520 talk about when you buy it chocolates and say nice 0:02:37.560 --> 0:02:40.880 things to it. Uh, there's a certain process that the 0:02:40.880 --> 0:02:44.320 computer goes through in order to boot up. Now, this 0:02:44.360 --> 0:02:49.920 process starts with the master boot record, Yes, which is 0:02:49.919 --> 0:02:53.040 a sector at the very very beginning of the hard drive. Right, 0:02:53.360 --> 0:02:56.359 so your your computer's hard drive, whatever format that might 0:02:56.400 --> 0:02:59.240 be in. It could be a platter hard drive or 0:02:59.280 --> 0:03:02.520 it could be so its state, but either way, within 0:03:02.600 --> 0:03:06.120 that first sector, there's something called the master boot record. 0:03:06.160 --> 0:03:09.120 Now this is this is the the little bit of 0:03:09.160 --> 0:03:14.160 code that tells the essentially your computer where to go next, 0:03:14.840 --> 0:03:17.960 like how how how to boot up the operating system. 0:03:18.000 --> 0:03:22.280 So the uh, what I'll do is it'll it'll reference 0:03:22.360 --> 0:03:26.960 a partition table and look for the active boot partition. 0:03:27.600 --> 0:03:31.080 This is what then says, okay, well you know, if 0:03:31.120 --> 0:03:34.080 we've passed go, here's the next square that we have 0:03:34.160 --> 0:03:37.360 to move to. So it passes the control to the 0:03:37.400 --> 0:03:41.960 partition boot record that continues the booting process. Now, the 0:03:42.040 --> 0:03:45.880 partition boot record then looks for a system specific boot 0:03:45.920 --> 0:03:50.520 files that are associated with that particular operating system. Right, 0:03:50.760 --> 0:03:53.200 So the like a Windows that would start looking for 0:03:53.240 --> 0:03:57.520 the I and I files. Um. At that point, it 0:03:57.600 --> 0:04:00.400 then finishes the whole process of boot it ing, and 0:04:00.440 --> 0:04:03.480 it loads up the operating system for your computer. Now, 0:04:03.520 --> 0:04:06.200 if you only have one operating system on your computer, 0:04:06.280 --> 0:04:11.240 this is a very straightforward process. It's just a straight shot, right. Yeah, 0:04:11.280 --> 0:04:15.920 So NBR for the master boot record, NBR to the PBR, 0:04:16.760 --> 0:04:20.159 which is not perhaps blue ribbon that several people listening 0:04:20.240 --> 0:04:23.359 just thought that, Yeah, I know, um, but no, the 0:04:23.560 --> 0:04:26.320 that's the the partition boot record, and then that goes 0:04:26.360 --> 0:04:30.840 to the system files. So uh, pretty pretty straightforward. However, 0:04:31.600 --> 0:04:36.120 the interesting thing about computers, or one interesting thing about computers, Yeah, 0:04:36.120 --> 0:04:38.800 it turns out there's more than one. One of the 0:04:38.920 --> 0:04:41.640 interesting things that you can learn about computers is that 0:04:41.720 --> 0:04:46.080 you can install multiple operating systems on a computer if 0:04:46.160 --> 0:04:51.200 you partition the hard drive correctly. That's true. Well, there 0:04:51.240 --> 0:04:54.760 is an alternative. You could have multiple hard drives, each 0:04:54.839 --> 0:04:57.800 with its own operating system. That's a little bit more 0:04:58.080 --> 0:05:00.719 I should point out to Ouh. There's a lot of 0:05:00.760 --> 0:05:04.360 detail that could go into a multiple boot system. So 0:05:04.440 --> 0:05:06.479 we're not We're probably gonna take just a really high 0:05:06.600 --> 0:05:09.600 end look at it, because we're talking about the the 0:05:09.600 --> 0:05:13.080 basics here to see behind. As it turns out, depending 0:05:13.160 --> 0:05:16.200 upon which operating systems you want to install, there are 0:05:16.200 --> 0:05:18.120 a lot of different things you have to take into consideration. 