Partitioning Help for installing Ubuntu

I'm planning to try Ubuntu. I have Windows 7 running currently. My hard disk partitioning is as shown in the image (its kind of messed up)


I had shrunk the C:\ volume and got the unallocated space. But cant create a new volume for it as the max number has been reached.

I found that creating an extended partition will let me create another volume. But to do that i will have to lose my data in the existing C:\ & D:\ volumes right?

Also, there is the converting to Dynamic Disk but that doesn't allow dual boot or something like that?


So is there a way to create a separate partition for installing Ubuntu (without losing data) or should i install it in the existing partitions?

 

Do a backup of your current system using Windows and delete the recovery partition (this is what I do).

If you want to dual boot keep Windows on /dev/sda1 (first partition on the first logical drive). Create a swap partition on /dev/sda5 (second partition on logical drive extended) and create a / partition with the remainder of space (there are many ways to do this as I always create /, /home on separate partitions, of course I set up GNU/Linux single boot most times).

 

You coul use wubi, it's included on the livecd(it's a windows program).

 

If you can move your data in D to C, and delete D you'll have one hude 322GB unallocated space. Create extended partition from that?

 

Ok so let me get this clear..correct me if i am wrong..

I delete the volume D,
Create an extended partition from the 322gb unallocated space,
Split that into 2 logical volumes, one as D and another for the ubuntu.

Now i can boot ubuntu from a logical volume right?


(I want a Win7 & Ubuntu dual boot..)

 

I would:

- shrink your OS (c partition -- your OS does not need that much room, make the then unallocated space FAT a Logical Partition. Then install Ubuntu/GNU/Linux on that logical partition using ext4 from within the install partition manager.

Grub2 will, at boot, give you option whether to boot to linux or Win 7 ( you might need to do a chkdisk after your first boot into win7 -- this is common)

Should look similar to this at boot:

 

really? telling someone who wants to try out linux to delete their factory recovery partition?
There are other options.

 

The partition limitations that we all live with today are a legacy, developed in the early days of architecting the IBM PC hard drive support. What was developed was the Master Boot Record, (MBR), which is a 512-byte boot sector, that is the first sector of a partitioned data storage device, such as a hard disk. The MBR contains the disk's primary partition table, as well as performs the function of bootstrapping the operating system. The problem is that with 512 BYTES you really didn't have a whole lot of room, and as a result, the IBM PC/MS-DOS architecture settled on a maximum of 4 - 16 byte partition entries, using up a total of 64 bytes of the MBR, for the partition table.

These 4 partitions can be up to 4 primary partitions, or 1, 2, or 3, primary partitions and 1 extended partition. The major difference between primary partitions and extended partitions, is that the extended partition can be further subdivided into multiple logical partitions, (or logical drives). One caveat here is that the Windows OS, (and it's predecessors going back to MS-DOS), typically need to be installed on, (boot from), a primary partition, while Linux, (as well as other OSes), can easily be installed into logical partitions, within the extended partition. BTW, some folks have been able to run Windows 7 while installed onto logical partitions within the extended partition, but it takes work, ( 1, 2).

Normally Windows/Linux dual boot systems will have up to the 3 primary partitions, at least one of which is used to contain the Windows OS. The 4th partition is the extended partition, which contains the multiple logical partitions necessary to store the Linux OS. A user friendly Linux installation program, such as the Ubuntu installer, can do all of this partitioning for you, provided there is enough free space available. The thing to remember is this. You have only 4 primary/extended partitions in which to partition ALL of the space on your hard drive. Any free space that is outside of the 4 partitions is unusable to you, until you repartition your hard drive and resize the partitions to include the free space. That's why you will usually partition your primary partition for your Windows OS, to include all of the space you think you will need for the OS, and related files, and then create an extended partition for everything else. Out of that extended partition you can create a logical partition for your Windows data drive, and other logical partitions for other things, such as Linux installations.

That's because you were trying to create a 5th primary partition, which isn't supported. I notice that the first three partitions appear to be primary partitions, and that your D: Data drive is a logical drive. So, as you stated, you did indeed create your 4th partition as an extended partition. The problem is that you likely used the entire extended partition space available, for your logical partition for your D: Data drive. So the free space you created by resizing your OS partition cannot be used until it is put into another partition, (like the extended partition).

Unfortunately what you need to do is created an extended partition that consists of the entire remainder of your drive, which would mean not only the space used currently by your D: Data drive, but also the free space, (99.25GB) you made available as well. Then you would be free to create multiple logical partitions out of that extended partition space. The problem is that while you can use tools to resize your extended partition to include the 99.25GB free space, I would be nervous about doing so, and probably just backup my D drive, delete the logical partition, and then extended partition. And then recreate the extended partition to include both the 222GB and 99.25GB of space in one extended partition of 321.25GB. Then I would create my 222GB D: Data drive, out of that space, and then I would have 99.25GB free space inside my extended partition, which could easily be used by the Ubuntu installer, to install Ubuntu Linux.

BTW, using this method would mean deleting and then recreating your current D drive, but nothing would happen to your current C drive.

That's correct. It wouldn't be a good idea to convert your basic Windows disks to Dynamic disks, if you wanted to use it in a dual boot environment ( 1).

You can't install Linux into your existing partitions because you don't have any free space, (it's all allocated to Windows). Without repartitioning/resizing partitions, the only thing that would partially work is what Thomas suggested, using Ubuntu's WUBI installer to installed Ubuntu Linux into the Windows file system. The only other thing you could do without backing up and restoring, is try and see if you can resize your extended partition to include the free 99.25GB of space. If that works, you can run the Ubuntu installer, and install a complete version of Ubuntu Linux into that reclaimed space. The Ubuntu installer should see the free space in the extended partition, and then offer to create all of the correct partitions there for you.

Having said all of that, PLEASE, please, backup your system before you do anything else. It's as simple as getting a USB HD, and then copying all of your important files to it, BEFORE you do anything. That way, if something goes wrong, the worst case is that you have to reinstall your system, and not worry about losing important data.

Good Luck..

 

Your correct, there are other options.

But, lets look at the work involved with a new Windows system:

Excited it arrived
Sit for a couple hours removing all the bloat and or reinstall with a clean copy

Now, all that time spent does not become wasted time if user creates a backup. The recovery partition still contains all the junk the computer shipped with, so user should remove junk and or reinstall clean copy and backup the result. If user chooses not to backup the user has issues because in the event of a crash user is going to have to sit and remove bloat again and or gonna have to reinstall clean.

The moral of the story is:

Backup is king! If you don't backup on a regular basis then come crash time you have many many updates and a PITA trying to get back to where you were.

Of course, thank you Linus, I don't have this problem!

 

@jas

All that was pretty helpful.
I didn't realize my D volume was an extended partition already. And i was trying to create a new volume using the windows disk management tools. Used Partition Wizard and i could just create a logical drive from the unallocated.

Just set foot in the world of Linux

Thanks all..

 

To be more exact, your D: partition is not an extended partition. It is a logical drive within an extended partition (as signified by the green outline around it in the Windows Disk Management screenshot - colour key at the bottom of the screen (not included in screenshot)).