Slaco64 7.0 Unable to change save folder location and how to make Puppy USB stick to fix WindowsOS issues - RESOLVED

[crickets]

Hello all. I'm new to linux, coming from Windows. I spent 3 days researching for an OS that I can run from a USB memory stick and decided on Slaco 64 v 7.0.
I began reading about how to accomplish my goal and found many useful posts, including one that said to put your save files into a separate partition.
I also read that we can flash the Puppy ISO using Etcher.Balena, so I tried that and it was super fast (just a few seconds to flash the USB drive). However, when I tried booting from the USB drive (64 GB USB 3.0 by the way) the boot stuck at GRUB. More research led me to a post that said Etcher will not work and I should use Rufus, so I deleted the files from the USB and started over. Rufus took half an hour to format my USB drive, sat there for quite some minutes making me think it had hung, but I left it a while longer and it showed signs of life again as it wrote files to the drive. After a total of 45 minutes, I got a message saying it had successfully completed. GREAT!

Booting from the USB drive now got me to a beautiful desktop and the setup wizard where I went through the steps but was confused about setting the clock. I chose an option and kept going until there were no more new windows. I noticed my clock time was wrong, so opened the clock settings and tried the other option and the time now showed the correct time. Wonderful!

I click the power icon to shut down and am presented with the series of settings for creating a save file. Here is where I just can't seem to make progress but luckily, if I choose DON'T SAVE, I get to try again each time I boot up. I was worried that the "first boot" may be recorded and I wouldn't get another chance, but that isn't the case even though all posts referred to it as a "first boot" thing. Back to the forums and more reading. I'm now 5 days into this little project and starting to sweat! However, I'm starting to understand Puppy linux a whole lot more. I've never used cli before, so that will be a whole new learning curve!

During the creation of the save file, I'm asked about what file system to choose, but there is no help on what to select, just 3 choices. The middle choice is ext3 and I'm guessing that's the best to choose because I did find a post saying we may be presented with 4 choices:
type = normal
saving style = file
file system = ext3
size = 512 mb
But I never saw the first 2 choices offered in the wizard.
I also read somewhere that save FILES can be used on any file system, but save FOLDERS can only be used on linux ext systems.

Rufus created 3 partitions on my USB stick:
sda1 which I'm assuming is the boot partition; 54MB, vfat
sdc1 which I guess is the root or Home partition; 2.7GB, vfat
sdc2 which is where I'd like to put my save file; 54.9 GB, ext3

The create save file wizard automatically has sdc1 chosen as the partition where to put the save file and I can't seem to find a way to change that.
After choosing what I can input, I click save and am presented with the FIRST SHUTDOWN: Sanity Check:
Partition you are saving to: sdc1
The file system of sdc1 partition: vfat
Name of the save file: slaco64save.3fs
Path (folder) of the save file: here I input "/sdc2:/mysave" by using the CHANGE FOLDER button and entering the path
Size of save file: 524288 KB (512 MB) as recommended
Filesystem inside save file: ext3

Before saving, I realized that I require a trailing slash after /mysave otherwise mysave becomes the filename rather than the folder name!
Instead of choosing to save or not to save, I again chose CHANGE FOLDER, but no matter what I do, none of the entries can be changed! They always end up looking the way they were before! The only way I can make a change is to click DON'T SAVE and start all over from the beginning, going through the entire setup after a reboot! Hopefully this is something the developers can correct.

In the meantime, I would like to know if anyone can confirm or correct what I'm doing because I would prefer to be able to set the file size much larger than the approx. 2GB that is allotted for the wrong partition. If by changing the path (even though the listed partition is incorrect) will the wizard ignore the information presented and set everything up to use the specified path and partition? If that's the case, I can change the file size later. Or will things be messed up if the sanity check lists the wrong partition and file format? I would hate to destroy my brand new memory stick, so will wait for an expert to guide me from here.