0:05:18.240 --> 0:05:21.960 For example, some versions of Windows can recognize when other 0:05:22.000 --> 0:05:25.520 operating systems are installed on your computer, whether or not 0:05:25.640 --> 0:05:28.440 that is the whether or not that that version of 0:05:28.480 --> 0:05:32.479 Windows is your primary operating system. Some of them object 0:05:32.560 --> 0:05:35.560 to not being the primary operating system, and if it's 0:05:35.600 --> 0:05:39.760 not the primary, you're gonna have more headaches. You're gonna 0:05:39.839 --> 0:05:42.080 there are ways of working around it, but you have 0:05:42.200 --> 0:05:46.000 to find out what those ways are. Um, it's so, Yeah, 0:05:46.040 --> 0:05:48.160 it can get really really complex, so we're gonna try 0:05:48.160 --> 0:05:50.840 and keep it more general. In most cases, you can 0:05:50.880 --> 0:05:57.120 find tools out there that make this fairly easy, or 0:05:57.160 --> 0:05:59.160 at least easier than if you were to set out 0:05:59.160 --> 0:06:02.360 and do it on your own. Yep, there's a so, 0:06:02.360 --> 0:06:05.200 so it is possible. Getting back to what you were 0:06:05.200 --> 0:06:09.040 saying before, Jonathan about um, you know they're being partitions 0:06:09.040 --> 0:06:11.680 on a drive. You could have multiple drives with multiple 0:06:11.720 --> 0:06:15.560 operating systems. But let's say you're you know, the average 0:06:15.600 --> 0:06:18.520 person who is interested in a dual boot system, or 0:06:18.600 --> 0:06:21.479 you know, in the case of our dear listener, someone 0:06:21.520 --> 0:06:25.000 who has, uh, you know, the opportunity to install multiple 0:06:25.240 --> 0:06:29.320 operating systems on one single hard disk. And in that case, yes, 0:06:29.360 --> 0:06:31.400 you do want to partition your hard drive. And a 0:06:31.440 --> 0:06:35.000 partition is pretty much exactly like what it sounds like. 0:06:35.040 --> 0:06:38.200 It's it's a different part of your hard drive. Um. 0:06:38.240 --> 0:06:41.680 And when you partition you're hard drive, you're basically telling, uh, 0:06:41.800 --> 0:06:44.800 your computer, look, this part of the hard drive is 0:06:45.560 --> 0:06:50.440 like its own hard drive. Your It's not literally a 0:06:50.440 --> 0:06:53.279 different hard drive, but your computer treats it as though 0:06:53.279 --> 0:06:55.440 it were a different hard drive. Right. So, if if 0:06:55.480 --> 0:06:58.080 you want to think of it in physical terms, although 0:06:58.200 --> 0:07:03.000 I should hasten to add that the physical representation is 0:07:03.000 --> 0:07:07.159 is it's just an example. Um. The physical nature of 0:07:07.200 --> 0:07:10.440 hard drives is also a very complicated thing. As it 0:07:10.480 --> 0:07:13.440 turns out. You talk about cylinders and platters, and then 0:07:13.440 --> 0:07:16.080 there's solid state drives, which are a different animal altogether, 0:07:16.480 --> 0:07:20.240 and by animal, I mean hard drive. Don't write meat people, um. 0:07:20.400 --> 0:07:22.360 But if you want to think of it in physical terms, 0:07:22.360 --> 0:07:25.360 think of a room and you've got a pretty big room. No, 0:07:25.480 --> 0:07:28.800 it's it's it's roomy in fact, and there's a you know, 0:07:28.920 --> 0:07:31.080 it's a nice square room. And then you think, you 0:07:31.080 --> 0:07:32.960 know what, I want to set this one corner of 0:07:32.960 --> 0:07:36.640 the room off to be a room where I store 0:07:36.680 --> 0:07:38.680 all my stuff. It's gonna be essentially a closet. So 0:07:38.680 --> 0:07:42.480 you build a couple of walls, um, and you you 0:07:42.480 --> 0:07:45.480 you partition off that room. There's still a door into 0:07:45.480 --> 0:07:47.760 the big room, so you can get back and forth, 0:07:48.240 --> 0:07:51.440 but it's set aside. And then you think, hey, you 0:07:51.480 --> 0:07:53.520 know what, I've got that place to store my stuff. 