First Step Installing Linux on Inspiron 1525 with Vista

[sudeep.makku]

Hii
I have Inspiron 1525

First I m having problem in doing partion to install Linux.
My computer comes with 4 partitions
177MB EISA
99 GB C
10 GB Recovery
2.5 Hidden ( I suppose for Dell Media Direct)

Could you please tell me the step wise procedure.....
As dell Vista does not allow more than 4 partition, which one I should delete....

Reply me urgently

[Hoary]

Surely you don't want to delete whatever's used for C.

I don't know what "Recovery" could mean. Whatever kind of "recovery" it refers to, surely it's a "recovery" that assumes that this partition and perhaps more of the hard drive is healthy. That strikes me as an odd assumption to make when planning for a recovery.

I suggest that you use CloneZilla to back up the entire hard drive. You'll then be able to recover it from the image that CloneZilla has made. Then do away with the "Recovery" partition.

But before doing this, wait till you get a reply from somebody who actually knows what "Recovery" is for.

[sudeep.makku]

Thank You...But I hope there would be many who have dual boot on dell inspiron 1525.....could anyone tell me what they have done.

[mangurt]

The recovery drive is the drive that has the vista image in case you have to do a complete recovery of your computer (virus or some major screw-up). I don't know how much you want to play around with deleting partitions, you should be able to create a partition on the main C: drive and install from there. Vista will not be able to read those partitions.

[Crafty Kisses]

These are the options you have as far as I can tell, but to clarify this, I'd like you to go into the Live-CD and run the following so I can just make sure and tell you what you're best options are, but anyway open up a Terminal and run the following commands:
sudo fdisk -l
sudo fdisk -lu
From the looks of it right now, you have the options of shrinking C, but you only have 99 gigs, so that's not that much. Depending on how much of that 99 gigs you're using it you can probably run Ubuntu comfortably at 20 gigs depending on what you're going to do with it. The second option is just using your recovery partition and installing Ubuntu on that, not sure if you want to do that though.

[Hoary]

The recovery drive is the drive that has the vista image in case you have to do a complete recovery of your computer (virus or some major screw-up).

Malware that considerately refrained from screwing up this partition. Er, this is not something I'd want to rely on.

I don't know how much you want to play around with deleting partitions, you should be able to create a partition on the main C: drive and install from there.

No, if this drive has four partitions, then that's all it can have.

[sudeep.makku]

I agree to you all, But How could I create some more partitions as Vista is only allowing 4 partitions which I already have.....How further I could create

[Gausian]

shrink your main partition in vista with the built in tool. then use the ubuntu install cd to install on that empty, unallocated space.

vista wont even know that the partition is there since it cant recognize linux partitions.

[sudeep.makku]

shrink your main partition in vista with the built in tool. then use the ubuntu install cd to install on that empty, unallocated space.

vista wont even know that the partition is there since it cant recognize linux partitions.
Thank You Gausian
But Vista is not allowing more than 4 partitioms and it already contains 4 partitions as i mentioned earlier..........Now what I should delete........Do I need to make Logical partitions......How?

[Gausian]

is vista not allowing you to shrink and the 99gb partition?

[sudeep.makku]

My computer comes with 4 partitions
177MB EISA
99 GB C
10 GB Recovery
2.5 Hidden ( I suppose for Dell Media Direct)

So although it is allowing C drive to Shrink but not allowing to create a new Volume.

[sudeep.makku]

is vista not allowing you to shrink and the 99gb partition?
My computer comes with 4 partitions
177MB EISA
99 GB C
10 GB Recovery
2.5 Hidden ( I suppose for Dell Media Direct)

So although it is allowing C drive to Shrink but not allowing to create a new Volume.
http://ubuntuforums.org/images/misc/progress.gif

[Gausian]

shrink the volume in vista and use the unbuntu install cd to create the new partition as per my original post.

in other words, leave the space created by shrinking empty and let gparted do the volume creating.

after installing ubuntu on the freed space, vista will not see the newly created partition. it will still think you have only 4 partitions.

[sudeep.makku]

Ok Thank You...I will try this and will see if it works..and will reply you

[sudeep.makku]

shrink the volume in vista and use the unbuntu install cd to create the new partition as per my original post.

in other words, leave the space created by shrinking empty and let gparted do the volume creating.

after installing ubuntu on the freed space, vista will not see the newly created partition. it will still think you have only 4 partitions.
Ok Thank You...I will try this and will see if it works..and will reply you

[luvr]

You can shrink the "C:" partition all you want, but, as you have already pointed out, you won't be able to create an additional partition, since you already have four--which is the maximum number of partitions on a PC disk drive.

If I were you, I would zap the Recovery and Hidden partitions (in addition to, perhaps, shrinking "C:"), and install Ubuntu on the space that you free up.

(Well, if I really were you, I would delete all current partitions, and forget about Vista--but, then, I'm not you, am I?)

If you want to make sure that you can keep using Vista, then it is a good idea to create an image backup of your disk before you start, though.

[Gausian]

i think the 4 partition limit is for primary partitions only, which i'm pretty sure the dell partitions are not.

[sudeep.makku]

i think the 4 partition limit is for primary partitions only, which i'm pretty sure the dell partitions are not.
Yes these are 4 primary partitions only..........Now what should I do to install ubuntu.........do i need to delete one partition or i need to make some other sort of partitions

[luvr]

do i need to delete one partition or i need to make some other sort of partitions
Would you mind running the commands that Codename mentioned above, (http://ubuntuforums.org/showpost.php?p=7324312&postcount=5) and post the output here? That's really the only way for us to be sure what types of partitions you currently have, and whether or not you could create more of them without having to delete any of the existing ones.