At least other newbies can read my experiences and not give up if they see Rufus doing nothing for a long time or discover other nuggets of information they don't know yet. I had to read many posts because there wasn't one that went all the way though with all the details spelled out.

[bigpup]

to Puppy Linux.

Note:
Some basic info about your computer will help us.
CPU, memory amount, etc........
Make and model if you do not know info.

The biggest problem with getting Puppy Linux installed on a USB and getting everything to work correctly.
Is all about how the install was done.

The bad thing is a lot of the USB installer programs that run in other operating systems do not totally understand how to install Puppy Linux.
Etcher for sure does not.
Rufus will get you a working install.

You picked a Puppy version that at the time of it's release a lot of work was being done on different ways to have the save created and used with a USB install of Puppy.
None of it involved being able to place it on different partitions on a USB.
At the time it was taken for granted that the USB would only have one partition so everything would go on it.
that is why it only offered you the first partition for the save to be placed.

Puppy has two types of saves.

Save file -> a file made a set size with the Linux file system inside it. A file can be placed in any type format location.
.2fs .3fs .4fs at end of name is identifying the type Linux format (file system) inside the save file.
Your pick of ext3 is a good choice.
(this can be made bigger if needed more free space in it by using the program Resize Personal Storage Space)

Save folder -> Acts like any folder does. No set size expands in size as stuff is put in it. (It can only be placed in a location formatted in a ext format)

You were only offered to make a save file because chosen placement location is formatted fat32.

A lot of improvements and updates have gotten into Puppy Linux.
The newest versions have them.
Slacko64 7.0 does not.

I strongly suggest you pick one of the newer Puppy versions to use.

F96-CE_4 or Bookworm Pup64 10.0.3 are ones that I suggest.

If you have another USB stick you could use.
Boot the computer with the Slack64 USB.
Use the installer programs in Slacko64 to do the install to the new USB.

Use downloaded ISO of one of the other Puppy versions.

Stickpup installer is the easy one to use, that should make one partition on the USB (formatted fat32).
When asked to make a save file it should offer more size options.
4GB is max size on a fat32 format.

Frugalpup installer could be used, but it requires you to first setup the USB stick with partitions and format them.
The program Gparted can do that, but do you know how to use Gparted?

Sorry, but you will need to learn a few things in how to use Puppy Linux and the programs it has.

A lot of good info here:
viewforum.php?f=184

Note:
If using a save file for storage.
Not everything needs to go into it. Only installed software, changes, settings, etc......
Documents, videos, downloads, pictures, etc... can go outside of the save file.
/mnt/home/ is best location out side of the save. It is the partition the save file is on.

[bigpup]

Here is some info on using Rufus to do installs that may help you:
viewtopic.php?t=7210

[crickets]

Thanks for the great and quick replies!
I appreciate that you actually EXPLAIN things rather than just say, do this or that. Understanding WHY is most important to me.
You clearly explained why my chosen version of Puppy doesn't offer me the ability to create a save folder.
Since you are so completely versed in all this Puppy stuff, perhaps it would be easier to tell you what I'm attempting to do and then you can suggest things based on that information:
My idea is to make my own Fix Me Stick by running a light operating system off a USB drive that is bootable and holds software that can scan and clean the computer it is running from. ClamAV might do the trick. I'm working on one step at a time and the first step is to make a bootable USB device. However, if you have any insight into any of what my ultimate goal is, then I would be very glad to take your advice.

I would like my device to be able to run on older machines that were shipped with the likes of Win.98, Win. XP, Vista, Win. 7, etc.
Ideally I could have 1 device that would also work on Mac systems.
Since the operating system the device runs from is Linux, it would also work for Linux machines.
The commercial Fix Me Sticks come in 2 flavours - one for Mac and one for Windows, but I think that's just so they can sell more of them. Plus they stop working after 1 year. I used one of the Windows versions for a friend and it appeared to me that this was simply a Linux USB drive that ran a virus scanner.