0:07:53.520 --> 0:07:55.600 But I really want I want I want a special 0:07:55.920 --> 0:07:59.400 corner here so I can watch movies and play video 0:07:59.400 --> 0:08:02.200 games and stuff. So I'm gonna build another wall and uh, 0:08:02.200 --> 0:08:04.840 and I'm going to corner off this section here from 0:08:04.880 --> 0:08:07.720 the main part of the room. Well, that's essentially what 0:08:07.720 --> 0:08:09.880 you're doing. When you're partitioning off a hard drive. You 0:08:09.920 --> 0:08:13.360 are taking up the whole and you're dividing it up 0:08:13.400 --> 0:08:16.960 into parts. Um. These parts, of course have to be 0:08:17.000 --> 0:08:19.960 smaller than the whole. We can't magically make our hard 0:08:20.040 --> 0:08:23.160 drives larger than what they were before. Uh. And in fact, 0:08:23.240 --> 0:08:26.280 this caused some issues back when hard drives started to 0:08:26.760 --> 0:08:30.080 bump up against the eight gigabyte range, because before that 0:08:30.240 --> 0:08:34.000 there was a physical limit based upon the hard drive 0:08:34.080 --> 0:08:37.000 architecture that a gigabytes. That was that was as high 0:08:37.000 --> 0:08:39.200 as you were gonna go. And we got around that, 0:08:39.400 --> 0:08:43.800 but almost like by tricking the computer um at any rate, 0:08:43.840 --> 0:08:46.800 So you can partition off your hard drive that way. 0:08:47.760 --> 0:08:50.080 If you wanted to install more than one operating system 0:08:50.120 --> 0:08:52.880 on your computer, you would need to have a partition, 0:08:52.920 --> 0:08:56.720 at least a partition per operating system. So if you 0:08:56.760 --> 0:08:59.240 had to operating systems, you would need at the very 0:08:59.320 --> 0:09:02.719 least you partitions. You may want to do more than that. 0:09:02.800 --> 0:09:05.920 You may want both operating systems to have access to 0:09:06.000 --> 0:09:08.800 the same data. For example, let's say that you have 0:09:09.120 --> 0:09:11.200 two different versions of Windows that you want to run 0:09:11.320 --> 0:09:13.480 and and there may be reasons why you would need 0:09:13.520 --> 0:09:15.600 to do this, and we'll get into that in a 0:09:15.640 --> 0:09:18.480 little bit, but if you had these two different versions 0:09:18.520 --> 0:09:20.160 of Windows, but you want to be able to access 0:09:20.160 --> 0:09:23.400 the same general data, you would need a third partition 0:09:23.440 --> 0:09:25.560 that would hold all the data, and both of your 0:09:25.640 --> 0:09:28.880 operating systems would have to be able to access that partition. 0:09:30.400 --> 0:09:35.880 While maintaining separation between the two operating system partitions and 0:09:35.920 --> 0:09:42.080 the flowers are still standing. Yes. Nice, that's a ghostbuster's reference. Um. 0:09:42.080 --> 0:09:44.880 It took me a second to put it together. But yeah. 0:09:44.920 --> 0:09:49.240 So let's say that you've partitioned your hard drive. Would 0:09:49.280 --> 0:09:51.000 there are many tools out there that allow you to 0:09:51.000 --> 0:09:53.880 do this. By the way, before you partition anything, before 0:09:53.920 --> 0:09:58.439 you ever try this, back up your hard hard drive, 0:09:59.000 --> 0:10:02.760 and I'll tell you it's it's um, it's a good idea. Actually. 