sTIMPZ Posted April 7, 2008 Share Posted April 7, 2008 About 4 or 5 months ago and on a different computer I had tried installing Ubuntu but had a ton of complications for reasons that I was never able to figure out. I'd like to take another shot at getting this to work but now on my laptop I am unable to edit the size of my XP partition, which is currently taking up my entire HDD. I was able to edit the size of my XP partition over a year ago without any issues whatsoever on my PC (the computer I originally tried Linux on) so I don't quite understand why I'd be having issues with this now. Anyone have any clue why I can't edit this partition? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Foub Posted April 7, 2008 Share Posted April 7, 2008 About 4 or 5 months ago and on a different computer I had tried installing Ubuntu but had a ton of complications for reasons that I was never able to figure out. I'd like to take another shot at getting this to work but now on my laptop I am unable to edit the size of my XP partition, which is currently taking up my entire HDD. I was able to edit the size of my XP partition over a year ago without any issues whatsoever on my PC (the computer I originally tried Linux on) so I don't quite understand why I'd be having issues with this now.Anyone have any clue why I can't edit this partition? Ubuntu's built in partition manager should be able to help at installation time. Just edit it manually instead of guided. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
sTIMPZ Posted April 7, 2008 Author Share Posted April 7, 2008 I should add that I tried that. My only option seems to be to wipe the entire XP partition clean which I'd really rather not have to do in order to re-size it, but if that's all it comes down to I might just have to. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Borbus Posted April 7, 2008 Share Posted April 7, 2008 How big is the partition? It takes a long, long time to resize partitions... It's probably quicker to delete Windows and start again, just leave unallocated space when you reinstall Windows. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
sTIMPZ Posted April 7, 2008 Author Share Posted April 7, 2008 90 GB...I just want to shave about 5 GB off or so Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
michaelof36 Posted April 7, 2008 Share Posted April 7, 2008 During my windows hating phase I learned that a program called Paragon Partition Manager works wonders. It saved from screwing up my table of contents on my hard drive many times. I highly recommend it to anyone new jumping into linux especially dual booting. Edit: Did I mention its fast, I have a 320gb hdd and partitioned it into 3 slices took about 20min (1st windows, 2nd linux, 3rd swap) Mike Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
markwolfe Veteran Posted April 7, 2008 Veteran Share Posted April 7, 2008 Perhaps your drive is overly full, or important file data is scattered throughout? Or there are filesystem errors that prevent safely resizing. Do a scandisk. Then defrag. Then try to see if Ubuntu allows you to resize it down a bit from there. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
sTIMPZ Posted April 7, 2008 Author Share Posted April 7, 2008 Well I'm not quite sure what the problem was, but it all seems to be okay now. I was able to install Linux without issues this time. Thanks for the help! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Matthew S. Posted April 7, 2008 Share Posted April 7, 2008 Maybe the Windows Partition was in use (eg mounted...)... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
sTIMPZ Posted April 7, 2008 Author Share Posted April 7, 2008 Maybe the Windows Partition was in use (eg mounted...)... That actually makes sense because I had browsed through the files on it prior to trying to install... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Matthew S. Posted April 7, 2008 Share Posted April 7, 2008 It's always the simplest of solutions lol I've had that problem so many times when I install Ubuntu so it's kinda my first thing to look at when Parted fails... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Foub Posted April 7, 2008 Share Posted April 7, 2008 During my windows hating phase I learned that a program called Paragon Partition Manager works wonders. It saved from screwing up my table of contents on my hard drive many times. I highly recommend it to anyone new jumping into linux especially dual booting.Edit: Did I mention its fast, I have a 320gb hdd and partitioned it into 3 slices took about 20min (1st windows, 2nd linux, 3rd swap) Mike I've used that util as well. It includes many different format methods. Perhaps your drive is overly full, or important file data is scattered throughout? Or there are filesystem errors that prevent safely resizing.Do a scandisk. Then defrag. Then try to see if Ubuntu allows you to resize it down a bit from there. You're right. I've used the Paragon Partition Manager so much that I'd forgotten that one should defrag before trying to create another partition. __________________________________________________ If you run the LIVECD version of PPM you don't have to worry about the partitions being mounted either. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
markwolfe Veteran Posted April 7, 2008 Veteran Share Posted April 7, 2008 You're right. I've used the Paragon Partition Manager so much that I'd forgotten that one should defrag before trying to create another partition.Heck, I spaced out and overlooked that the partition may have been mounted because of the user browsing. :pinch:Seems that g/qtparted could put in a little prompt if the user attempts operations on a mounted partition. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Matthew S. Posted April 7, 2008 Share Posted April 7, 2008 Seems that g/qtparted could put in a little prompt if the user attempts operations on a mounted partition. But wouldn't that make the program user friendly? No, no we can't have that! (This is exactly the mindset of the guy who introduced me to *nix.) They think the locked icon on a partition is enough warning that it is active/mounted... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Elv13 Posted April 8, 2008 Share Posted April 8, 2008 If nothing work, there is acronis under windows (not free...). I use gparted, but sometime drive are locked, it is the case on some dell PC. Normally, acronis is able to resize them. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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