I got a new laptop today (yay) with windows 7 on it. I want to keep a small windows partition, just in case I need it for something. Anyway, I know how to use fdisk, and am comfortable installing on a disk without data I need to maintain.. but this new computer came with 5 (!) windows partitions. I don't know where to start.

I don't mind reinstalling windows after partitioning if I have to, but I really don't want to screw up the recovery partition. Any clues on where to start or what to look for? Or what NOT to do?

It looks like "my computer" has two partitions listed (c: and d: ). I guess I could just take note of the size of these two partitions, free up the partitions that match in fdisk, then repartition that space and install everything. Any reason that might not work?

I realize now that the output from fdisk would probably be helpful. I need to reboot to do that, so I'll edit with the information when I have it.

fdisk output:

Even if you don't repartition, I would recommend making an image of that recovery partition. (Using your choice of software... o&o diskimage, ghost, etc - even the free maxtor maxblast has some form of an image option). Even if you burn the image(s) to DVD and hide them in a safe box somewhere, you never know when they'll come in handy.

On the last 2 laptops I bought, I did exactly that, and in both cases I have used the "images" I made when I got the laptops to restore things that got messed up. I made one of the images before even booting that laptop to windows for the first time.

There are also certain bootable "rescue disks" (or live OS's) that have "Partition Editor" on them, which I think uses gparted or similar to let you resize partitions. You don't specifically have to use wipe and re-create those windows partitions - you might get away with resizing them instead.

(But again, I'd recommend that you make some kind of clone so you can recover 100% of the partions, including the MBR and other hidden data on that drive.)

I'll throw in my experience. I bought a Toshiba (the one in my sig) and it came with Vista on it with the whole recovery partition and some others. I knew right away I wanted at least Zenwalk and Ubuntu on it, as well as Vista.

Mine came with the option to burn recovery DVDs, and that's what I did. I had a Rocker's Team version of Vista I wanted to put on, in addition to the two Linux OSs. I'm at the point now where I just run Slackware and Ubuntu, but barely touch the Ubuntu partition. I still have those recovery DVDs if I need them too.

One more thing. I had originally purchased a Toshiba that did not play nicely with Linux. I burned the DVDs before I did anything, so once I installed Linux and it didn't work, I just ran the recovery DVDs and brought it back to Best Buy. They wanted to know what my problem was because it "appeared" I hadn't even used it.

I say burn the DVDs then partition it the way you want. Hell be damned!

Good luck,
Scott

Oh, good idea. I added my fdisk output above.. any idea which might be the recovery partition? Maybe I should just make images of all 5.

I've never made disk images before.. dd should do the trick, no? And it's best to do each partition separately, rather than the whole disk in one go, right?

Also, I can just put the images on a usb drive, right? ie, there is no reason I have to burn them to a CD?

Yeah, good call. I should probably do that.

But for some reason I was under the impression that the recovery CDs windows makes simply "roll back" the system to a previous state.. and use the recovery partition to reinstall. Maybe it varies...

But more importantly, burning CDs takes time, I don't think I have any CDs anyway, and I just want to play with my new toy

Understand. They're always fun to play with when they're new.

The recovery DVDs, at least the ones I'm use to, will reinstall to factory defaults. Just like it came off the shelf. I had burned them, run GPartEd to set up all my partitions, and began installing. RT Vista on sda1, Zenwalk on sda2, Ubuntu on sda3, /swap on sda5, /home on sda6. I had graphic issues with the first laptop and this arrangement, so I ran the recovery discs and brought it back. It was like brand spanking new.

Scott

That's pretty ugly - you'll probably also want to keep the diag partition (a primary) at the end of the disk. The obvious place to steal some space is sda2. But if you do that you'll have to grow the extended "down". Then adding logicals may change partition numbers. Not sure how Windoze will react to that.
If you pinch some space from sda6, you avoid that, but may not have much to spare. Depends how much you need - use the Win7 disk manager to shrink it. Gparted liveCD is my favourite for general partitioning.

Yes, very much so. And I just noticed that two of the partitions (3 & 5) cover the same sectors. What's up with that? This is so bizarre. I might just make images just in case and scrap the whole thing.

Ideally I'd scrap it all, repartition it the way I want, then reinstall windoze. But I can't do that without a windoze install disk. I should ask around and see if I can fine one.. I have the product key, so it (theoretically) shouldn't be a problem.

I assume you mean sda4.. why do I want that at the end of the disk?

I've only used fdisk, which doesn't seem to have a high-level option to resize. If I delete a partition, then create a new, smaller, one in its place, does that accomplish resizing in fdisk?

sda3 is an extended partition - a container for logical partitions. I suggest you go look for a presentation on partitions and partition table - you need to understand how primary, extended and logical partitions differ before you start screwing around.

The diags may be invoked by a "secret" key combination - it'll probably be looking for that partition. And it might need to be right where it is. Who knows. It's at the highest numbered cylinders - the "end" of the disk (partitions are not in order).

Don't use fdisk to make partitions smaller unless you know how to make the filesystems the requisite size *first*. Use gparted as suggested, it'll handle things for you.

I'm not sure what manufacturer you went with, but most will sent you the recovery CDs/DVDs if you call and ask them. They might charge you ~$10 or so. It's worth a shot. I always make a point of getting all of the recovery disks when getting a new laptop, even though every manufacturer now loves these stupid recovery partitions.

Thanks, yeah good call. Clearly I need to learn more about partitioning!

Yeah they are stupid. What happens if your hard drive dies?? I went with lenovo... I think I'll do exactly what you suggest, because I really don't want my drive partitioned like this. I'd rather put windoze where I want it. After all, I have the product key and that's what you pay for when you buy windoze. I should even be able to use someone else's CD.

Thanks!