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  1. 100 MB system-reserved (primary)
  2. 180 GB system (primary)
  3. 285 GB data (primary)


  1. 100 MB system-reserved (primary)
  2. 100 GB system (primary)
  3. 300 GB data (primary)
  4. 100 GB ubuntu (extended; contains boot, root, home and swap logical partitions)

Is this possible (and safe) to prepare my hard drive like that during the installation process? I know that you can resize partitions. But the built-in Windows 7 disk management tool for example cannot shrink my system partition (C:) to 100 GB, because it is not capable of moving files, which is necessary.

Thanks for your time.

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3 Answers 3

up vote 1 down vote accepted

I'm not sure if the Ubuntu installer itself is capable of doing this, but you can run GParted, which is always included in the Ubuntu disk. GParted is a good tool to use for resizing, moving and creating partitions.

Just boot Ubuntu from a CD or USB stick, choose "Try Ubuntu", and then open GParted.

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Thanks. That's a good idea! –  urbaindepuce Dec 26 '12 at 15:36

You haven't detailed your existing installations, but I am expecting that all 3 are windows partitions, so, essentially you want to "resize" the partitions and create new partitions.

I believe(not sure) it can be done, but it is dangerous preposition. I did something to resize my Ubuntu partition but lost grub in doing so. Here are the steps I would look into to start with.

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Hello. Yes, these are all Windows (NTFS) partitions. –  urbaindepuce Dec 26 '12 at 12:33
But thanks for the link. I think I will just use GParted to prepare my hard drive before installing Ubuntu. –  urbaindepuce Dec 26 '12 at 12:40

If you want to resize a logical partition (e.g. 285 GB data partition in your hard drive), you may as well use EaseUS Partition Master from within an existing Windows installation.

It proved to be very useful and easy for me when I was a newbie to Ubuntu.

Be sure to leave installation space that you set aside for Ubuntu as unallocated. On installation, Ubutu picks this space up by default and defines as ext3/ext4 file system.

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Why are you recommending Windows software when the live USB/DVD has GParted which can do the job. –  Warren Hill Nov 12 '13 at 8:16
Yes @WarrenHill I understand that we do not need to look at any Windows based software when we have an Ubuntu application to do just that. However, I have posted this since 1. I have followed this method when I did not have Ubuntu (I was installing it) 2. The problem statement seems to be very similar to my situation where Windows is an existing OS and Ubuntu is in the process of being installed. 3. I have read on this Forum that resizing NTFS partitions using GParted could render some issues leading to unstable / unbootable PC - which may require repair by Windows. –  Ninad Nov 13 '13 at 16:31

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