You asked about my computer:
Which one? The one I created the Puppy on or the one I intend to run the Puppy on? If Rufus made a bootable Puppy that works, why does it matter? Or are there way too many reasons to list/explain? Sorry... I love learning!

I made Puppy on an Alienware X51 R2 running Windows 7 Home Premium, service Pack 1.
It has an Intel Core I5-4430 CPU @ 3.00 GHz
8 GB RAM (7.89 usable)
64 bit operating system

I booted Puppy on a Dell 9200 running Vista Home Premium
Intel core 2 CPU 6400 @ 2.13 GHz
2045 MB RAM
32 bit operating system

I have previously already read the material you just linked to, but thanks just the same.

I used some Linux program many years ago and it MIGHT have been Gparted. I wanted to try dual-booting a Gateway computer that was given to me because the mouse pointer kept messing up. After lots of reading and some trial and error, I simply replaced the mouse and all was well. I managed to re-partition on the fly and successfully made a dual-boot computer with Ubuntu on it. I used whatever program was on the Ubuntu disc (CD ROM) to do the partitioning. Unfortunately, I never actually USED Ubuntu and the computer simply sat there and now I think the clock battery is dead because when I tried to boot that machine for playing around with Puppy, it wouldn't start up. Are Gparted, Stickpup and FrugalPup already on my USB drive or do I need to get and install them with the package manager?

I actually bought 2 memory sticks, so YES, I do have another identical one. I'm assuming I can have both sticks plugged in at the same time in order to use Slaco's installer? I'm guessing to put Puppy64 in and boot, THEN add the 2nd stick, use either Stickpup to flash the new drive or use Gparted and do the partitioning, followed by Frugalpup to do the install? I'm assuming I could then re-format my Puppy64 stick and it becomes a clean new stick for other uses?

[mikeslr]

Ditto what bigpup wrote about not using Slacko64-7.0 and his recommended Puppys.

Some more info about using rufus, particularly important as the recipe enables Saving changes back to the USB-Stick, https://www.forum.puppylinux.com/viewto ... 522#p40522

Have you heard about Hirens, https://www.hirensbootcd.org/. See what hirens is about https://www.partitionwizard.com/partiti ... ot-cd.html and
https://ttcshelbyville.wordpress.com/20 ... -boot-iso/

How to Install Hirens Boot on USB | Booting with Rufus, https://technowikis.com/27711/how-to-in ... with-rufus

TestDisk may also be of interest, https://www.cgsecurity.org/wiki/TestDisk_Download. But it's been a while since any Puppy Fan has posted about it. Am downloading the Linux version and will see what's involved.
After downloading and Extracting (depends on what extraction applications your Puppy has) the extraction folder contains the following:

testdisk.png (39.91 KiB) Viewed 1807 times

You can Right-Click any of the 'green' files with gear-icons and select 'Run-in-terminal' to start that application. If your Puppy doesn't offer 'Run-in-terminal'* with that folder open, click the "~" key (usually at the top-right) to open a terminal at that folder, then type for example "./photorec_static".

Functions under Fossapup64 and F-96. Not yet tested under Bookworm but should run under any recent 64-bit Puppys.

* The pet from here, https://www.forum.puppylinux.com/viewto ... 513#p69513 will install it along with some other Right-Click tools. See the posts on that thread for other tools your Puppy my not have built-in.

[crickets]

Thanks Mikeslr.
I had seen and read the first link previously, but the others do look interesting. Hirens requires 2 GB memory which is pushing it for some older machines.
It does provide me with options though! It's always nice to have a plan B.
Somewhere in my early research I had also read that there is a puppy CE version designed for techies with all sorts of diagnostic tools already built-in but I didn't look for it because the article said something about it being less user-friendly and since I'm a newbie at this, I thought Slacko would be a better choice for me. Perhaps I should take the time and see if I can find out more about that option. This will be my 6th full day spent on this project with very little to show for it. But sometimes the planning is the biggest part and then, BOOM, it all comes together real fast.

