New partitions problem - dual boot -

I have pre-installed Vista Ultimate 32bit.. and I want to do dual boot with Linux.. but when I try to partitionate the program from which I'm doing this says I can only have maximum 4 partitions.. which I currently have.. (dunno why this..normally in theory you can create how many partitions you want.. nevertheless..) 2 NTFS..using them with Windows .. and 2 Hidden for recovery..
I've made 2 Acer recovery disks so I can restore my system but I want to do dual boot.. so I don't know exactly how.. if I can't create other partitions..
I can delete those 2 Hidden partitions and still can recover my Vista ? and After that I can create others?
What can I do to have more partitions? I currently don't have experience in this field so I would rather search the web and if anyone can help me find information that I search faster please give me some tips.
Thanks in advance.

P.S. My notebook is Acer Aspire 6920G

 

You can only have 4 primary partitions, but you can add as many logical partitions as you want. The first 2 or 3 partitions can be primary, and the other 20 logical if you so wish.

 

I need to resize my current partitions cause I don't wanna lose the 2 hidden and in C:/ ( 144 GB ) I have Vista - don't want to reinstall it - and D:/ 140 data
Which program is recommended?

 

There are a few different ways to go about this, and I don't know much about primary vs. logical partitions so someone else will have to help you there if you so choose. (I always thought you got one primary and one extended which was then cut up into logical drives)

My question is, why do you want to run Linux? If your only interested in seeing what the fuss is about you could try running a live CD and loading it into RAM. It will run faster than Linux will ever run in real life, doesn't require any hard drive space or changes, and lets you see the distros operating interface and how it interacts with some pre-installed programs.

Another way to use Linux without modifying your hard drive is to run it as a virtual program. It won't be super fast but most of the time it works well and you can run anything you want inside. Plus you can access both vista and Linux without having to restart your computer to switch. Only problem is that the Linux section will only work so long as vista works, not the best security design, but you can normally get away with it.

If you do want to use your hard drive, care to explain why you need the rescue and recovery sections? If they are on DVDs they should be safe for 10-15 years so long as you don’t lose them. Just realize that your going to need space for the Linux section, how much are you going to give up from Vista and data? One option might be a 500GB hard drive since your sizes suggest your using a 320GB drive. You could move over your two other partitions and then use the left over room for the new one. That would give you 3.

Final option: what if you merged both hidden and recovery into one section and used the 4th now for Linux?

 

I don't know if merging those hidden partitions is possible... ( If I delete one of them I think I'm unable to use one of the features availabe to my laptop - Cinedash via Arcade Deluxe.. and the other hidden partition I think is Recovery for Vista.. - so I think it is recommended to leave them as they are.. )
But from what I saw in Disk Management the partition DATA( D:/ ) is primary.. why this ? it shouldn't be otherwise .. or I can change this.. and resize C:/ to create an extended partition ?
Even do I can run a Linux distribution in a VMware workstation.. I prefer installing the whole OS
btw - Which software do you recommend for partitioning my hard drive?

 

My Acer 5920 also came with four primary partitions. I think Acer does this intentionally to discourage people from mucking with their systems.
The four primary partitions limit is legit. If I remember correctly it has something to do with a limitation in BIOS.
You have to get rid of at least one primary partition.

First things first: have you made your recovery DVD's?

If you have, and have no reason to think they won't work, you can delete the recovery partition. That's probly the simplest thing.

In a nutshell, this is what I did: Burn the recovery disks; use a GParted LiveCD to resize Vista; Vista doesn't boot; ran the recovery disks; Vista now boots; discover that instead of restoring the HDD to exactly the way it was, the recovery discs rewrote the HDD so that there was just one primary C: Drive; resized that with GParted LiveCD; Vista worked after doing a checkdisk on itself; used GParted LiveCD to create one extended partition and Ubuntu logical partitions inside.

TA-DA!

Another guy who was having similar problems with his Acer at the same time as me came at it from a different angle. He wiped the drive, created an ntfs partition using GParted, then used his recovery discs to install Vista. The recovery discs ignored the unallocated space and installed to just the ntfs partition. He then installed Ubuntu.

I'm not saying those are the only ways to do it. Just that both methods worked to get rid of Acer's annoying partitioning scheme and to free up space for Linux.

From what I've read, Vista's own partitioner is a more reliable way to resize Vista than GParted.

For partitioning, I use GParted LiveCD. Available as download at SourceForge, either as a stand-alone or combined with Clonezilla. Great tool for deleting, resizing, creating, formatting to ntfs or ext3. Warning warning! GParted is very good when you're manipulating unallocated space. Any time you're mucking about with partitions that contain data, you're taking a chance.

 

Thanks for answering to my post. I currently resized my Vista partition.. and converted Data (D:/) from primary to extended and I created another partition/logical for a special purpose.
I've installed Ubuntu quite for a while and wiped it out cause for now I will try to use VMware workstation to virtualize my OS's. ( Better option...for the HDD and for my comfort too )
What I currently noticed is that when I reinstalled my Vista using the recovery disks.. it only required 1 disk from 2 that were previously created.. I think it's because I already have those partition's that Acer created for recovery..
I also discovered that on one of the Acer's partitions, in the last cylinder has some bad sectors..which may result in future problems.. which tools can I use to recover/repair those bad sectors?
My ethernet card ( Atheros AR8121/AR8113/AR8114 ) causes troubles.. got some BSOD in the previous Windows installation but now I get disconnected from the Internet while I surf for about 5-8 minutes.. if someone can help about this subject please refer to it in this thread. I've have tried several driver versions.. and now I've reinstalled my system to defaults.. (which is ver. 1.0.0.28 ) for now I don't get any BSOD's but I do get disconnected and can't reconnect until I restart my system( It is probably my cable's fault or is there a hardware problem with my network card? ) any tips will be worthwhile . Thanks.

 

is Partition Table Doctor V3.5 good ?

 

To recuperate access to Vista:
http://support.microsoft.com/kb/927392