1 Topic by guy13

  • guy13
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  • Registered: 2011-09-16
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Topic: Partitioning for dual boot

Hi all,
I recently bought a new Toshiba laptop on which I want to install a dual boot (Windows 7 + Sabayon).
Partitioning was as follows (after installing some photo software...):
1. a nameless volume with no file system; status: "Active, Recovery Partition"; capacity: 400MB; 100% free
2. Data D; NTFS; status: "Primary Partition"; capacity: 349,08GB; 97% free
3. Windows C; NTFS; status: "Boot, Page File, Crash Dump, Primary Partition"; capacity: 349,16GB; 88% free

I wiped the HDD yesterday and reinstalled Windows 7 in order to create partitions to my liking, only to find that the install went ahead without offering any choice and resulting in an identical setup. So I deleted the D: and shrunk the C: to 100GB but now I'm stuck with the 'nameless' 400MB Q: on sda1 which looks like a bit of a nuisance to me.

My question is: can I use GParted from a live disk to delete the Q: (or move it to an extended partition) and then turn sda2 (the windows C:) into my new sda1. Or can I create sda1 when sda2 already exists (in which case I could leave the 400MB unused)?

Any suggestions are welcome. Thanks in advance.

2 Reply by gedakc

  • gedakc
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Re: Partitioning for dual boot

Before deleting your "Q:" partition, I highly recommend that you look into the boot process for Windows.  Most likely the "Q:" partition is a recovery partition, and it might also be used in the process to boot up Windows 7.

Also, Windows should be find booting from sda2.  There is no need to move it to sda1.

3 Reply by guy13

  • guy13
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Re: Partitioning for dual boot

Thx. Unfortunately I didn't have the patience to wait for your reply so I already found out that deleting this Q: partition was not a good idea... It rendered my system unbootable so I went through the whole install procedure again.
This time I think I'll leave sda1 untouched...