Is my Hard Disk partitioned correctly?

[Atom222]

As can be seen in the attached screenshot, my Samsung laptop's only hard disk is partitioned, starting from the left, as follows:

1) System 100 mb

2) Windows 7 (C) 271.00 gb

3) Delta (D) 406.11 gb

4) Recovery 21.43 gb

Is this setup okay? Shouldn't the Recovery be next to the Windows 7 partition? The partition D: was done by myself and I wonder if I'd done it wrongly. Please advise. Thank you.

 

[carwiz]

That looks good to me. Can you access the D: drive? Does drive C: have the word "Active" in the Healthy string?

 

[Atom222]

Hi carwiz,

I'm glad to know that my setup is okay. Yes, I can access D: which is where I keep all my video, data and other files. As for your other question, I don't think I have marked C: as active. After opening up Easeus Partition Master, I don't see the word "active in the C: partition. And when I right-clicked on the C: partition, I see an option that says "Set Active". I guess that confirms that C: has not yet been marked "active".

Thank you for your help.

 

[TVeblen]

Whoa! Wait. You have a System Partition. That could be the MS boot partition and it should have the ACTIVE flag.
It would be a good idea for you to expand the Disk Management window for a screenshot so we can read everything.

 

[carwiz]

That was a question, not a directive. The C: drive also has a MBR and boot folder or it wouldn't say "Boot". I agree it would nice to see the entire line.

 

[Atom222]

Okay, I think the mystery is solved, at least for me. I attach a slightly wider image of my hard disk. But the full comments relevant to the System partition (100 mb ) still can't be seen. I don't know how to expand it any further.

Anyway, what I did was that I hovered my mouse over the System partition and I could read the following comments:

Healthy (System, Active, Primary Partition).

So, you were both right, there is in fact an Active partition. As they say, learning all the time. Once again, many thanks for your help.

 

[TVeblen]

It looks good the way it is. The Recovery partition is fine where it is - at the end of the drive.

One note to be aware of: if your Hard Drive is formatted as a legacy MBR drive and you try and add one more partition to that hard disk Windows will ask if you want to convert it to a Dynamic Disk. Do not do this (unless you understand Dynamic Disks and are doing so with purpose).
If you ever wanted more partitions, ask here and folks will help with creating an Extended partition with logical drives.

To see if you are MBR or GPT formatted:
http://www.sevenforums.com/tutorials/244566-hard-drive-gpt-mbr.html

 

[Atom222]

Hi TVeblen,

Thanks for the heads-up about dynamic disks. My disk is MBR formatted.

I was in fact thinking about modifying my current D partition into D and F. The new D (shrunken to maybe 100 gb) will be used for Ubuntu or Windows 8. Haven't really decided yet. The F partition (rest of the space) will then be used for data and other files. What are my best options and are there any pitfalls I should watch out for?

 

[whs]

What I don't like is that you have 4 primaries and no chance to create another partition. I would make D an extended.

 

[TVeblen]

As whs pointed out, if you wanted to create another partition you would need to make the current D partition an extended partition - then you could create anywhere up to 24 or so extra logical drives (partitions).

But you want to install Ubuntu or Windows 8. An operating system normally needs to be installed on a Primary Partition. And you can't create any more Primary partitions on your MBR disk. So you have some decisions to make.

You could use your system manufacturer's utility to burn Recovery Disks and then delete the Recovery Partition. Or you could image the partition to an external storage drive. This would free up a Primary partition for another OS. You could still create an extended partition for data with more Logical Drives.

Lots of folks here make a System Image of the System drive and C: drive as their recovery plan. Restoring this image will bring your computer back to the condition it was in, and the way you set it up, including installed programs, on the day you created the image.
When you use the manufacturer's Recovery Partition to restore your computer you will be back to the way it was when you first took it out of the box. For people like me this is less than helpful. So I make the Recovery Disks (good for when I sell the computer), then make a system image after I have it all set up the way I want it, and then delete that Recovery Partition.

An easier, modern, and more functional solution is to convert the hard drive from MBR to GPT. In the GPT format all the partitions are Primary, and you can have hundreds of them.

To create an Extended Partition in Windows 7:
http://www.sevenforums.com/tutorials/146694-partition-extended-logical-drives.html

To convert MBR to GPT:
http://www.sevenforums.com/tutorials/26193-convert-mbr-disk-gpt-disk.html
2 important things to note:

• In order to boot from a GPT disk your computer must be using the newer UEFI (Bios).
• In order to convert the disk you must backup all your data. Everything on the disk will be erased in the conversion. You will need to reinstall Windows 7 or you may be able to restore a disk image.

 

[Atom222]

Hi TVeblen,

Wow! That's a lot to digest for a newbie like me. First, before I go into the difficult parts, I'd like to understand why I need to delete the Recovery Partition. If I break up my existing D partition into a NEW D (shrunken) and an F, can't I made the new D (shrunken) a primary partition where I can install a another operating system. The F partition can be non-primary, right?

I agree that the Recovery Partition is not that useful and I have no qualms deleting it. I know that in case of serious problems it'd be better that I use software like Macrium Reflect to restore my system complete with all subsequently installed programs. However, I'm just curious why the NEW D partition can't be a primary one.

 

[TVeblen]

Currently you have 4 partitions, all Primary. When you create an Extended Partition it does not remove it from the equation. It is essentially still a Primary partition that can be subdivided into smaller Logical Drives (partitions). And any partition you create in that Extended Partition can only be a Logical Drive.

So if you had 3 Primary (System, Recovery, and C ) and 2 Logical (D & F) and you attempted to change a Logical Partition (D) to a Primary (assuming that option would even be available) then the system would see that as a 5th Primary and want to convert to Dynamic Disk.

By eliminating the Recovery Partition you free up one Primary Drive. You could then have 3 Primaries (System, C , D ) and one Extended Partition with just E, or with E, F, G, H, etc. D could be used for another OS.

Does that make sense?

 

[whs]

An operating system normally needs to be installed on a Primary Partition.

Sorry, I hate to correct you. But that is not true. Only the active partition has to be a primary partition - and that is the only one where that is required. I am running Windows 7 from logical partitions on several PCs because the bootmgr is in the active 100MB system partition.

 

[TVeblen]

Thanks whs! You are correct. My error.

The OP should take that new information in mind if he wants a new partition for another OS.

Do you know if that applies to newer versions of Ubuntu too?

 

[whs]

Ubuntu puts the Grub into the active partition that is present. If there is none present (like on an empty system), then, of course, you have to make one.

But since it is always a mess with the Grub mixed up with the Windows bootmgr, I run all my Linux distros in a VMware Player virtual partition. That is a lot neater. Example:

http://www.sevenforums.com/tutorials/278957-vmware-player-install-setup-zorin.html

But most of the time I am running Mint Mate now.

 

[Atom222]

Okay, after reading all the comments and suggestions (including the one from whs) I think my best option is to delete my current D partition as I don't have many files there at the moment. Then using the unallocated space I create an extended partition with D and F as logical partitions. This will allow me more flexibility in whatever I wish to do in the future. I hope I'm on the right track. By the way, E is taken up by my DVD player.

You have all been a great help. I think I now have a better understanding of all this mind-boggling partition stuff.

Thank you all.

 

[whs]

Looks like you are doing the right thing. Lots of luck.