Can't Resize my Hard Drive

Which release of GParted are you using? If it's the one included with ubuntu that won't work for resizing an MS partition. You will need one of the "platform independant" releases and burn that to a cd-r for shrikning the XP primary and creating the root and swap for Linux. On the thread there someone should have pointed that out as well as mentioning the amount of drive space being used currently.

For the 0.3.3.0 release of GParted go to http://sourceforge.net/project/showfiles.php?group_id=115843&package_id=173828

Since you mentioned having only 11gb of drive space used plan on see another 2-3gb left free for virtual memory for Windows even with the creation of the paging file disabled. Windows still needs that much free due to design. You won't need over 2gb for a swap partion and 8-10gb for the root where the main files go just to run the distro. With Linux even less.
 
I have a Live CD of GParted, I'm not sure what version, and I'll use that to partition my HD. How come the installed GParted in Ubuntu doesn't work with Windows? It's that the whole idea of putting GParted in the Live CD of Ubuntu? Here's how I'm going to partition my HD:

12 GB goes to Windows
2 GB goes to a Root Command
512 MB to a Swap Command
And rest goes to Ubuntu

Is that a good idea?
 
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You first have to remember that the Gnome Partition Editor is what? A Linux drive tool. It's rather fortunate that it's an open source OS and someone developed a cross platform type of tool for different partition types like as it happens MS Fat and NTFS with the independent platform releases. The last 0.3.3.0 version seen available does load much faster then the 0.2.8.1.1 and earlier releases. The version used with ubuntu is strictly Linux VFat there.
 
Thanks for the help PC eye. The version of GParted I have is 0.3.4-6 and I need some step-by-step instructions on how to resize my Windows partition and to make a new partition for Ubuntu. Thanks for your help.
 
It should look pretty much the same as far as the main gui seen. When you first reach that the first hard drive is seen listed if you look close enough where it will show the existing partitions on it.
(How did you get that start x auto graphical configuration working anyways?)

The resize button is seen along the top where the menu bar would be seen in IE or Windows Explorer. That will bring up a new screen where you will up and down tabs for before and after the partition you highlight. To really save time put the cursor on the vertical indicator tab and simply click and hold. You will then see what looks like clamps grabbing the slider tab where you can simply drag that to the left to reduce the size.

But! First know how much drive is actually being used and add more then 2gb on top of that to avoid the out of drive space errors. The space before the existing primary should show 0% there. The other up and down arrow keys can then be used to find the exact amount you want to leave for the Windows primary and then click the apply button and answer YES to the confirmation prompt that then comes up. Remember the XP scroll bar on the splash screen? GParted also has it's own seen when going to work.

Now that you then have the MS primary reduced in size after ssssseveralllll minutes(shrinking a partition does take some time. go for coffee!), You now will drive space now seen unallocated and ready for planning one or two(swap) Linux partitions. Base the swap upon the memory installed on the system. For 2gb or more that should be over 2gb. The root partition should be the large one since that is like C with Windows. The Linux sys files along with any others including downloads usually end up there. Of course you can always create a third extended VFat type for storing files too. But on a 40gb drive? Plan the drive space wisely.
 
Thanks for the help PC eye, but I can't seem to be able to resize my HD. Is there anything I have to do in Windows in order to be able to resize my HD. I only 8 MB of unallocated space, also there's a yellow sign with a black exclamation point on it next to my Windows partition.
 
XP doesn't have the ability to resize an existing partition. This is why the correct live for cd 0.3.3.0 version of GPared can take care of that fast. The yellow mark and black exclaimation isn't a good sign if the drive is seeing bad sectors. That would make that space inaccessible for any reason.

Vista now offers the capability of resizing existing partitions either by booting with the installation disk or in the Disk Management tool. There are a few retail drive partitioning softwares that allow resizing on one drive while Windows is loaded on the other. The version of GParted you have there simply is geared for Linux alone. I now it stinks since I've been waiting to see if a release of a newer platform independent version will be out some time. The 0.3.3.0 version loads far faster then the earlier ones.
 
PC eye said:
The version of GParted you have there simply is geared for Linux alone. I now it stinks since I've been waiting to see if a release of a newer platform independent version will be out some time. The 0.3.3.0 version loads far faster then the earlier ones.
Click to expand...

So are you I should use GParted version 0.3.3.0 because it's works better and is easier than the newer versions of GParted like the version I have, version 0.3.4-6?
 
I tried out the newer releases when deciding to put Mandriva on the second ide drive here before Vista was to see XP Pro moved to the first sata. A few newer releases with the "start x" wouldn't even load due to a need to mount something to a folder on the hard drive apparently and stalled. The versions that work on MS partitions are "platform independent" like I mentioned before. Others are strictly limited to Linux VFat maybe Solaris or OS X?
 
PC eye said:
The yellow mark and black exclaimation isn't a good sign if the drive is seeing bad sectors. That would make that space inaccessible for any reason.
Click to expand...

So does that mean that GParted won't work on my HD and/or my HD can't be resized and can't have a 2nd partition on it?
 
PC eye said:
A few newer releases with the "start x" wouldn't even load due to a need to mount something to a folder on the hard drive apparently and stalled.
Click to expand...

The Start x shows up on my 0.3.4-6 version of GParted.

Others are strictly limited to Linux VFat maybe Solaris or OS X?
Click to expand...

Is VFat a format, like NTFS, for Linux. Also if it seem there no hope of installing Linux on my desktop I may have found a better way of adding Linux. It's called Wubi and it just installs Ubuntu on to Windows and went you reboot your computer you can choose which OS you want to go to, just like Linux swap command.

Here's the link to Wubi main website:http://wubi-installer.org/

Here's the link to CNET TV were I find a video about Wubi (it's video #5 in the Tips and Tricks in the video tabs on the left of the website):http://www.cnettv.com/?tag=hd_ts

Please comment and tell me what you think about this Wubi program.

I still want to learn how adding Linux on a computer with Windows and being able to swap between the 2 OS's. Because in about 2-3 years, when my laptop gets old and I get a new laptop, I would like to be able to add Linux and use my old laptop from something else.
 
Windows 2000, XP, and Vista plus the upcoming Vienna run on an NTFS type of partition. Linux won't run on NTFS unless with some distro loaded with a virtual machine through a window. For dual booting you have to edit the boot menu.lst file and add an entry into the mbr. The problem there is you are trying to use a release only suited for Linux.

The 0.3.3.0 version is as mentioned before "platform independent" meaning that it can be used for Fat16+32 and NTFS type partitions as well as others like Solaris and OS X. These are all different OS platforms there. That's the live for cd version you need to resize the Windows partition there.

Wubi is a "cross breed" between MS and Linux there. This type of distro runs like a desktop app more then a separate OS requiring it's partitioning scheme unlike a full sized distro. And as far as "crapware" I wouldn't just remove it from the startup list of items but completely off of the system to start off with. The Sony model laptop was preloaded with a ton of CRAP alright on the preinstalled Vista there. :eek:! :P
 
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