I'm no expert, but I believe that a HDD set up with a partition table can handle at most 4 "primary" partitions. That sounds like how your laptop has been set up.
If you change one of the "Primary" partitions to an "extended" partition, then you can add extra "logical" partitions within the extended partition.
I doubt that it is possible to change a partition from Primary to Extended c/w logical partitions without destroying the data on it. That would imply having to backup, repartition, then restore. Also, I don't know how Windows would cope with the new logical partitions. In my previous experience, it can be quite fussy about drive letters etc.
I would also be quite dubious about the "recovery" partitions still working if you change the partition structure that they're expecting to see.
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. 1) Backup partition 2 (whatever drive letter it is). 2) Delete partition 2. 3) Recreate Partition 2 as an Extended Partion using all the free space. 4) Create a Logical partition to restore the windows data onto. 5) 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! And backup ***EVERYTHING*** before you start!!! Steve
On 07/09/11 13:16, Richard Parsons wrote:
Hi, I've recently bought a Compaq laptop. It currently has Windows 7 installed and I want to dual boot with Ubuntu.
Unfortunately, Compaq have already partitioned the hard disk into four partitions. The largest partition, which is 480GB is the second. If I begin the installer, and resize the second partition to create free space, then I'm told that it is "unuseable". I believe that the extra partitions are for recovery etc.
So what can I do? Is there a way of getting Ubuntu installed without disturbing the contents of the partitions already setup?
Thanks in advance Richard
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