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I would like to add a partition to my laptop hard disk, but i don’t know how to do it... It has the following partitions *Dell utility *OS *mount point *swap

I tried to edit the 488GB partition but i could not. Someone tell me how to create a partition in this 488GB which is marked a boot able mount point. I have attached the screen shot from disk utility for reference.

https://i.stack.imgur.com/hVqDB.png

https://i.stack.imgur.com/yAHuG.png

Laptop is a Dell 3537 Ubuntu 12.04, 500GB hard disk. I have added the screen shot.

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  • post the screenshot of gparted not Disks. In some Ubuntu versions, gparted was not installed by default. So , install it by running sudo apt-get install gparted May 19, 2014 at 4:35
  • you can't, you can create only four primary partition. You have already. so resize the current /dev/sda3 root partition through live disk and move the unallocated space into the extended partition. In extended partition, you can create upto 128 partitions. May 19, 2014 at 10:18

2 Answers 2

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First of all, backup your data just in case. Although it is an "easy" process, playing with partitions for the first time can easily bring you data loss if you don't know what you are doing.

  • Start Ubuntu using a Live CD
  • Start gparted
  • Select the 488Gb partition, and resize it, reducing its size enough to have room for the new partition
  • Select the extended partition and increase its size
  • Create the new partition in the free space now available within the extended partition
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  • This could be possible only through live disk. May 19, 2014 at 9:57
  • @AvinashRaj You are right, I've improved the answer based on your comments.
    – adosaiguas
    May 19, 2014 at 10:25
  • Thank u all for ur help .......... i created new partitions but the resize took me about 4 hours.... any way i got it done .......thank u all
    – jagadeesh
    Jul 21, 2014 at 12:46
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You can resize your 488GB partition using a livecd, the gparted one for instance, which you might already know.

IMPORTANT: if you have data on your hard-drive which you are not able to get back from somewhere else, please take the time to copy it somewhere safe, in case something might go wrong. Remember that a warned man is only HALF-saved, the other half of his safety is his hands. If he does the wrong thing he'll get in trouble.

This solution doesn't use logical volume management (LVM).

You can do it right like this:

  • You reboot your system into the gparted livecd
  • once the livecd has booted into the graphical user interface, start gparted if it hasn't yet
  • if the line listing your swap partition /dev/sda5 shows a lock, right-click on it and click swapoff
  • right-click on the line listing your swap partition /dev/sda5 again and select delete from the context menu
  • click on the check-icon button between the menu-bar and the graphical representation of you hard-drive
  • confirm in order to proceed and DO remove your swap partition
  • on successful completion, right-click on your /dev/sda4 line and choose "delete" from the context menu
  • again click the apply button to proceed and DO remove your extended partition (the ones which allows you to have your logical partitions
  • on successful completion, you can proceed to shrink your root partition (/dev/sda3)
  • right-click on its line and choose "Resize/Move"
  • on the dialog box ONLY add free space after the partition, which you do either by:
    1. grabbing the RIGHT side of the blue-border rectangle in the upper part of the window and moving it to the left and release your left-mouse button when you're happy with that, WITHOUT making it smaller than the pale-yellow region inside it
    2. type a value in the "Free space following (MiB)" box at the bottom and hit the enter key, like this the "New size (MiB)" box is updated. Make sure that the "New size (MiB)" is at least 2000 more than the "Minimum size" value under the blue-border rectangle.
  • when you're OK with your resize choice click the Resize/Move button on the dialog box, confirm if asked.
  • when you're just a step from nirvana ( : P ) about your resize choice, click the check-icon apply button in the main gparted window. Now it's the moment after which nothing will be the same anymore ( : P ). If you're ready for it, give confirmation, then wait for successful completion
  • Got your successful completion notice? Good.
  • You should now have a line at the bottom of your listing, telling you about the unallocated space on your hard-drive.
  • you can now add the partitions you want. Your current setup has already 3 primary partitions. You can have 4 primary partitions maximum. Therefore you'd be better off by creating an extended partition which covers all of that unallocated space. After that (successful completion), you can create much many logical partitions inside it (I don't remember what the maximum number is). Make sure you create a partition of swap type, the size of your ram memory if your ram memory is 2GB or more, twice the size, if less.

Be cautious and good luck.

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  • Why you advice him to delete swap partition? May 19, 2014 at 10:19
  • Because I have the feeling that it would be quicker removing it instead of actually moving it when you move the unallocated space. I'm not 100% sure about this performance difference though, as I'm aware that a swap partition has no file system on.
    – Lorra
    May 19, 2014 at 11:22

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