Im attempting to setup my Dell D505 to duel boot BackTrack 2 and Windows XP. The HD is 40gigs NTFS, the whole drive is being used by XP. I booted BackTrack from the live cd and used QTPARTNER to resize the partition to give BackTrack about 5gigs of space. Instead of creating extra space under /dev/hda1/ it created /dev/hdc/. I am unable to do anything with hdc using fdisk, it says that it's read only, is there a way to delete hdc or remerge it with hda1?

First, let's be clear about the semantics of device names: /dev/hda is a drive (#1), and /dev/hda1 is the first partition on that drive. /dev/hdc would refer to the 3rd drive on the system.

So, to make space for another OS, you would not "create extra space under /dev/hda1". You would first resize/ dev/hda1 and then create a new partition (eg /dev/hda2)

Please post the output of "fdisk -l". I have a hunch that /dev/hdc is one of your CD or DVD drives, and has nothing to do with your mission.

"QTPARTNER"??? Do you mean QtParted?

follow the link below (getting started) and there is an article about partitioning

/dev/hdc in linux is usually your CDrom or DVD drive. It doesn't have to be but that is what you find on most systems. That happens because the CD or DVD drives are usually installed first on the secondary IDE controller.

So, what is the hardware configuration of your system?

If you create free space, it doesn't show up until it is partitioned.

Have a look at your windoze partition size now. Has it shrunk by the amount of space you think you created? If yes, you should be good to go. If not, you need to take another run at shrinking the NTFS partition. BTW, back up your data first!

Yes qtparted, sorry im new to this. Ok so /dev/hdc is the cdrom I get that, and from what pixellany is saying I acually need to create freespace on hda1 and then take the free space and create /hda2 correct? I just got to work so ill have to try it later tonight, thanks for the clarification.

Yes, you need to create free space.

If you create a second primary partition, it would be know as hda2. If you create an extended partition, then it will be hda5. Linux can install to either type. Numbers 1 to 4 are reserved for primary partitions. Before you do anything more, look to see if you did shrink your NTFS partition. If you have, you can proceed to install.

Most installers have a partitioning and formatting tool included. You need to check the install doc for your distro first.

Some things to think about, and plan before you forge ahead. 5 gigs is not huge. I don't use your distro, so look to their forms to see how much space is minimum, and what is recommended.

I would suggest you use an extended partition, and create space for a '/' the root system. This is where the system files go, a swap partition, this doesn't need to be huge, it depends on the ram size you have. If you have 512 meg or more ram, a small swap will do, say 512 meg. If you have a smaller ram, then twice your ram size. You need to make a /home partition as well. This is where all the user files go.

This is a nice set up. When /home is on a different partition, you can upgrade the distro and not loose you user data. The swap partition will improve performance.

Just a suggestion, but I would set up say 1.5 gig for '/' ( the system ) 512 meg swap, and the remainder for /home. That would give you hda5, hda6 and hda7.

At a user level partitions are more or less transparent. not like winders where you have to do a d:\ to get to the second partition.

Hope this helps.

I hate to be nitpicky about the semantics, but it will help you in the long run.

You need to create free space on hda, not hda1---you do that by shrinking (resizing) hda1.

Once you have created empty (unpartitioned) space, you can then create the new partition.

SO i booted up and have qtparted open, I am resizing /dev/hda1 on /dev/hda. I want to resize it so I get 10gigs of freespace. I hit ok then it says Scanning all disk partitions, then after 2 or 3 mins says An error occured!
thats it! What do I do now?

Can we have the output of "fdisk -l" as requested earlier. you can do this in a terminal from live CD Linux or the installed version.

Also, tell us what QTParted thinks the partitions are, what exact command caused the error, etc.

Can we have the output of "fdisk -l" as requested earlier.
Disk /dev/hda: 30.0 GB 300005821440 bytes
255 heads, 63 secotrs/track, 3648 cylinders
Units= cylinders of 160658 + 512 = 8225280 bytes

Device Boot Start End Blocks Id System
/dev/hda1 * 1 3648 39302528+ 7 HPFS/NTFS



Also, tell us what QTParted thinks the partitions are, what exact command caused the error, etc.
1. umount /mnt/hda1/
2. qtparted
3. qtparted opens in a new window
4. resize 30gig ntfs partitiion to free up 10gigs of space
1. /dev/hda1 20 gig NTFS ACTIVE 2. /dev/hda1 10 gig FREE
5. click confirm
6. says scanning partitions with a progress bar
7. after 3 or 4 mins says "Error encountered sorry " sad face and all in red.
8. thats it, says have to run checkdisk /f and reboot TWICE if i try again.

Do what it says.
There is an error (structural inconsistency) in the NTFS parition, and ntfsresize will refuse to do anything until it has been corrected.
Has to be done from Windoze.

Once you've done that, try again.

How full is that NTFS partition?

Did you de-fragment the partition before attempting to re-size? (You would boot into Window to de-frag)

Finally, If the Windows install is more than ~ 1 year old and has been used a lot, I would simply re-install. I have no hard facts, but by own experience supports the folklore that Windows installations simply "go bad" after a while. More than one corresponded has recommended re-installing once per year.

Another thing to think about: 30GB = old = risk of failure. Consider getting a new (larger) drive.

OK Ive just done that, exact same error. Im going to try defraging in windows then try again.

Likely won't help.
When I have found uncorrectable errors, I leave the partition alone, and go elsewhere; maybe another disk.

If I was feeling really game, I might use ntfsclone, reformat, and restore.
However I've never been that game.

Hey I got it to work! Just freed up 5 more gigs on my hd then created a 10gig partition successfully! Thanks all!