[bigpup]

I asked about the computer, because no one Puppy version will work on all computers.

The newest Puppy versions try to support as many as possible, but they are more setup for newer hardware.
The Puppy versions I suggested should work on the computers you talk about.
Pentium 4 CPU ones could be an issue.

The older Puppy versions will have issues with newer hardware that was not even around when the Puppy version was released.
How could they have drivers and software to run hardware not even available then.

Sorry, but you may actually need a couple of different Puppy versions on your fix it USB.

I'm assuming I can have both sticks plugged in at the same time in order to use Slaco's installer?

Yes boot the computer with the Slacko64 7.0 USB stick and use the programs in Slacko to do the install on the 2nd USB stick.

I'm assuming I could then re-format my Puppy64 stick and it becomes a clean new stick for other uses?

Yes.
A simple deletion of all the Slacko64 files on the partition would make it clean.
But you said it had several partitions on it.
So you would need to keep them and reformat each one, if you did not like their formats.
Or delete all the partitions and start over fresh with one or more partitions on the USB and format them as you like.

If you plain on using this for working with Windows.
Fat32 format would be best, because Windows will not be able to read or write to a Linux ext format.
If you tried to copy something from Windows onto the USB stick. Formatted ext2 ,3 or 4)
Puppy will be able to see it and use it.
But Windows will not be able to.

I suggest you Get a Good working install of Puppy Linux on a USB stick.
Use it for a while and check out the programs it already has.

All Puppy version have Gparted, most have Frugalpup Installer and others, a lot of different utility programs.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

The Frugalpup installer is more of a step by step process where you have to make choices and tell it what to do.

Here is how I use it:

Use Gparted program.
Setup the USB stick with 2 partitions.
First one, small 300MB, fat32 format, flagged boot. (location for boot loader files, boot partition)
Rest of drive, whatever other partition(s), but one ext3 or 4 format. (location to put frugal installs)
(this is UEFI standard requirement, and some computers, look for a fat32 partition, for boot loader files)

Run Frugalpup Installer main program.
On the main window are selection buttons.
Select the Puppy button, to do the install.
Go through install process, selecting to install to the ext formatted partition.
Note:
When selecting the partition to install to.
A window pops up, giving option to make a directory, to put the frugal install in.
I make this directory and usually name it, the name of the Puppy version.
Carefully read that windows info.
Press enter, makes the directory, not the OK button.
complete the install.

When it gets back to the main Frugalpup window.
Select the boot button.
Select the location of the frugal install, on the USB stick.
Select the small 300MB partition on the USB stick, as location to install the boot loader. (may need to scroll the selection window)
Select the boot loader type.
UEFI
mbr ->legacy bios boot
both

You can install the UEFI for UEFI computers, mbr for legacy bios computers, or both, to boot anything.

The UEFI will also install the needed files, to support secure boot enabled in UEFI.

When you first boot the USB stick, on a UEFI computer, with secure boot enabled.
A process will start, to allow you to install the Puppy security key, to the computer.
It will add this Puppy key, to the other ones, loaded on the computer.

Note:
Not all UEFI computers are the same, for booting from a USB stick.
Some may require secure boot disabled, CSM enabled, or legacy boot enabled, to be able to boot from a USB stick.
So, for those computers.
The mbr boot loader will work, because the UEFI bios, is basically in, legacy bios operation.
Some computer bios setups have option to enable/disable USB booting. That would need to be enabled.

To put more frugal installs on the same USB stick.
Do the complete process again, for the new Puppy version.
When you run the boot loader install.
It will make entries, for all installs it finds, on the USB drive.

Note:
There is a newer version of Frugalpup Installer
viewtopic.php?t=337
You may want to download and install it before using it.

[bigpup]

You may want to look at this.

Gparted live CD or USB.

