The Unnamed Interloper wrote:

windows for some reason of its own has installed a nice big block of data right near the end of the drive. the defr ag program that comes with windows 95, refuses to move this data. This means that fips will not allow me to create a large enough partition to install a linux distro.

As John quoted from the FAQ, this is more likely than not a system file. ISTR that some Windowses used a large hidden file at the end of the partition for swap. You'll need to unhide this, but that probably means you should switch of swap during the defrag. Don't ask me how, as I've forgotten that.

Furthermore, note that this list is now main@lists.alug.org.uk, as the next time I log into rabbit will be to deactivate the forwarding from stu.uea.ac.uk and destroy the old mailing list.