0:10:02.800 --> 0:10:06.040 I read people who are you know, who are writing 0:10:06.520 --> 0:10:10.240 tutorials on how to create a multi boot system or 0:10:10.280 --> 0:10:12.040 to partition or hard drives, and one of the first 0:10:12.080 --> 0:10:14.280 things that they say, other than back up your hard drive, 0:10:14.400 --> 0:10:16.480 is maybe you don't necessarily want to do this with 0:10:16.520 --> 0:10:19.080 your main computer. Yeah. Yeah, I would avoid doing this 0:10:19.120 --> 0:10:21.319 with your main computer. If you have a secondary computer, 0:10:21.640 --> 0:10:23.640 that would be all right for you to play with. 0:10:23.679 --> 0:10:27.040 But um, there are problems that can come up from 0:10:27.120 --> 0:10:30.040 partitioning your hard drive if things, especially depending on the 0:10:30.040 --> 0:10:35.120 the combination of operating systems you've chosen. Um, and don't 0:10:35.120 --> 0:10:37.160 just do it willy nilly. I mean, if you're willing 0:10:37.200 --> 0:10:39.960 to accept the risk, you know, go right ahead. But 0:10:40.360 --> 0:10:42.120 just keep in mind that there is a possibility that 0:10:42.559 --> 0:10:45.359 you could, um, you could erase a lot of information 0:10:46.160 --> 0:10:49.160 right that term paper that you have do on Friday, 0:10:49.200 --> 0:10:52.200 that you just got your second draft done and oh 0:10:52.320 --> 0:10:56.920 don it now it's gone. Yeah. Um. And keep in 0:10:57.000 --> 0:11:00.400 mind also that operating systems can have is uose with 0:11:00.520 --> 0:11:04.520 different parts of your hardware. Um. Things that work fine 0:11:04.559 --> 0:11:07.440 in one operating system may stop working in another because 0:11:07.480 --> 0:11:10.640 the drivers aren't there. That's true, you should um. Not 0:11:10.760 --> 0:11:14.880 all operating systems are are created equal. As a matter 0:11:14.920 --> 0:11:18.800 of fact, This answers one of one of the questions. UM, 0:11:18.840 --> 0:11:23.320 because we were talking about what enables a Mac to 0:11:23.360 --> 0:11:25.920 do this now when you couldn't do it before. Okay, 0:11:25.960 --> 0:11:29.800 so before um, when they were running these power PC chips, Uh, 0:11:29.920 --> 0:11:33.760 the operating system for Windows would just not run on it. 0:11:34.080 --> 0:11:36.040 So you were you had to make a choice if 0:11:36.040 --> 0:11:39.400 you wanted to buy a Mac, you ran the Mac os. UM. Well, 0:11:39.480 --> 0:11:42.480 when Apple decided to change course and switched over to 0:11:42.880 --> 0:11:46.200 Intel chips, Um, they are essentially the same chips that 0:11:46.240 --> 0:11:48.920 go inside a PC. Actually they are the same chips 0:11:48.920 --> 0:11:53.000 because they will run Windows. UM and uh. And yes, 0:11:53.040 --> 0:11:55.520 to answer the other question, Apple is okay with you 0:11:55.679 --> 0:11:58.800 UH using bootcamp to partition your hard drive and install 0:11:58.840 --> 0:12:00.520 a copy of Windows on there. And of fact, it's 0:12:00.520 --> 0:12:04.680 a selling point for them right right because before you 0:12:04.720 --> 0:12:06.920 know you you it was a macor a PC. Now 0:12:06.920 --> 0:12:09.280 you can do both, and that makes the Mac more 0:12:09.360 --> 0:12:11.839 valuable to some people because they can run programs from 0:12:11.880 --> 0:12:14.440 with operating Because what's interesting is you can't do it 0:12:14.520 --> 0:12:17.040 the other way around, or at least Apple doesn't want 0:12:17.080 --> 0:12:18.760 you to. You can do