You can download a free version to make your own Gparted live CD or USB.
It is up to date and specifically made to run Gparted.
Info:
http://gparted.sourceforge.net/livecd.php
Download:
http://sourceforge.net/projects/gparted ... ve-stable/

It is mainly for running the Gparted program.
But it does also have some troubleshooting fix it utilities.

[bigpup]

Puppy Linux can boot on a MAC computer as long as it is a x86 hardware setup.
Intel CPU, motherboard, graphics, etc............

I have no idea if Puppy can do nothing useful to fix issues with the MAC OS on it.

[bigpup]

If you are going to try and fix a none working Windows OS computer and get Windows working good again.

Microsoft web site provides the needed info on how to do it for each one of their OS versions.

That is really going to be the best way to do the fix to their OS.

I recently had a computer with Windows 10 on it.
Started having all kinds of boot and running issues.
Not sure exactly what caused it. (most likely one of their broken updates)
Windows recovery could not fix it.
So as suggested by Windows.

Just did a new install of Windows 10 over the one that was there.
It retained most of my saved stuff, settings, and totally cleaned up whatever was wrong with the OS.

In the older days of Windows, that was a normal thing, about every one to two years.

[bigpup]

This forum is full of people that took old computers and turned them into only Puppy Linux computers.

Delete all software on the computer.

Install Puppy Linux as the operating system.

I have done this on very new HP laptops that had Windows 10s on them.
Puppy Linux is the only operating system on it.

About all the software programs needed are already provided in Puppy Linux.
Any other programs you may want, can usually be found on this forum, already compiled for Puppy Linux.

[crickets]

Many thanks BigPup! You are a huge help!

Even before you mentioned it, I was already thinking that I may need a couple of different Puppy versions. That preconfigured stick by Mike looks like a great solution where many versions can be added to the one stick. However, I still want to try doing it myself because I learn best by experience.

I may have to take a break and take care of some domestic duties before returning to this project, but I will be back!

[crickets]

@bigpup
I was carefully reading over your formatting suggestions and don't see vfat included. In my original post, I indicated that:
Rufus created 3 partitions on my USB stick:
sda1 which I'm assuming is the boot partition; 54MB, vfat
sdc1 which I guess is the root or Home partition; 2.7GB, vfat
sdc2 which is where I'd like to put my save file; 54.9 GB, ext3

I was expecting to make a similar set of partitions on the 2nd drive, but according to your instructions I should be making:
sda1 = 300 MB fat32 (BOOT) (Considerably larger than what Rufus made)
sdc1 = ?3 GB fat32 (Puppy files and save folder)
sdc2 = remainder of space ext3 (non-executable files)
Perhaps another fat32 for loading windows files? (sdc3) or will windows only see the first fat32 partition? (in case I use a Win. machine to put files on the stick and then I can use them in Puppy)?

I'm going to do a search on vfat to see if I can learn anything about it.

Sorry for asking all these noob questions.

[crickets]

https://stackoverflow.com/questions/119 ... le-systems
explains vfat quite nicely but has some corrections in the comments section.
So... looks like fat32 is the better one to use (since vfat might just be an overlay driver that I saw in my partitions).

[bigpup]

I think of fat32 as the update of vfat.

Anyway, for many many years, fat32 has been the basic format anything will be able to use.
That is why manufactures of USB sticks format them to fat32.
Thy know what ever you plug them into. it will see them as usable drive.

Here is something you need to understand when booting from a Puppy install USB stick and looking at partitions.

Most of the time internal drives are identified as sda
But not always.
Sometimes the USB drive is given the sda identifier.

This really depends on the computer and how hardware is hooked up to it by controllers on it's motherboard.

So when talking about partitions make sure you are talking about partitions on a specific drive.

The step by step info I gave about installing on a USB stick using Frugalpup installer.
300MB for size of first partition is so it has a little free space for anything you may want to place there.
I usually add an image or two for the boot loader to use in it's menu display for a background.

