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    Partitioning with GParted? Help, please!

    Discussion in 'Linux Compatibility and Software' started by inspirations365, Mar 6, 2009.

  1. inspirations365

    inspirations365 Notebook Consultant

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    Almost there, guys. Almost there.

    The LAST thing I'll need help with, now that I finally got my laptop speakers working in Ubuntu 8.10 is to add SWAP and /home partitions.

    Here's my hard drive setup and allocation:
    9 GB Recovery Partition - primary
    30 GB Windows 7 x64 Beta - primary
    154 GB Windows Vista x32 - primary
    30 GB 8.10 Ubuntu x64 - primary

    If possible, I would like to divide the Ubuntu partition into:
    2 GB SWAP - I have 4 GB RAM in my system.
    18 GB /home
    10 GB /root

    Can anyone help me? I'm not too familiar with how partitioning works, but I know I cannot make another primary partition, and Ubuntu won't let me resize it's partition. Is what I want to do even possible?

    THANK YOU!
     
    inspirations365, Mar 6, 2009
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  2. inspirations365

    inspirations365 Notebook Consultant

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    Okay, so I found out I need to format the Ubuntu partition. Fantastic. Just when I got everything working.

    So I know I need to make the Ubuntu partition into an extended partition. Fine, but how can I do that from the Alternate LiveCD? I can try the regular one, but it wasn't picking up my other partitions before (another thing that magically started working today). Is it possible to convert a partition into an extended one through the alternate install? How can I do this? I think once I've done that I'll be okay.
     
    inspirations365, Mar 6, 2009
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  3. proxima_centauri

    proxima_centauri Notebook Consultant

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    Burn a copy of the latest GParted LiveCD and give that a whirl.
    You can resize your Ubuntu 30GB partition from there, the reason you can't resize it from within Ubuntu is because it's mounted. Unfortunately, to create an extended partition I think you are correct in that you must delete your Ubuntu partition first, so forget about resizing it.

    You would have to delete the Ubuntu partition, create a new extended partition, then create your three desired partitions inside the extended partition. You can always make a backup of your /home folder which contains all your system user settings, and any important system configuration files may have tweaked.
     
    proxima_centauri, Mar 6, 2009
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  4. inspirations365

    inspirations365 Notebook Consultant

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    I figured as much.

    Okay, but is it possible to make an extended partition from the alternate install CD? I've already tried, and neither of the Live CDs will recognize my existing partitions.
     
    inspirations365, Mar 6, 2009
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  5. proxima_centauri

    proxima_centauri Notebook Consultant

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    I would imagine so, I think the alternative install cd is all command line though.
     
    proxima_centauri, Mar 6, 2009
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  6. inspirations365

    inspirations365 Notebook Consultant

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    It's not command line, it's just text-based. I just don't know if I can make an extended partition with it.

    But I thought real hard, and I also have Acronis Disk Director Suite on my Vista partition. Can I make the necessary partitions with that?
     
    inspirations365, Mar 6, 2009
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  7. inspirations365

    inspirations365 Notebook Consultant

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    Let's say I have my extended partition ready. I'm using the Alternate Install CD, which is fine, but will the extended partition show up as a primary or logical drive? If logical, where do I install GRUB to? Do I make the extended partition bootable? If so, which partition do I put the boot flag on?
     
    inspirations365, Mar 6, 2009
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  8. The Fire Snake

    The Fire Snake Notebook Virtuoso

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    Maybe. Not sure if it can create a ext partition though. I like to stick with the opensource software when making my partitions since they can create ext3 partitions.
     
    The Fire Snake, Mar 6, 2009
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  9. inspirations365

    inspirations365 Notebook Consultant

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    It can create ext partitions, both ext2 and ext3. Does this information help you answer my other questions?
     
    inspirations365, Mar 6, 2009
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  10. The Fire Snake

    The Fire Snake Notebook Virtuoso

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    I haven't made a great effort to create more than 4 primary partitions, but I might try in the future. So I don't have personal experience with extended partitions but let me see if I can answer your questions:

    1.) I am not sure what the extended partition will show up as. I am guessing it will show up as a primary partition with logical partitions within it.

    2.) Ubuntu installs GRUB to the MBR of the first disc by default. So I don't think anything changes with your setup. Just let Ubuntu install GRUB to the default location.

    3.) Your system already has Windows(actually 2 different versions). My guess is that one of these partitions are already bootable(check if this is so using fdisk -l). I would just leave it that way and don't make any of the Linux partitions bootable. Mine is set up like this on my laptop. I have 1 harddrive with Vista 64 and Debian. I have 4 primary partitions, one for Vista, /, /home and SWAP. My Vista partition is set as bootable and none of my Linux partitions are. This is working perfect for me.
     
    The Fire Snake, Mar 6, 2009
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  11. inspirations365

    inspirations365 Notebook Consultant

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    Okay, I managed to get everything okay. I'm now running Ubuntu "properly". Now I have to get my headphone jack working again somehow.

    Thanks for your help, everyone.
     
    inspirations365, Mar 6, 2009
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  12. theZoid

    theZoid Notebook Savant

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    Good for you...I'm back to Mint for the time being on this Precision....having x server problems...btw Zenwalk 6 RC1 is out...sweet distro :D
     
    theZoid, Mar 6, 2009
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