it, but in order for 0:12:18.800 --> 0:12:20.640 you to be able to run the mac os on 0:12:20.679 --> 0:12:25.480 a PC, you have to essentially fool the operating system 0:12:25.480 --> 0:12:28.440 into believing it is on a Mac. Yeah, it would 0:12:28.440 --> 0:12:30.960 have to. UM, the Mac is going to have to 0:12:31.000 --> 0:12:35.520 recognize the components inside the machine, and if it looks 0:12:35.640 --> 0:12:38.480 like it isn't Mac, it's not going to want to 0:12:38.559 --> 0:12:41.200 run on it. Yeah. Now, again, you can fool the 0:12:41.240 --> 0:12:44.600 operating system using various kinds of software in order to 0:12:44.800 --> 0:12:47.000 UH to force it to run on a PC. But 0:12:47.080 --> 0:12:50.120 your mileage may vary as far as how reliable it goes. 0:12:50.559 --> 0:12:53.719 So getting back to to the whole multibooting concept here. 0:12:53.840 --> 0:12:57.120 Now we've partitioned our hard drive UM several times, we 0:12:57.200 --> 0:12:59.360 know that it's going to work on that computer. Right. Yeah, Well, 0:12:59.440 --> 0:13:02.600 let's let's assume that we have already taken into account 0:13:02.600 --> 0:13:04.920 the different operating systems we're going to use. Let's go 0:13:04.960 --> 0:13:07.800 ahead and say we're running, um, two different versions of 0:13:07.800 --> 0:13:09.800 Windows and a version of Linux. So we have three 0:13:09.800 --> 0:13:13.160 different operating systems on this one machine. We've got let's 0:13:13.200 --> 0:13:17.120 say five partitions total. All right, So each partition for 0:13:17.120 --> 0:13:20.000 the operating system you've you've created it so it's just 0:13:20.160 --> 0:13:24.000 big enough to hold that operating system, all right, So 0:13:24.080 --> 0:13:26.440 that means that but you could do it, But you 0:13:26.440 --> 0:13:28.960 could do you could do it where each each one 0:13:29.120 --> 0:13:31.560 is maybe give it a little room, but more or less, 0:13:31.600 --> 0:13:34.560 what you've got is a partition that's large enough to 0:13:34.720 --> 0:13:38.440 hold each operating system. And then you've dedicated the rest 0:13:38.440 --> 0:13:41.240 of your space for storage right in your in your 0:13:41.240 --> 0:13:45.560 two different drives that you're using for storage. Now, um, 0:13:45.600 --> 0:13:49.360 when you boot up the computer, depending on how you 0:13:49.400 --> 0:13:54.440 set up the master boot record, because this this different 0:13:54.679 --> 0:13:58.400 vendors do different methods. Actually Microsoft is very different from 0:13:58.480 --> 0:14:01.280 everyone else. But if you were to uh, for the 0:14:01.320 --> 0:14:03.600 most part, what happens is when you boot up, the 0:14:03.679 --> 0:14:06.600 first step is the same. The master boot record looks 0:14:06.720 --> 0:14:10.320 at the partition table, only this time there are choices. 0:14:10.880 --> 0:14:13.560 It is no longer, oh, I need to hand over 0:14:13.640 --> 0:14:18.480 the booting power to this very particular uh PBR again 0:14:18.600 --> 0:14:23.320 not perhaps blue ribbon, the partition boot record. I can't 0:14:23.400 --> 0:14:25.880 just do that because there are multiple choices. And then 0:14:26.920 --> 0:14:29.040 what will happen is you'll be presented with the choice 0:14:29.080 --> 0:14:33.440 of which operating system you wish to boot into, right, 0:14:33.600 --> 0:14:35.920 and so you choose that one, and then the rest 0:14:35.920 --> 0:14:38.520 of the process pretty much is the same. So the 0:14:38.520 --> 0:14:42.720 the NBR will hand over the booting to the PBR, 0:14:42.840 --> 0:14:46.880 which then moves forward from there and and accesses the 0:14:46.960 --> 0:14:50.880 appropriate system specific boot files in order to to start 0:14:50.920 --> 0:14:53.520 up the operating system. So with Linux, it's going to 0:14:53.600 --> 0:14:56.920 be one set. With whatever version of Windows you're running, 0:14:56.920 --> 0:14:58.840 it's going to be another set. And then of course 0:14:58.880 --> 0:15:01.560 your your second version of Windows will use yet a 0:15:01.640 --> 0:15:05.040 third set, so um you could choose any of those three. 