Scheduled Maintenance: We are aware of an issue with Google, AOL, and Yahoo services as email providers which are blocking new registrations. We are trying to fix the issue and we have several internal and external support tickets in process to resolve the issue. Please see: viewtopic.php?t=158230

 

 

 

Partioning not Possible

Ask for help with issues regarding the Installations of the Debian O/S.
Post Reply
Message
Author
Hennmann
Posts: 7
Joined: 2018-12-10 00:04

Partioning not Possible

#1 Post by Hennmann »

I have an Acer Aspire One 533 with a Western Didgital 1 TB SSD currently running Win7Pro 64
The SSD currently has:
1 FAT32 13.01 Gb Recovery Partition (set up originally by Acer to reinstall or repair Windows due to lack of DVD drive)
1 NTFS 375gb empty partition
1 NTFS 302gb empty partition

1 NTFS 245gb Windows Win7/64 Pro partition consisting of:
1 NTFS 100.3 Mb System Partition (basically Windows Boot Partition)
1 NTFS 992.50 Kib System Reserved
1 NTFS 243.95Gib Main Windows 7 Partition

NOW given that this is a 1 TB drive with considerable room for this modest Acer Netbook and NOT a 10, 20, 0r 30 GB like on my older Laptops I wanted
a separate 375 GB partition for storage of files
a separate 300 (give or take) partition to install a Linux OS

In Ubuntu 18.0.4.1, Lubuntu 18.10, and Debian 9.4.6.0 AMD64, GParted, KDE Partition Manager see the two empty partitions as 674.36 unallocated
In Windows Management This hard drive is Recognized as having the usual slew of Windows Partitions set up during installation AND my 2 partitions formatted and set up as NTFS

When I try to install Debian, Ubuntu, Lubuntu, the partitioning tools such as KDE Partition Manager, GParted quite simply SNIVEL that I have the maximum amount of partitions and simply will not allow me to set up the 2 partitions I wanted in the first place, the NTFS empty storage partition and the partition for Linux! Now I look at 674.36 just simply sitting there being declared unallocated.

What do I have to do to resolve this situation? Deleting the Windows partition with all of it's system partitions quite simply isn't an option as I want dual boot and at the present time I have no intentions of deleting the OEM recovery partition.
When I replaced the slow mechanical hard drive with the new solid state drive I used the cloning software to properly transfer over the Acer recovery partition and all of it's bootable contents so it would perform as it originally did. Until I fully understand, accept, and fully use Linux of whatever flavor I decide in and only have Linux on the hard drive, then I will pull the plug on Windows.

User avatar
bw123
Posts: 4015
Joined: 2011-05-09 06:02
Has thanked: 1 time
Been thanked: 28 times

Re: Partioning not Possible

#2 Post by bw123 »

A DOS partition table can only have 4 primary partitions. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Master_boot_record
I am guessing you have your disk setup with this type of layout, three primary partitions and an extended partition containing logical partitions? That equals four, so you can't create another primary partition. All of the space in your extended partition is allocated, so you can't create a new one there either.

It is not a linux issue, it's the way the standard was designed and reimplemented later. Windows has a bad habit from about Win95-Win2K of using two primaries, and the vendors often used one for drivers/utilities/recovery, etc., so you are hemmed in with wasted space like this.

On MBR disk it might be better to use only one primary partition, and one extended partition containing all the rest of the space and partitions.

Since you did not include the output of one of the partition tools showing the layout (in code tags), nobody will know for sure.

There are a lot of good links on the internet about partitioning, so maybe looking up some of them will help you understand.

http://pcguide.com/ref/hdd/file/structPartitions-c.html

Have you tried to delete the two empty (primary?) partitions and recreate as ext4 and swap for linux in that space?

That "FAT32 13.01 Gb Recovery Partition" is likely a waste anyway, using it will probably destroy the entire disk structure and everything on it and put things back to some halfassed windows install with a lot of crapware. You're finding out about one of the problems with dos/windows that linux can overcome. Before going to a lot more trouble trying to hold on to old ideas, do some more reading.
resigned by AI ChatGPT

Hennmann
Posts: 7
Joined: 2018-12-10 00:04

Re: Partioning not Possible

#3 Post by Hennmann »

