On 07/09/11 15:04, Richard Parsons wrote:
On Wed, Sep 07, 2011 at 02:33:29PM +0100, steve-ALUG@hst.me.uk wrote:
I suppose it depends what's on the 2nd partition. Is it just for data? Is Windows on partition 1? If that's the case you might get away with it. e.g.
I believe that Windows is installed on the second partition, but now I'm even unsure about that. I find it hard to understand why Windows would require four partitions.
Windows doesn't require 4 partitions. It works happily on one. I wouldn't be surprised by 1 windows partition and 1 recovery partition, but I'm surprised by two of each. Still, there may be a good reason.
- Backup partition 2 (whatever drive letter it is).
- Delete partition 2.
- Recreate Partition 2 as an Extended Partion using all the free space.
- Create a Logical partition to restore the windows data onto.
- Create as many logical partitions as you need to need to install
linux. e.g. 2 / (root) and swap 6) Restore the windows data onto the relevant partition. 7) Install linux...
Good luck!
If windows is installed on partition 2, then you may have complications restoring a Bootable working copy of Windows. You'd have to ensure that the backup/restore program you use can write system files in the appropriate places with the appropriate flags that correspond with the boot table, whilst simultaneously being able to write the files to a smaller partition. I don't think DD will be able to do that. Some of the others may be. If Windows is installed on this partition, I think Sam Wise's approach will be a good bet.
Do laptops ever have room for putting in a second hard drive? That would be a better option. I suspect they don't though...
Rarely do laptops have space for a second drive. I tend to remove the windows hard disk, insert a blank hard disk, and install away on that. That way, if/when I want to part with the machine, I can just put the unused Windows hard disk back in it. It does mean you have to buy a blank hard disk though. Also, swapping HDDs will void any warranty!