Windows 7: 2 Active Primary Partitions?

Hi,
I'm looking into setting up a dual boot and I discovered that I have 2 Primary partitions on my hard drive in addition to the backup partition. One of the Primaries is my C: (main) drive and the other is un-named. My question is, can I repurpose the un-named primary partion? I have included a screenshot (in attachment) for clarification.

Yes. Have a look at this.

Partition or Volume - Delete


How to Re-Partition a Hard Drive - YouTube

What do you want to dual boot with ?

Thanks!

Ubuntu for now. Just got bored using windows for everything.

kmurphy,

DON'T DO IT!

Both of those partitions are essential.

1 is your Win 7 recovery partition and the other is the recovery partition created by your computer manufacturer for performing a factory restore!

I'll be back with possible solutions for you in a few minutes.

kmurphy,

We, and consequently you, will benefit greatly from fully filled out system specs.

Read this procedure, carry out the procedure as written. I personally use SPECCY.

Update your SevenForums System Specs
User CP (located on the top menu bar) |
Your Profile | Edit System Spec (left-hand column)

To gather info, use Speccy (my favorite) or SIW or System Info

In the System Manufacturer Block, enter:
Manufacturer and Model and
ADD the word laptop, desktop, netbook or tablet.
For example:
Toshiba Satellite L305D notebook.

Provide full windows version info, for example:
MS Windows 7 Ultimate SP1 64-bit

Use the “Other Info” block for Optical Reader,
Mouse, touchpad, wifi adapter, speakers, monitor, etc

Scroll down and click on SAVE CHANGES.

You will find that in Speccy, you can select info from the display
using your mouse/touchpad and then paste that info into your specs.

SIW is a marvelous program, but the free version does not offer
this capability.

Well I'm glad I didn't get around to messing with that partition yet! My system specs should be fully updated now too.

With PartitionWizard (use the link I provide please so that you don't end up at one of the similar but not equal programs) you will be to make two partitions out of that one bit partition.

Free download Magic Partition Manager Software, partition magic alternative, free partition magic, partition magic Windows 7 and server partition software - Partition Wizard Online

We do have tutorials on dual-booting with that mini0s called linux.

After creating the partition and before taking any more steps, then make a system image backup to an external usb drive.

Here is the tutorial:
Backup Complete Computer - Create an Image Backup

You can at least recover from the impending disaster.

OK, I really appreciate the help but upon further thought I'm going to wait to create the dual boot until I get an external hard drive. Most of my programs are without disks (digital downloads, and from friends) and I don't want to lose them, so before I start screwing with the OS I'm going to create a complete system backup.

If you want to play with Ubuntu, why not try this.