windows hiding extra HD space?

[savannah996]

im trying to install ubuntu on my XP laptop from a cd.

it will run off the disk but when i try to instal the partition program says ther is no room left on my HD, because XP, and XP home edition are installed side by side and taking up all the room.

but i know this is false because i have 50 gigs of open space.

i am trying to load ubuntu beside XP. what can i do?

[KayakJim]

Did you go into each of the Windows installations and defrag them?

Is there actually 50gb of free space at the end of your drive or just 50gb of space that is free between your windows installations (e.g. 30gb free in one and 20gb free in the other)?

[savannah996]

ill try defrag.

but on the "partition" screen it shows only 8 meg of available space.
also, i can only acess one profile in windows and one operating system. i dont know why the "partition" screen shows 2 operating systems?

[audiomick]

could it perhaps be a recovery partition, or something like that?

[KayakJim]

ill try defrag.

but on the "partition" screen it shows only 8 meg of available space.
also, i can only acess one profile in windows and one operating system. i dont know why the "partition" screen shows 2 operating systems?

If you only have 8mb of space available then you have no available space for another partition. The only space you will have available will be any free space at the end of the last XP installation.

[KayakJim]

Also, Windows setup always leaves 8mb of unpartitioned space at the end of a drive.


Some space at the end of the disk is reserved by Setup in case you later want to upgrade the disk to a dynamic disk. Dynamic disk information is saved at the end of the disk. The amount that is reserved is a minimum of one cylinder, or 1MB, whichever is greater. One cylinder can be up to 8MB, depending on drive geometry and translation.