0:15:05.360 --> 0:15:09.320 You have to remember that this is divvying up your 0:15:09.320 --> 0:15:11.960 computer's resources, so your computer is not gonna have nearly 0:15:12.000 --> 0:15:14.600 the amount of storage space that used to have. UM 0:15:14.680 --> 0:15:17.160 it can also depending on the operating systems you've chosen, 0:15:17.160 --> 0:15:21.000 it can affect performance in other ways. Um, it could 0:15:21.120 --> 0:15:24.720 make your computer run a little more slowly. Uh. Depending 0:15:24.720 --> 0:15:26.920 on how you've partitioned the drives, it may have more 0:15:26.960 --> 0:15:30.080 trouble accessing the hard drive in order to find the 0:15:30.160 --> 0:15:33.320 right information it needs to operate. Um. It's a tricky thing, 0:15:33.640 --> 0:15:36.400 which is again another reason why it's a good idea 0:15:36.400 --> 0:15:38.320 to use this on a secondary or or you know, 0:15:38.360 --> 0:15:40.800 even a tertiary machine or whatever. You know, some spare 0:15:40.840 --> 0:15:43.960 machine you have as opposed to your primary one, just 0:15:44.040 --> 0:15:48.000 because if stuff goes wrong, then you haven't lost all. 0:15:48.680 --> 0:15:51.480 You haven't lost your your primary machine. Yeah, if you're already, 0:15:51.480 --> 0:15:54.560 If you're partitioning machine, that's I'm sorry. If you're partitioning 0:15:54.560 --> 0:15:58.160 a hard drive on a machine that has uh um 0:15:58.400 --> 0:16:01.960 been formatted. Say you have a a Windows XP machine 0:16:02.600 --> 0:16:06.200 with a five gigabyte hard drive, and you've had this 0:16:06.240 --> 0:16:08.080 machine for two years now, and you say, you know what, 0:16:08.240 --> 0:16:11.000 I'm ready to try Linux. I want to install Linux 0:16:11.040 --> 0:16:15.240 on here. I want to partition my hard drive. Well, UM, 0:16:15.320 --> 0:16:18.480 you're gonna have to sort of be very careful because 0:16:19.320 --> 0:16:22.240 the information on there. You know, of course, you probably 0:16:22.280 --> 0:16:25.680 know about defragmentation, how data can get stored in different 0:16:25.680 --> 0:16:28.280 sectors on a hard drive, all over the hard drive. 0:16:28.320 --> 0:16:30.840 But what a partition is gonna want to do the 0:16:31.000 --> 0:16:34.480 partitioning tool, it's gonna want to create a part of 0:16:34.520 --> 0:16:36.800 the hard drive that doesn't have any information on it. 0:16:37.160 --> 0:16:39.680 And so you know, you have to try to judge 0:16:39.720 --> 0:16:43.400 how much room you want to save on the Windows partition, like, well, 0:16:43.400 --> 0:16:45.160 how much am I gonna how much space am I 0:16:45.200 --> 0:16:46.880 gonna need on there? How much? You know, am I 0:16:46.920 --> 0:16:48.680 going to run the risk? And it warns you if 0:16:49.160 --> 0:16:52.280 when I installed UM it won't two on our test 0:16:52.320 --> 0:16:54.360 machine here in the office. It warned you. It says, 0:16:54.480 --> 0:16:56.640 you know, look, there is a possibility that some of 0:16:56.640 --> 0:16:59.360 your files could be damaged in this process because