Help removing partition

H

hdjunkie

Active Member
I looking to install ideneb on top of windows 7, and ubuntu. Between the two installations, there are now 4 partitions on my hard drive (the maximum).
One of the partitions is the swap drive, and another is a "SYSTEM" drive that windows apparently partitioned during install. The other two are obviously the main boot drives for windows, and ubuntu. I created a drive letter for the system drive, but it appears empty (hidden files are shown, protected os files are shown).
I've also read that the swap drive isn't necessary as it's used for dumping the ram for hibernation etc. I should say that I read that you can create a swap file that performs the same function with the same results.
Anyways, I guess my question is which partition should/can I remove to make another partition for OSX? I'll be using the grub bootloader to access windows, ubuntu, and osx.
 
Hi hdjunkie,

If you set it up with swap you can try, but I wouldn't be surprised if linux doesn't decide to choke on you after, expecting it to still be there. The other partition for Windows is necessary as that is what you are apparently booting your computer with.

So the least damaging answer here is to use vista's disk management tools to shrink down your partitions in order to gather enough free space for a partition for OS X.
 
Hi again, hdjunkie.
I'm not positive, but I don't think Grub can boot OSX, or at least the latest version of it. :wink: What version of OSX are you trying to install? You may need the Vista (or in your case the Win 7, though they are essentially the same) bootloader, and EasyBCD for that.
When you looked into your "system" partition, did you have your "protected system files" unhidden? From your other thread, it sounded like you could boot into Windows ok, which means your "system" partition must have contained the boot files at that point in time at least, and unless you have done something since then to make the system files *fly away*, they should still be there. So please verify that the partition is actually indeed empty, before deleting it (though it would be better if you did not delete it at all). Also, could you please post a screenshot of your Disk Management again? Thanks! :smile:

-Coolname007
 
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Ok, yeah the system partition has the boot, recycle bin, etc etc. I haven't seen that in a long time. Perhaps the windows installer created it when it formatted to unpartitioned space I allocated for windows.
I'm just looking for the easiest way to free up another partition. I'll reinstall linux, or win7 or both if necessary. I know I could create a swap file for linux and skip a swap partition altogether, but I certainly could get by w/o a system partition for windows as well.
What should I do?
 
As I stated before, I need a screenshot of your Disk Management, so I can see how much free space you have in all of your partitions, and determine whether or not you would have enough space for OSX after resizing your existing partitions, which would definitely be your best option. :wink: So please post a screenshot of your Disk Management, and don't delete anything just yet.

-Coolname007
 
There's plenty of space. It's a 160g drive that was complete wiped when installing ubuntu the other day. I tried to shrink the partition, and create another one from the freed space, but I was told I already have 4 partitions.

 
hdjunkie said:
There's plenty of space. It's a 160g drive that was complete wiped when installing ubuntu the other day. I tried to shrink the partition, and create another one from the freed space, but I was told I already have 4 partitions.

Click to expand...

Yeah, there's a limit of 4 primary partitions per drive, unless you use BootIT NG, like I do. :wink: Going from your sudo fdisk -lu output you posted in your last thread, though, I thought one of your partitions was extended, and had a logical disk as your swap? :S You must have deleted it, which was a bad move, since you will need an extended partition, if you want any more partitions on that hard drive (though I think the OSX setup can create its own extended partition, though I'm not sure). That 200 MB partition was created during the Win 7 setup, and it has all of your Windows boot files on it, so you obviously don't want to delete it. I believe C: contains your Win 7 OS, but am not sure what the 24.41 GB, and 5.59 GB partitions contain. If those are your Linux ext3 root partition, and your swap partition, then you really don't want to do anything with that either. So your best bet is to delete your swap partition, resize your Win 7 partition (C), and use the free space to create an extended partition, and within that extended partition, create all of the logical disks you need, including a new swap partition. :wink: Do you happen to have an external hard drive though? If so, then I would install OSX on that, instead of your main hard drive. It just would make more sense, in my opinion...

-Coolname007
 
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Ok, I think you lost me there. I didn't delete any partitions or change anything. The 25, and 6 gb partitions are indeed ubuntu, and the swap drive. I have an external usb drive but I don't want to use it. I use it far too often to have an os on it.