Let me shed a bit more light on the situation.
This pathetic little Acer originally had Win7 Starter on the 250 Gb drive. Ripped it out along with the sick joke of 1gb of RAM making an already enemic version of Widoze struggle like a two legged dog. I stuck in a stick of 2gb, this 1Tb SSD, reinstalled 7 Starter Edition and also setup 3 partitions, one for 7, one for 10 and one for Linux. When I installed 10 it overwrote the 7 boot manager and provided a Win 10 boot manager giving me the option of either/or. Win7 starter became like a 3.5 legged dog after the RAM and SSD meanwhile Win 10 was like a 2 legged dog with a broken leg. Along comes Ubuntu so I figured lets install on the 3rd partition. No sniveling about more than 4 partitions, allowed me to set up /,/home, swap (yes swap, don't forget pathetic amount of RAM!). It left everything intact including my new partition scheme for Ub and I selected the 134 meg Win 10 partition for the Grub boot manager and rebooted. Now we are greeted with a Grub menu with everything looking like it should but Win7&10 would not boot. Well what the heck so I ripped out 10, reinstalled 7 as Win 7Pro/64 and partitioned the 1Tb as it was with an empty NTSF and a third NTFS for Linux with the above said problem. Should I have partitioned and formatted as Fat32? Most info I read mentioned NTFS works fine for both Win and Lin to access??? Is this the " fly in the ointment" why things are not working? It puzzles me that even though Win 7 sees 3 NTFS partitions Linux sees one with the Windows setup(system reserved etc. ) and my two partitions are now recognized as a lump sum of allocated not formatable or able to be partitioned. This is the before and after and the only difference being Win 7 Starter 32 swapped out for 7/64 Pro and Win 10 ripped out by the roots. As for the recovery partition, it is like a 7 Starter edition except with Crapware IE Norton, McCrappy, and a trial version of Microshaft Office BUT it lets you choose what partition to install in, format, create, like before with drivers as well. I can still remove format, whatever being a fresh install to start over except without 10.

Hennmann
Posts: 7
Joined: 2018-12-10 00:04

Re: Partioning not Possible

#4 Post by Hennmann »

I started reading the link and if memory serves I may have tweaked the sizes using the Win7 pro partitioning tool instead of the cloning software in the first setup?? Perhaps this is why Linux is angrily seeing it as four?? My experimenting when rejected was using the "Manager" tool in Windows ( right click on Computer icon, select manager) to check and format partitions when KDE and GParted wouldn't. I can if required delete all but the recovery (for now) set up 3 (plus recovery) and start over leaving these 3 partitions alone and try again. Suggestions before this shotgun approach and while I read the link?

User avatar
dilberts_left_nut
Administrator
Administrator
Posts: 5346
Joined: 2009-10-05 07:54
Location: enzed
Has thanked: 12 times
Been thanked: 66 times

Re: Partioning not Possible

#5 Post by dilberts_left_nut »

Post evidence, not anecdotes about dogs.
AdrianTM wrote:There's no hacker in my grandma...

User avatar
bw123
Posts: 4015
Joined: 2011-05-09 06:02
Has thanked: 1 time
Been thanked: 28 times

Re: Partioning not Possible

#6 Post by bw123 »

GUID partition table IMO simplifies things like this, but it might not be compatible with your recovery thing, or your current OEM install(s) of windows. There are a lot of links on the net about it, and how it differs from MBR. https://duckduckgo.com/html/?q=guid+partition

If you want to stubbornly hold onto the windows partition arrangement, then a windows forum would be the better place to figure out the windows partition tools. You need to find a way to get some space for ext4 and a swap partition. Many linux tools still recommend using windows tools to manage windows partitions.

p.s. Also, make sure the windows vers you are using support/enable TRIM for your new ssd.
resigned by AI ChatGPT

Segfault
Posts: 993
Joined: 2005-09-24 12:24
Has thanked: 5 times
Been thanked: 17 times

Re: Partioning not Possible

#7 Post by Segfault »

Not sure what is going on here, is our OP trying to install Linux in a NTFS filesystem and calls it partition? Filesystem and partition are not the same thing. Although some GUI tools may leave such an impression. Just don't use GUI tools.

p.H
Global Moderator
Global Moderator
Posts: 3049
Joined: 2017-09-17 07:12
Has thanked: 5 times
Been thanked: 132 times

Re: Partioning not Possible

#8 Post by p.H »

Yes, evidence better than stories.
Please post the exact output of "fdisk -l" from any Linux shell you can get. The Debian installer has one.

Post Reply