You are correct that if you try to have Windows access the USB stick.
It will only see the first partition that is formatted fat32.

But if you are using this stick to recover stuff you do not want to loose from a broken windows OS.
Booting the computer and running Puppy Linux from it.
The file manager in Puppy Linux can read the internal drive partitions.
Copy or move stuff from them onto the partitions on the USB.
It can also move or copy them back onto the internal drive partitions.

Using the steps I posted about using Frugalpup installer.
I have a USB stick I have multiple Puppy versions installed on each as it's own frugal install. (a frugal install is all the Puppy version files in it's own folder on the drive)
It has seven different Puppy versions on it.
It boots to a boot menu, that I can select which one to boot.
Have two partitions on the USB stick.
1st small one as boot partition. formatted fat32.
2nd one the rest of drive formatted ext3.
anything I want to put on the USB stick I place in the 2nd partition.

[mikeslr]

Let me emphasize what bigpup wrote: Windows will NOT recognize a 2nd Fat32 formatted partition on a USB-Key. I thought it would and mistakenly suggested using a 2nd Fat32 partition. If you can find that post, I'll edit it.

Even locating data on the 1st Fat32 partition poses a risk. Windows doesn't always like how something else created a Fat32 partition and if you're not careful will reformat your USB-Key, of course, wiping out everything on it. And, of course, there's also the possibility of 'Human Error': your moving/deleting/overwriting some file which is required to boot the USB-Key.

For transferring data I use either a dedicated USB-Key formatted Fat32 by Windows with a tape on it to remind me not to use it for anything else; or boot into Puppy and use Puppy to transfer to partitions Windows thinks it exclusively controls. Puppys have no problem reading/writing-to Fat32, and Ntfs formatted partitions.

There are other downsides to Fat32 partitions. Symlinks don't work, which means --among other things-- that none of Mikewalsh's portables can be used. You can't locate SaveFolders on them which means you'll have to use SaveFiles to preserve changes. The larger a SaveFile is the longer it takes to write to it; and the more likely it is that write-errors will take place or that it will become corrupted.

[crickets]

Oh wow! So much priceless information from both of you. Thanks! Great stuff to know.

I found a nifty site about the different Puppy versions at https://wikka.puppylinux.com/PuppyVersion.
There's even a rescue version for Windows machines called puprescue 2.5
A version for the blind with text-to-speech called speakpup v0.05
A version for video surveillance systems called wary watcher 511
Another for playing old video games called pupparcade 10
One for multi-media creation called puppystudio
One for building a dedicated music server called Mpd pup
And many more!

[bigpup]

The problem with a lot of those special versions.

The people that produced them have removed the download files or the download link on the WIKI page is no longer good.

The WIKI is really not being kept up and updated with corrections.

You may find the Specific Puppy version by doing a internet search for it.

A lot of Puppy versions are retained by this web site:
https://archive.org/details/puppylinux

[bigpup]

This topic is really getting off the original subject of the topic.

Really should have started a new topic about making the Puppy USB stick you want.

I changed the topic subject to better show what it is now about.

[crickets]

Update:
I used the default location to save the save file (not folder) in slacko64 and it works fine. I used Gparted from within slacko64 to partition a new USB stick and formatted each partition before installing F96-CE_4 to it and then created a boot file for it. The new USB stick boots up with no errors and is ready for more puppies to be installed on it. I might even put slacko64 on it just for fun because the original USB stick has 1 error on booting (waiting for partition ISO.... failed).

