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If I create a partition on my hard drive for Ubuntu so it can run alongside Win 8 is it possible to alter the size of that partition later? Does the installation DVD for 13.04 come with a partition management facility so I can specify the size of the partition for Ubuntu at first and then at some later date change the size of that partition. For example with my hard drive of about 630 GB I might at first want to operate on a 100 GB partition with Ubuntu but then later increase its size to 250 GB.

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When the installation starts, it first ask you whether you want to install or you just want to try it.

  • If you choose to install, you get a basic partitioning tool.
  • But if you choose to try it you get a powerful partitioning tool called GParted which allows you to select all the partitions you want and then apply all the modification which can't be done with the basic tool. After that you can run the install and select which partition you want to use for Ubuntu by selected "Other" instead of "Replace Windows" or "Install alongside windows".

You can always resize or move a partition but be aware that moving a parition is very slow. Also I don't think you can move a partition if it is the partition that is being booted (I would advise you not to move Windows 8 partition). What you could do is making 3 paritions

  • A /home partition of 60 GB, that's where your Movies, Documents, Pictures, emails are stored, that's the partition you will want to resize in the future.
  • A / partition of 32 GB, that's where you programs are installed (Steam games are in /home, don't worry :P)
  • A swap partition of 8 GB, that's where the RAM puts data when it's full. The amount of swap really depends on your need (see this post for more information).

Put these partitions in that order just after the partition of Windows you would like re resize in the future. That way, in the future, you would scale down that Windows partition and that would leave you more space for the /home partition.

Also, don't listen to people on the internet saying that you can only have 4 partition, with Windows 8, you surely have GPT and not MBR (more (advanced) info here).

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  • Very helpful link, I add it in my answer
    – Benoît Legat
    May 1, 2013 at 9:37
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Yes, you can resize partitions after the fact, using tools like GParted in Linux. In addition to being slow, though, as Benoît Legat says, partition resizing and moving operations are dangerous. They work fine most of the time, but occasionally they go wrong. When that happens, you can lose all the data on one or more partitions. Thus, you should do a complete backup of all important data before doing such things.

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