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When trying to create a dual boot (windows and ubuntu) I ran in some trouble. Because I do already have 4 partitions, the 5th one is unusable for ubuntu to install. Now I'm really hesitating which one could be deleted or not. I have the following partitions:

device    type   size     used      system
/dev/sda1 ntfs   104mb    25mb      Windows 7(loader)
/dev/sda2 ntfs   877973mb 195685mb  
unusable         56624mb    an
/dev/sda3 ntfs   64424mb  24054mb
/dev/sda4 ntfs   1065mb   218mb     Windows Recovery Environment(loader)

As you can see, sda2 is my main partition, and sda 3 is my driver partition.

Can I safely remove sda1 or sda4 partition? I'm not sure what the "loader" is supposed to do.

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  • Are you using a partition program from Windows? I've never experienced this kind of trouble with a Linux partitioning program.
    – Spielkalb
    May 3, 2014 at 21:23
  • This is just the default installer for Ubuntu LTS. I allocated some space in Windows May 3, 2014 at 21:35

2 Answers 2

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If you can merge the contents of your drivers partition onto your main Windows partition and get can confidently remove it you can delete that partition and add extended partitions using its space and the contiguous unused space.

At that point if you want to create an Ubuntu partition as well as create a new Windows driver extended NTFS partition you can.

Having four primary partitions is a dead-end it's best to avoid.

If your computer and Windows can deal with it you may also be able to convert the disk to GPT format--it doesn't differentiate between primary and extended partitions and can have a large number of partitions. Both Windows and your BIOS would have to support that move.

I'm confused by one of your comments. You mention having allocated space for the Windows installer already. If I understand correctly and that's an NTFS partitions on the list never used you could delete it, boot from a DVD or USB Ubuntu installer, and then let the Ubuntu installer handle putting Ubuntu into an extended partition (not a primary one). Ubuntu doesn't generally install on an NTFS partition, using a different file system like Ext4. You don't need to create a partition for the Ubuntu installer itself. You can boot an Ubuntu install DVD and the software on it will do the formatting you need.

Unless you are letting the Ubuntu installer do all the formatting automatically you will have to choose "Custom" for the install type.

In any case you would have to be careful about backing up and having a way to use the backup if there is a problem.

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  • You're being really helpful, thanks. I forgot to mention one thing though, the Drivers partition I mentioned is not only for drivers, but it's also for Recover (D: Recover) and it uses around 20gb. Is it still a good thing to merge it with my main partition? I'm asking this because you sent me a link to a similar problem, but his/her HP drivers size were only 100-200 MB. May 3, 2014 at 22:48
  • I'm afraid I don't know enough about current Windows practice to know. That's why I posed the possibility as an "if". We know far more about Ubuntu here than how Windows uses partitions. From your list I thought partition 4 was your recovery partition. If you need all four partitions for Windows you are stalemated with regard to adding any more partitions unless you can find a program that can turn a primary partition into an extended one. Again in doing such work have a well thought-out backout plan and back-up. May 4, 2014 at 2:40
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My guess is that the Windows and Linux programs are not properly compatible. I suggest to revoke the changes you've made in Win and start the installer again. Then use the Ubuntu program to shrink /sda2 again.

Hope that'll work, good luck!

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