What I learned:

• * I couldn't find Gparted on slacko64 but then remembered reading that if you R-click on any empty space on the descktop, you are presented with a menu.
  * I still need to learn more about navigating the files in Linux.
  * Flagging a fat32 partition on a USB stick does NOT hide the partition from Windows explorer, so putting a 2nd fat32 partition on a stick is rather pointless because Windows will not be able to see beyond the first fat32 partition.
  * If you do not have a 'save file' on your USB stick, every subsequent boot to that USB stick is a "first boot".
  * Save folders can only be used on Linux ext file systems.
  * When I used Gparted to prepare for installing F96-CE_4 to my 2nd USB stick, I got an error message saying something like 'libparted error: unable to inform kernel of changes to partition'. Since there is no operating system with its kernel installed yet, and I was using a USB stick from which I ran slacko64 and Gparted from, I figured it was safe to click the "ignore" button and in the end I got a successful install.
  * Partitioning did not format my partitions, even though the process asked what file systems would be used for each partition. I had to format each partition after formatting.
  * Partitioning and formatting with Gparted went very fast... just a few minutes (unlike the 45 minutes taken by Rufus).
  * When using Frugalpup to install F96-CE_4, I had a very hard time figuring out how to select the ISO file I wanted to use for the installation. No matter what I got entered into the right-side pane, I got an error message saying that no ISO file was selected and it kicked me back to the start of the installation wizard. I watched a couple of YouTube videos and from there I learned that you can drag and drop files into the right pane, and that worked for me!

The videos I watched:
youtube.com/watch?v=cF8UpS3aKas
youtube.com/watch?v=V0BY2fcm3us

Conclusion:
Thanks to the help I got here, I have successfully completed step one of my new project.
Now I will play around with Linux for a while and try to get used to using it.
Since Windows 7 is no longer supported and that is my newest Windows operating system, I will soon be forced to use something other than Windows 7.
THANKS FOR ALL THE HELP!

[crickets]

New revelations to the update:

The USB stick that I thought was a total success was not a complete success. When I look at the drive in Gparted, it shows the device as having an unrecognized file system. In the view device information panel, it shows

partition table: loop

. It seems I did not create a partition table before partitioning my drive!

Everything SEEMS to work OK, but I think it will be good practice to do the entire thing over again from the start and include the creation of a partition table this time.

I'm not sure if that error I got about writing to the kernel had anything to do with it, but perhaps it did.

I think I'm starting to get a handle on the idea of what MOUNTING a file or folder does as far as navigating the file tree. Essentially, wherever your mount point is, that becomes your root, so any files or folders below the mount point become inaccessible until you move your mount point (except for /, which is mounted at boot-up so that your system can operate).

[bigpup]

If you really want to start totally clean and fresh.

Yes, Make new partition table.
Make whatever partitions you want and format them.

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
About mounting in Puppy Linux.
It uses a Linux file system that is not exactly a normal one in how directories are used.

Best thing you can do is navigate around in the file system to see what is in different directories.

/ is the beginning (root) of the file system.
Everything else is under it.
It is always mounted and all directories are accessible.

Puppy has a root directory, that is you the root user, and it has other specific directories in it, along with some hidden stuff.

It has a home directory that is to be used for the restricted user spot.

When you make a save file/folder and boot using it.
There is made a new mount point called /mnt/home/
It is always the partition the save is on.
the save is not a partition, so the partition it is on has to be mounted for it to be used.
Usually the save is on the same partition the Puppy OS files are on, so it is already mounted and it becomes /mnt/home/
but if save is on a different partition, that partition is mounted as /mnt/home/

Really all you need to understand about mounting and being able to access stuff in the file system.
The partition the stuff is stored on needs to be mounted to access it.
The file system cannot see it or work with it if it is on a partition that is not mounted.

The partition the Puppy files are on is always mounted.
That and /mnt/home/ are only ones mounted when Puppy boots.

Puppy does not automatically mount all partitions that could be on all the drives the computer could have.

any other partitions you have to manually click on to mount them.
That is what the drive icons on the bottom of the Puppy desktop are for.
They are the different partitions on the drive(s).
So if one of them you have stuff on is not already mounted.
Click on it's desktop drive icon to mount it.
when mounted it has a little indicator at the top right of the icon.
Click on the little mount indicator to unmount it.

If you are navigating in the file system.
All mounted partitions are accessed by going to /mnt