For a dual-boot machine (where the main desktop would be Linux), a common ‘data’ partition makes sense (rather than allowing root access by Linux to the Vista install, or visa-versa).
Shared Partition
Since the Vista driver requires it, you need to format the shared ‘ext3′ partition with :
/sbin/mkfs.ext3 -I 128 /dev/sdA
Partitioning Problems
The Vista driver seems to [...]