What kind of primary partition can be used for running Mandriva Linux?

Linux will run fine on ext2, ext3, or reiserfs.

I'm not sure what Mandriva supports, but if reiserfs is available, use that. If not, go with ext3, then ext2 as a last resort.

It's also possible to run some Linux distros on FAT partitions, but that is not recommended as the file system itself has no way to store permission data.

The partition type in fdisk should be set to 0x83 (Linux) if you are using reiserfs, ext3, or ext2.

Thanks.

I'm in the process of reallocating space. In Windows XP's Disk Management tool, there is the ability to create partitions but not to resize them. How can I easily resize my primary Windows XP partition without the use of 3rd-party software?