Repartitioning drive in Windows7

I want to know how to partition/re-partition a drive to install Linux. I have the following queries :

1. Windows is installed on C:, how should I repartition it without losing any data ie removing Windows and reinstalling it. Ex: C: is of size 75 GB and has 40 GB free space... so how to create a partition from the remaining 35 of 40 GB.

2. D: is a normal data drive, how should I repartition it without losing any data.Ex: D: is of size 200 GB and has 100 GB free space... so how to create a partition from the remaining 75 of 100 GB.

Is partitioning done using some software or window commands. Kindly give info on software name, download and stepwise how to.

Awaiting your reply.

OS: Win7 Ultimate 64-bit
RAM: 2GB

Regards
Arpit

You usually don't need any additional tools to make more partitions.

Go to your start menu.

Type "disk management" into the box. That will bring up the disk management window showing your existing partition setup.

Post a screen capture of what you see there so we can better help you.

I have attached the screen shot...

On an ordinary primary partition such as your C or D, you could just right click it in Disk Management and "shrink volume".

The shrunken amount would then become "unallocated space" and you could then partition that unallocated space, making a new partition for your Linux.

I don't see anything about your screen cap that says you can't do that, but wait for another opinion.

Your E partition is an extended partition, not a primary partition. I'm not sure how easily it is to manipulate extended partitions with Windows built in tools. Wait for the opinion of others.

If you could shrink the extended partition, the shrunken space could probably be combined with that unallocated 9 MB you have at the far right which is currently wasted.

I think when you shrink a partition, the generated unallocated space does not go to the far right in the screen cap--it goes immediately to the right of the partition you just shrunk. So if you shrunk C, the unallocated space would show up between C and D, not after E. I'm going from memory here.

But it looks OK to me assuming you are willing to give up the space on C or D.

BEFORE you shrink any partition, defrag first. Reboot a time or two after you shrink and let Windows run a disk check also.

I''m wondering if you have anything on your E drive. If not, you could use that space for Linux.

Once you have the space freed for your Linux install, let it do its own partitioning / formatting for its space.

Just curious; what distro ??

He has 43 gigs free on C and 68 free on D.

Should be more than enough. How many gigs is a typical Linux install nowadays?

ignatzatsonic said:

How many gigs is a typical Linux install nowadays?

I can't really say what "typical" would be, but I'm using a little less than 32 gigs and I've got mine pretty well loaded including two VMs.

Ubuntu 10.04 if you're curious.

ignatzatsonic said:

On an ordinary primary partition such as your C or D, you could just right click it in Disk Management and "shrink volume".

The shrunken amount would then become "unallocated space" and you could then partition that unallocated space, making a new partition for your Linux.

I don't see anything about your screen cap that says you can't do that, but wait for another opinion.

Your E partition is an extended partition, not a primary partition. I'm not sure how easily it is to manipulate extended partitions with Windows built in tools. Wait for the opinion of others.

If you could shrink the extended partition, the shrunken space could probably be combined with that unallocated 9 MB you have at the far right which is currently wasted.

I think when you shrink a partition, the generated unallocated space does not go to the far right in the screen cap--it goes immediately to the right of the partition you just shrunk. So if you shrunk C, the unallocated space would show up between C and D, not after E. I'm going from memory here.

But it looks OK to me assuming you are willing to give up the space on C or D.

From what u told... I have the following queries :

1. When I press right click on C: in disk mgmt and click "shrink volume", what value should I enter so as to get a new partition of size 35GB (is it 35*1024MB ?).

2. When I press right click on E: in disk mgmt and click "shrink volume", what value should I enter so as to include the unallocated partition of size 9MB.

You use the up/down arrow to the right of the “enter the amount of space to shrink in MB” to control it. The amount originally shown in this window is the MAXIMUM you could shrink the volume.

As you move the number down, the window below that will rise. This number is the size the existing partition will be after you chop some off to make unallocated space.

I wouldn’t agonize over getting an exact number.

So, if you want to generate 10 GB of unallocated space, you would use the down arrow until it went down to about 10000 (that is 10000 MB, which is 10 GB).

I’m not sure if Windows uses 1000 or 1024 to make the calculation. That’s why I said not to agonize over an exact value.

If you chop anything off E, it would just make that 9 MB space grow larger. But I’m not sure how “shrink volume” works on an extended partition like E.

First thing—you have to decide which partition to shrink and how big you want the new partition to be. If you choose to shrink D, then I wouldn’t concern myself with E. The 9 MB is a very small bit of waste.

ArpitRaj said:

1. When I press right click on C: in disk mgmt and click "shrink volume", what value should I enter so as to get a new partition of size 35GB (is it 35*1024MB ?).

2. When I press right click on E: in disk mgmt and click "shrink volume", what value should I enter so as to include the unallocated partition of size 9MB.

1) Yes that formula is correct.

2) Rightclick to Extend Logical partition into the Unallocated Space first - no need to enter anything just keep clicking Next. Then rightclick>Shrink Volume to Create a new Logical sub-partition of desired size.