it's 0:16:59.400 --> 0:17:01.320 already formed at it And are you sure you really 0:17:01.360 --> 0:17:03.480 want to do this? And I'm sure it's just a precaution, 0:17:04.200 --> 0:17:07.159 but so you know, just be aware that formatting a 0:17:07.200 --> 0:17:08.680 hard you know, that's why we were sort of talking 0:17:08.680 --> 0:17:11.680 about the idea of starting from scratch, you know, brand 0:17:11.720 --> 0:17:13.720 new hard drive. Let's go ahead and throw three different 0:17:13.720 --> 0:17:16.199 operating systems on there. You know, if you're doing this 0:17:16.280 --> 0:17:19.399 with a hard drive with an operating system that's been 0:17:19.440 --> 0:17:21.720 on there for a while, you know that information is 0:17:21.720 --> 0:17:22.959 going to be spread out a little bit, you might 0:17:22.960 --> 0:17:25.200 want to run a defragment or on it and clean 0:17:25.280 --> 0:17:27.520 up to drive a good bit before you partitioning. Yeah, 0:17:27.520 --> 0:17:29.880 if you don't, if you don't mind the idea of 0:17:30.320 --> 0:17:33.520 totally wiping your computer and starting from scratch, then that 0:17:33.520 --> 0:17:36.520 that solves a lot of problems. But as we as 0:17:36.680 --> 0:17:39.520 we mentioned Chris, that was a really good point because, 0:17:39.560 --> 0:17:42.960 like I said before, with the physical representation that room, 0:17:43.000 --> 0:17:46.840 where you you easily block off a corner here, in 0:17:46.840 --> 0:17:49.040 a corner there, that's not the way it really works 0:17:49.080 --> 0:17:51.159 on a computer. On a computer, you could think of 0:17:51.160 --> 0:17:54.160 it as a high rise building with lots and lots 0:17:54.200 --> 0:17:57.480 of different rooms, and certain rooms have their lights on, 0:17:57.560 --> 0:17:59.359 and other rooms have the lights off, and the rooms 0:17:59.359 --> 0:18:01.359 that the lights off, those are those are free. You 0:18:01.359 --> 0:18:04.000 can use those too put in more information. But they're 0:18:04.040 --> 0:18:07.439 scattered all across the building in different levels, and and 0:18:07.560 --> 0:18:09.919 some levels have almost all the lights off, and some 0:18:10.000 --> 0:18:11.920 levels have almost all the lights on, and others are 0:18:11.960 --> 0:18:14.920 are kind of a jumble. Um. That's why it's kind 0:18:14.960 --> 0:18:18.680 of that this can get really complicated because to partition off, 0:18:18.720 --> 0:18:21.360 say all right, well, I need a block of sixty 0:18:21.480 --> 0:18:24.639 rooms that have no lights on. Uh, there may not 0:18:24.720 --> 0:18:28.200 be an adjacent block of sixty and may be spread across. 0:18:28.240 --> 0:18:30.680 So again we're talking about a difference between the physical 0:18:30.760 --> 0:18:34.040 structure of the hard drive and what the actual digital 0:18:34.080 --> 0:18:37.600 representation is. Which is why the more I read about this, 0:18:37.880 --> 0:18:43.640 the more my head hurts, because I was an English major. Well, thankfully, 0:18:44.119 --> 0:18:47.679 most of the utilities now for the most modern operating 0:18:47.680 --> 0:18:49.560 systems that will help you with this. You know, things 0:18:49.560 --> 0:18:53.600 like g parted, which is a a free, open source 0:18:54.200 --> 0:18:58.280 UM utility UM and of course boot camp for the Mac. 0:18:58.440 --> 0:18:59.960 They'll help you through it. They'll walk you through it. 0:19:00.080 --> 0:19:02.960 If you're installing UM, I know most flavors of Linux 0:19:03.560 --> 0:19:05.919 have you know, when you're installing the computer it it 0:19:06.040 --> 0:19:08.240 helps you