Whats the difference between primary partition and extended partition?

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  1. lehnerus2000
    Posts : 4,049
    W7 Ultimate SP1, LM19.2 MATE, W10 Home 1703, W10 Pro 1703 VM, #All 64 bit
       New #11

    You should have no problems ...


    partogi said:
    I'm planning to dual boot with XP but I think I read somewhere says we can't install OS on Logical drive. Is this correct?
    I'm not sure about Windows OS (I have installed Linux distros in a Logical partition in the past).

    You can have 3 Primary partitions and an Extended partition (containing multiple Logical partitions) so you can easily install XP and W7 on a single HDD.

    Make sure that:

    • You pre-partition your drive
    • You install XP before W7

    The partitions on my 1st HDD (1 TB) on my PC:

    • 1 - Primary - W7 SP1
    • 2 - Primary - XP SP3
    • 3 - Primary - Ubuntu 10.04
    • 4 - Logical - Documents
    • 5 - Logical - Pictures
    • 6 - Logical - Downloads
    Last edited by lehnerus2000; 02 Oct 2012 at 10:20. Reason: Quote Added
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  3. CB
    Posts : 2,076
    Windows 11 Prerelease
       New #12

    I'm planning to dual boot with XP but I think I read somewhere says we can't install OS on Logical drive. Is this correct?
    My thought. We can install XP to logical drive as long as we have one active primary partition. But must take a note that XP will put its boot files onto the available active primary drive. Means XP will run on logical drive with boot files on the primary, but be cautious that if someday something happen to the primary drive (accidentally deleted/erased) then XP won't be able to start when it's unable to find the required boot files on the other drive (primary drive).

    Kevin
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  4. gregrocker
    Posts : 50,642
       New #13

    Rightclick on D using Partition Wizard to Modify>Set to Primary, OK, Apply step.

    Now you have no worries about installing XP, however if you do it last it will steal the boot from Win7 without the ability to configure a Dual Boot, so you need to restart Win7 by Marking C Partition Active then run Startup Repair - Run 3 Separate Times.

    Once you've started up Win7 install EasyBCD (free Download at bottom of page - no name or email required) to add XP on the Add OS Entry tab.
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  6. bigmck
    Posts : 4,751
    Windows 7 Home Premium 32-Bit - Build 7600 SP1
       New #14

    partogi said:
    Thanks for the reply guys.

    I only use my PC to watch movies and play some old games which is stored on D drive.

    I'm planning to dual boot with XP but I think I read somewhere says we can't install OS on Logical drive. Is this correct?
    Yes, you are correct. An OS must be on a Primary Partition. You would need to have two Primary Partitions for the OS and the third for your Data could be either Logical or Primary. You really need a bigger HDD if you are going to be storing movies on there.
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