So, you think the best option is to remove the swap partition, shrink the windows partition, and use the freed space? How do I go about recreating the swap partition?
 
hdjunkie said:
Ok, I think you lost me there. I didn't delete any partitions or change anything. The 25, and 6 gb partitions are indeed ubuntu, and the swap drive. I have an external usb drive but I don't want to use it. I use it far too often to have an os on it.

So, you think the best option is to remove the swap partition, shrink the windows partition, and use the freed space? How do I go about recreating the swap partition?
Click to expand...

Yeah, that would definitely be your best option then. :wink: You can use Gparted to resize your Win 7 partition, and use it to create a new swap partition out of the free space you get back. My advice is to use the Gparted that can be found on your LiveCD, while booted into a Live session, at System>Administration>Partition editor, rather than download a separate version of it.

Let me know if you have any problems with it.

-Coolname007
 
Shouldn't I resize the windows partition from windows? I could shrink it, and leave the space unallocated and then boot to the live cd?
 
hdjunkie said:
Shouldn't I resize the windows partition from windows? I could shrink it, and leave the space unallocated and then boot to the live cd?
Click to expand...

Since you're going to have to use Gparted anyway to create the swap partition, I just figured it would be easier to perform both tasks at the same place...:wink: But yes, you could use that method if you really want to.

-Coolname007
 
Oh, I just didn't know if it was totally safe. I'm in windows now, so I'll do that. Perhaps you could explain what I need to do when I'm in gparted.
 
Ok, so once you're in Gparted, you perform the following actions:

Select the Win 7 partition
Click on Resize or something similar
Specify the new size you want the partition to be after you shrink it
Click Ok, or similar
Once the resizing is done, select the unallocated space you see below the Win 7 partition
Choose: Partition → New. The application displays the Create new Partition dialog.
Specify the size and the location for the partition. See the section called “Specifying Partition Size and Location”.
Specify the alignment for the partition. See the section called “Specifying Partition Alignment”.
Specify the type of partition. See the section called “Specifying Partition Type”.
Specify the type of file system for the partition. See the section called “Specifying Partition File System”. (This is where you choose the "Linux-swap" partition file system to make it a swap partition)
Specify the label for the partition. See the section called “Specifying Partition Label”.
Click Add to add the create partition operation to the operation queue. The application displays the create partition operation in the Pending Operations pane in the gparted window.

See the Gparted manual for more info: GParted Manual

-Coolname007
 
Ok here's what gparted looks like right now (pay no attention to the shaded screenshot window:glare:smile:
When I try to create a new partition out of the unallocated space it says "It is not possible to create more than 4 primary partitions"

forgot the screenie...

 
That is because you did not use up all the unallocated space for your extended partition...:wink: So you now need to slide your extended partition up so that's it against /dev/sda3, with the unallocated space below it, and then resize it to the maximum size available, and then you can use the remaining free space within the extended partition to create whatever additional partitions you need.

-Coolname007
 
hdjunkie said:
How do I do that? Keep in mind I never used linux before a few days ago.
Click to expand...

To move your partition up:

  1. Select your extended partition. See the section called “Selecting a Partition”.
  2. Choose: Partition → Resize/Move. The application displays the Resize/Move /path-to-partition dialog.
  3. Adjust the location of the partition. See the section called “Specifying Partition Size and Location”.
  4. Specify the alignment of the partition. See the section called “Specifying Partition Alignment”.
  5. Click Resize/Move. The application displays the resize/move partition operation in the Pending Operations pane.

What it basically comes down to is putting 0 bytes before the partition you're sliding in the dialog box that comes up, and putting the amount of bytes that the unallocated space is after the extended partition. This will slide your partition up against your /dev/sda3 partition, and put the free space after the extended, and then you can simply resize it so it uses up the free space below it, and the free space now appears inside the extended partition.

-Coolname007
 
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hdjunkie said:
Yeah, I can't resize the extended partition. Only sda1,2, and 3.
Click to expand...

Did you *slide* the partition before attempting to resize it? That was the whole point in sliding it as you can't resize a partition unless the free space is after the partition you're resizing...:wink:

-Coolname007
 
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