walk you through the process of doing this. 0:19:08.359 --> 0:19:10.359 Do you really want to partition your hard drive? You 0:19:10.359 --> 0:19:12.960 can that way you can install you know this along 0:19:13.000 --> 0:19:15.040 with your normal operating system or would you prefer just 0:19:15.080 --> 0:19:18.680 to wipe the whole thing clean? Um? So, thankfully it 0:19:19.000 --> 0:19:21.520 you know that you get some help, but UM I 0:19:21.640 --> 0:19:23.480 recommend to if you're if you're doing this as a 0:19:23.520 --> 0:19:25.720 hobby and you're especially if you're really concerned about the 0:19:25.720 --> 0:19:28.800 possibility that you're going to do damage to the data 0:19:28.840 --> 0:19:31.720 on your hard drive by doing this. I recommend doing 0:19:31.720 --> 0:19:34.080 a little research on the internet first before you do 0:19:34.119 --> 0:19:37.320 this with some reputable sources because UM, it really differs 0:19:37.359 --> 0:19:41.119 operating an operating system and version of operating system to 0:19:41.200 --> 0:19:44.040 version of operating system. UM, there are some details that 0:19:44.080 --> 0:19:45.720 you might want to pick up on, and we don't. 0:19:46.880 --> 0:19:48.960 You know, there's a lot. I wanted to make sure 0:19:48.960 --> 0:19:51.520 that everybody knows that this is you know, it's not 0:19:51.800 --> 0:19:54.119 it's not really hard to do, but you want to 0:19:54.119 --> 0:19:57.120 be careful when you're doing it right. Each each pairing 0:19:57.160 --> 0:19:59.879 has its own set of circumstances. So that's why we 0:20:00.000 --> 0:20:03.200 don't really go into detail because to do to say, 0:20:03.280 --> 0:20:06.119 like you want to run Windows and Windows Vista on 0:20:06.160 --> 0:20:08.879 the same machine is going to be totally different. And 0:20:08.920 --> 0:20:11.159 if you want to run run Windows XP and Lennox 0:20:11.240 --> 0:20:13.719 on the same machine, it's just it's it's come you know, 0:20:13.800 --> 0:20:15.800 there are different set of parameters that you have to 0:20:15.800 --> 0:20:18.560 take into accounts. So but they're fortunately, like Chris said, 0:20:18.760 --> 0:20:21.520 there are a lot of resources out there that pretty 0:20:21.600 --> 0:20:24.320 much cover every single variation you can think of. And 0:20:24.440 --> 0:20:26.200 UM and and if it's not covered. You can probably 0:20:26.240 --> 0:20:28.119 find a forum somewhere where you ask a question and 0:20:28.160 --> 0:20:30.639 people will be quick to answer you. So it might 0:20:30.680 --> 0:20:32.240 even get you involved a little bit more in the 0:20:32.280 --> 0:20:35.000 community and you'll, uh, you know, maybe you can become 0:20:35.480 --> 0:20:39.280 more of a contributor and hobbyists. Um. And I was 0:20:39.320 --> 0:20:41.480 going to add to talking about the complexity of it. 0:20:41.800 --> 0:20:43.239 One of the reasons I didn't really want to get 0:20:43.280 --> 0:20:47.399 into the multidisc a physical hard disc setup is because 0:20:47.400 --> 0:20:51.000 it involves wiring. You have to, uh, you know, tell 0:20:51.080 --> 0:20:53.360 each hard drive whether you know you have to pick 0:20:53.400 --> 0:20:56.239 a master hard drive and then indicate which ones are 0:20:56.320 --> 0:21:01.040 slave hard drives. Um. And it's you know, you're better 0:21:01.080 --> 0:21:04.720 off going through the instructions and actually consulting uh some 0:21:04.800 --> 0:21:08.120 experts before you get started with that, because it's it's 0:21:08.160 --> 0:21:10.639 it's more detail than what a podcast can go into, 0:21:10.680 --> 0:21:14.679