Partitioning a hard drive

[N4RPS]

Hello!

Anyone who wants to step in may explain all this in more detail. However, I believe that elsewhere in the forums, gold_finger has already documented this topic in exquisite detail, and I can't even begin to explain it as well as he does.

This is one of those times to choose the 'Something Else' option for your new LL install. 'Something Else' opens up GPartEd, used to let you delete partitions you no longer need to free up space for - and to create the partition for - the new LL partition...

73 DE N4RPS
Rob

[AZ]

I'm trying to reinstall LL on my hard drive after losing wifi after I installed the updates. When I go to install LL using the CD, I have the option to install LL alongside Windows XP. I already have LL installed alongside XP. I don't want two LL operating systems & XP installed. I want to reinstall LL over the existing LL. I believe, I have to delete one of the partitions (number 5) but it won't let me. Below are my partitions on my hard drive. Any help would be much appreciated. Thanks

AZ

linux@linux:~$ sudo parted -l
Model: ATA WDC WD600UE-22KV (scsi)
Disk /dev/sda: 60.0GB
Sector size (logical/physical): 512B/512B
Partition Table: msdos

Number  Start   End     Size    Type      File system     Flags
 1      32.3kB  47.3GB  47.3GB  primary   ntfs            boot
 2      47.3GB  60.0GB  12.7GB  extended
 5      47.3GB  58.5GB  11.3GB  logical   ext4
 6      58.5GB  60.0GB  1473MB  logical   linux-swap(v1)


Warning: Unable to open /dev/sr0 read-write (Read-only file system).  /dev/sr0
has been opened read-only.
Error: Invalid partition table - recursive partition on /dev/sr0.         
Ignore/Cancel?                                                           

[bitsnpcs]

Hello AZ,

some wifi driver issues have been solved in this section
https://www.linuxliteos.com/forums/index.php?board=13.0
can you check which card you have and if it is covered by any of the solutions.
If your card is not covered please make a separate thread there, and it will be noticed more easily.

[AZ]

I have a new problem today. Yesterday, after I installed LL on my hard drive, I was able to get on the internet. Today, I cannot get on the internet using a wireless connection. I can get on using a ethernet cable. When I move the cursor to the lower right corner of the screen and select connections, my computer does not see my wireless network. If I select edit under connections, I can see my network and I can edit the information. Any ideas. Thanks.

AZ

[gold_finger]

Yes, you can delete the Windows partition later and use whole disk for LL.  When/If you do that you can either merge the space with current LL partition, or make it into a separate data partition to hold all of your data files separate from the system files.  (Or you could do a fresh install and tell it to use whole disk.)  When the time comes for that make a new post if you need help with doing either of those things.

Glad everything worked out.

[AZ]

Thanks gold_finger.  I was able to install LL alongside Windows.  I was able to delete the second partition. I didn't need to unmount the partition. I have another question for you: If in the future, I want to remove Windows XP from my hard drive, can I do so, and can I use the whole hard drive for LL? Would I just delete the partitions, and if necessary unmount the partitions first? Thanks for all your help.

AZ

[gold_finger]

Number  Start   End     Size    Type     File system  Flags
 1      32.3kB  47.3GB  47.3GB  primary  ntfs         boot
 2      47.3GB  60.0GB  12.7GB  primary  fat32        lba

Screenshot did not work, but don't worry about that for now.

I'm assuming that the partition in red above is the one you're trying to install LL to.  You don't have a whole lot of room to install LL to, but it should be enough to get you going.  Just be careful not to try saving too many large files (eg. videos) there or it will fill up quickly.

*  Boot with your live LL CD

*  Open GParted again.

*  Right-click the second partition (/dev/sda2) and choose "Delete".  (If it won't let you, then you may have mounted the partition accidentally and you'll need to unmount it first.  Rt-click, choose "Unmount"; then rt-click and choose "Delete".)

*  Along top of GParted window, hit the "Apply" button to carry out the deletion (the arrow button under the word "Help").

*  Close GParted once that is done.

Now you should be able to run the installer and it should give you the option to install "Alongside Windows".

Let us know how it goes.


P.s.  If for some reason the above does not work, try again to post a screenshot of drive from GParted.  Once screenshot is taken, rename the file so it has a simpler name (like "gparted-1.png"), then follow instructions in link I referred to before for uploading it to an image storage site and entering the resulting link here in the forum.

[AZ]

Below is the output from the command: sudo parted -l

linux@linux:~$ sudo parted -l
Model: ATA WDC WD600UE-22KV (scsi)
Disk /dev/sda: 60.0GB
Sector size (logical/physical): 512B/512B
Partition Table: msdos

Number  Start   End     Size    Type     File system  Flags
 1      32.3kB  47.3GB  47.3GB  primary  ntfs         boot
 2      47.3GB  60.0GB  12.7GB  primary  fat32        lba


Warning: Unable to open /dev/sr0 read-write (Read-only file system).  /dev/sr0
has been opened read-only.
Error: Invalid partition table - recursive partition on /dev/sr0.         
Ignore/Cancel?

Below is the link to the screenshot from Gparted partitioning program.

/home/linux/Pictures/Screenshot - 10042014 - 12:20:48 PM.png

I'm not sure if you will be able to open the screenshot, I can. If you need more information please let me know. Thanks.

AZ

[gold_finger]

I'm trying to put LL on a Windows XP computer and I'm not given the option to install LL alongside XP.

That usually happens if your hard drive already has 4 primary partitions on it.  That's the limit, but we might be able to get around that depending on the situation.

Boot back up with your live LL CD, open a terminal and post back with the output from this command:

Code: [Select]

sudo parted -l(NOTE:  the command end with a lowercase letter "L", not the number 1.)

That will show the current partition structure on your drive and we can figure out how to proceed once we see those results.

Also, open up GParted partitioning program (Menu -> System -> Partition Drives) and take a screenshot of the drive when it loads into the GParted window.  To take a screenshot either hit <PrtScrn> on keyboard or go to Menu -> Accessories -> Screenshot.  Post that screenshot back here also.  Don't do anything else with GParted for now -- just close it out once you take the screenshot.

See this post for how to post the terminal output and screenshots to the forum:  https://www.linuxliteos.com/forums/index.php?topic=487.0

In meantime, while waiting for further replies you can do some preparation work.  Boot into Windows XP, open Disk Management and defragment the drive.  If we end up needing to shrink any partitions, defragmenting will need to be done first and will improve effectiveness of shrinking operation.

[rokytnji]

Might help. Might not. Edit: OOOoops. I did not know the video from youtube would imbed in the forum so I will edit link.
By the way. What are your computer specs?



Old howtos I used to do. I don't have my eeepcs no more though.

http://antix.freeforums.org/viewtopic.php?f=4&t=3104

Just posting a example in case someone wants to make a linux-lite one here.
Things like that made me a team member on a distro. So I bet Valtam would appreciate it also.
I am already spread pretty thin myself.

Code: [Select]

sudo fdisk -l (lower case L. not a one)

will also give members here a idea of what you are working with as far as hard drive size also.
Specs on gear will be a big help also. A link will do I should think.

[AZ]

I'm trying to put LL on a Windows XP computer and I'm not given the option to install LL alongside XP. I have approx. 10GB of free space. The help manual says I may need to partition my hard drive. I've never partitioned a hard drive and I could use some help. If someone could give me step by step instructions, I would appreciate it. Thanks.

AZ