Solved Can I Reduce the Number of Primary Partitions?

[paoiue]

Hi,
I am trying to install Fedora OS on my laptop for dual booting because I need to use Linux for work. However, from what I found on the internet, I am only allowed to have 4 primary partitions on a hard drive.

Currently, I have four primary partitions ( my laptop came with two partitions C:\ and D:\ and two hidden partitions. A 16 Gb recovery partition and 200 Mb partition. See attached. )

I am tryin to install Fedora on the unallocated space at the end of the hard drive, but am pretty sure I can't because I already have four primary partitions.

Is it possible to maybe combine the 200 Mb and 16 Gb partitions?
Or is it possible to change the D:\ drive into an extended partition and install Fedora as a logical partition in the D:\ drive?



Thanks,

Paoiue

 

[ignatzatsonic]

I have no idea if Linux will run from an extended partition.

But you can get rid of that recovery partition if you have no intention of ever using it or if you have made a set of recovery disks that serve the same purpose.

And you can get rid of that system reserved partition if you first move your boot files from it to C.

 

[paoiue]

Thanks for the reply. I plan to back my system up once again before removing the recovery partition at the beginning of the drive. Now a new question arises.

Can I install Linux in the empty space infront of system reserve partition or does the system reserve have to come before any other data partition ( I think I read somewhere it does or usually does, but am not too sure if it is a must )?
This way I can reclaim the unallocated space at the end my hard drive, and not have two seperate partitions.

I have no idea if Linux will run from an extended partition.

I've read on other forums that it is possible.

 

[ignatzatsonic]

Thanks for the reply. I plan to back my system up once again before removing the recovery partition at the beginning of the drive. Now a new question arises.

Can I install Linux in the empty space infront of system reserve partition or does the system reserve have to come before any other data partition

As far as I know, the system reserved does not have to be first.

At any rate, you could use a program such as Partition Wizard bootable disk to get all of that unallocated space in one spot and generally manipulate partitions as needed.

I don't think that Disk Management is necessarily an accurate representation of where stuff is located on your hard drive anyway.

 

[Ztruker]

You could install VMWare or Oracle Virtual Box and run Linux as a guest under either, right on the same desktop with Win 7. I use Oracle VB but VMWare is also very good.

 

[kado897]

I run several Linux Distributions in VirtualBox it works well and with Linux doesn't take too much in the way of resources. I have to say however that I had problems with the latest version of Fedora in VirtualBox. Maybe VMWare Payer would be better.

 

[paoiue]

I have already looked into using VirtualBox. I tried running Fedora on VB, but I experienced a lot of lag. When I checked task manager, 76% of my RAM was being used. When I close VB, it drops back down to about 45%-50%. Having it run at a constant 76% is higher than I'm comfortable with. Also, a friend told me that he has seen computers fry because it was running a virutal OS. Since I will be using it for extended periods of time each day, I didn't really want to risk frying my laptop.

 

[kado897]

It will only use the amount of RAM you assign to the VM, but as I said I had problems with Fedora or more probably with Gnome 3 freezing.

 

[paoiue]

With VB, Gnome3 doesn't work properly, so instead I'm using XFCE. I tried using both Virtual Box and VMware player, but both times it was a lot smoother when I ran the live CD off a usb. It also uses atleast 70% of my RAM even when pretty much idle. I have tried leaving the amount of RAM at the default 700 something Mb after setting it to 1Gb the first few times I tried ( I was following some tutorials ), but it remains over 70%. I'm not sure if I should be going under 700Mb of RAM because I will be running a few other programs when I get it to work. That's why I would prefer to be able to dual boot and just run one OS at a time.

Also after using Partition Wizard, I found that that 16Gb space actually has 10Gb of data in it (see below).:shock:


This is what the partiton contained.


The data in there looks important, so I don't know if I can delete that now.
If I were to move my boot files to my C:\ drive, how would I accomplish that?
Or would changing my D:\ to a logical partition and installing Linux there be a better option? Assuming that it will not affect my system.

 

[pparks1]

I have already looked into using VirtualBox. I tried running Fedora on VB, but I experienced a lot of lag.

Yes, your computer has to have enough resources to run 2 OS's well as the same time.

When I checked task manager, 76% of my RAM was being used. When I close VB, it drops back down to about 45%-50%. Having it run at a constant 76% is higher than I'm comfortable with.

You can adjust the amount of RAM you give to a VM to lower your overall ram usage.

Also, a friend told me that he has seen computers fry because it was running a virutal OS. Since I will be using it for extended periods of time each day, I didn't really want to risk frying my laptop.

Ok, this is simply false. I run VM's all day long. I have physical servers that run nothing but VM's 24x7x365. Your friend doesn't have any idea what he/she is talking about.

 

[seavixen32]

The data in that partition is your factory recovery software.

If you have created a set of recovery discs you can go ahead and delete the partition.

The hidden 200 MB System Reserved partition holds the active flag and boot files, but to be absolutely certain you may want to backup the files in the recovery partition before your delete the partition.

 

[Brds7t7]

Hello paoiue,

It is definitely possible to put Linux before the System Reserved partition as a friend of mine has done it on his HP machine. He said he wouldn't use the recovery partition as he preferred to do clean install windows from disk instead. I did the same with my Dell the first day I bought it. Although it came with Vista Ultimate pre-installed so didn't have System Reserved partition. I've since replaced it all with 7 pro.

 

[gregrocker]

What you should do is simple and doesn't involve messing with any of your factory recovery or tools partitions:

Convert D to Logical, Resize it from the right to make a partition the size you want for Fedora (including the Unallocated space) using Partition Wizard bootable CD.

For future reference and best performance look over these steps for Clean Reinstall - Factory OEM Windows 7.

Until then you can also Clean Up Factory Bloatware

 

[paoiue]

Thanks Burdus32 for letting me know, but I think I'll stick with Greg's idea as it seems safer and requires less work. Also thanks for the links to the tutorials.