New
#1
Logical to primary, with a twist
First off, I'm fairly equally skilled with Windows (especially the NT kernel family), Mac OS (from System 7, c. 1991, to OS X Snow Leopard), and Ubuntu Linux (8.04 to 11.04). That said, I prefer Mac OS X, as it doesn't have issues like these.
I'm trying to repartition my hard drive into two equally sized partitions: one for an existing Windows 7 install, and the other for a pending Ubuntu 11.04 install. My computer originally came with Windows Vista Home Premium 32-bit, but the computer (an HP Pavilion a6400f) has a 64-bit CPU, so I decided to upgrade to Windows 7 Ultimate 64-bit. I performed a clean install rather than an upgrade install, so there are two partitions: one for Windows Vista (Primary) and Windows 7 (Logical). Why it installed like this is beyond me, and it's giving me some trouble. I want to delete the Vista partition to make room for Ubuntu, but it's an active primary partition, so I can't delete it.
Is there any way I can transfer the files from (just) Windows 7 to an external hard drive, format and partition the internal hard drive, then transfer Windows 7 back into a primary partition on the internal, and make it bootable? I don't think I can just reinstall Windows 7, since it's an upgrade disk.
Any help would be appreciated.