Planning Repartition and Reinstall - Will GRUB Complain?

[LucidForm]

Hello,
I've been happily running Lucid Lynx for a few weeks in a dual boot setup with Win7. I unfortunately gave the /root partition too little space when installing, however, and have been considering deleting the partition and doing the install process over again (perhaps moving up to Maverick).

I plan to use the Win7 partition manager to delete the Ubuntu partitions. Will GRUB will allow me to boot the computer afterwards? Also, will GRUB be set up properly after I reinstall Ubuntu into the new and larger partition?

Thanks for your help!

[LucidForm]

Some help would be appreciated :roll:

[dino99]

the good idea is:
with winblows, use the winblows tools
with ubuntu, use the ubuntu/linux tools

but i think you dont need to start from scratch, if your / need more room, simply boot on partedmagic to modify the partition (expand)

http://partedmagic.com/

usually you need:
- / about 12 gb with ext4
- swap: 2 gb
- /home: unlimited space with ext4

[kansasnoob]

I plan to use the Win7 partition manager to delete the Ubuntu partitions. Will GRUB will allow me to boot the computer afterwards?

No, after deleting Ubuntu, Windows will not boot until you've either reinstalled Ubuntu or recovered the Windows mbr.

Dino99 is correct about using Windows own partitioning tools for Win7 and Vista partitions and Ubnutu's own tools for Linux partitions.

The Ubuntu Live CD/USB has Gparted (aka: Partition Editor) installed by default, it's in System > Administration.

It would be helpful to us if we had an idea what your partitioning arrangement looks like. You could begin by looking at, or posting, the output of:


sudo fdisk -l

As you can see in the example below it lists drive and partition designations, sizes, etc:


lance@lance-desktop:~$ sudo fdisk -l
[sudo] password for lance:

Disk /dev/sdb: 80.0 GB, 80026361856 bytes
255 heads, 63 sectors/track, 9729 cylinders
Units = cylinders of 16065 * 512 = 8225280 bytes
Sector size (logical/physical): 512 bytes / 512 bytes
I/O size (minimum/optimal): 512 bytes / 512 bytes
Disk identifier: 0x00054359

Device Boot Start End Blocks Id System
/dev/sdb1 * 1 1396 11205632 83 Linux
/dev/sdb2 1396 2796 11246592 83 Linux
/dev/sdb3 2796 4835 16380847 83 Linux
/dev/sdb4 4835 9730 39316481 5 Extended
/dev/sdb5 6818 9450 21147648 83 Linux
/dev/sdb6 9450 9730 2243584 82 Linux swap / Solaris
/dev/sdb7 4835 6729 15209472 83 Linux
/dev/sdb8 6729 6817 712704 82 Linux swap / Solaris

Partition table entries are not in disk order

Disk /dev/sda: 500.1 GB, 500107862016 bytes
255 heads, 63 sectors/track, 60801 cylinders
Units = cylinders of 16065 * 512 = 8225280 bytes
Sector size (logical/physical): 512 bytes / 512 bytes
I/O size (minimum/optimal): 512 bytes / 512 bytes
Disk identifier: 0x000a6391

Device Boot Start End Blocks Id System
/dev/sda1 * 1 2610 20964793+ 83 Linux
/dev/sda2 2611 5219 20956792+ 83 Linux
/dev/sda3 5220 18363 105579180 83 Linux
/dev/sda4 18364 60801 340883173 5 Extended
/dev/sda5 39292 45992 53825751 83 Linux
/dev/sda6 45993 52514 52387933+ 83 Linux
/dev/sda7 52515 59192 53641003+ 83 Linux
/dev/sda8 59193 60495 10466316 83 Linux
/dev/sda9 60496 60801 2457913+ 82 Linux swap / Solaris
/dev/sda10 36642 39291 21286093+ 83 Linux
/dev/sda11 33998 36641 21237898+ 83 Linux
/dev/sda12 31366 33997 21141508+ 83 Linux
/dev/sda13 28691 31365 21486906 83 Linux
/dev/sda14 18364 20924 20571169+ 83 Linux
/dev/sda15 20925 23487 20587266 83 Linux
/dev/sda16 23488 26089 20900533+ 83 Linux
/dev/sda17 26090 28690 20892501 83 Linux

Partition table entries are not in disk order


You'll notice that I highlighted my two drive designations, and at the end it says, "Partition table entries are not in disk order". Because of that I like to use "sudo parted <device> print" such as the example below:


lance@lance-desktop:~$ sudo parted /dev/sda print
Model: ATA WDC WD5000AAKS-0 (scsi)
Disk /dev/sda: 500GB
Sector size (logical/physical): 512B/512B
Partition Table: msdos

Number Start End Size Type File system Flags
1 32.3kB 21.5GB 21.5GB primary ext3 boot
2 21.5GB 42.9GB 21.5GB primary ext3
3 42.9GB 151GB 108GB primary ext3
4 151GB 500GB 349GB extended
14 151GB 172GB 21.1GB logical ext4
15 172GB 193GB 21.1GB logical ext4
16 193GB 215GB 21.4GB logical ext4
17 215GB 236GB 21.4GB logical ext4
13 236GB 258GB 22.0GB logical ext4
12 258GB 280GB 21.6GB logical ext3
11 280GB 301GB 21.7GB logical ext3
10 301GB 323GB 21.8GB logical ext3
5 323GB 378GB 55.1GB logical ext3
6 378GB 432GB 53.6GB logical ext3
7 432GB 487GB 54.9GB logical ext3
8 487GB 498GB 10.7GB logical ext3
9 498GB 500GB 2517MB logical linux-swap(v1)

lance@lance-desktop:~$ sudo parted /dev/sdb print
Model: ATA WDC WD800JB-00JJ (scsi)
Disk /dev/sdb: 80.0GB
Sector size (logical/physical): 512B/512B
Partition Table: msdos

Number Start End Size Type File system Flags
1 1049kB 11.5GB 11.5GB primary ext4 boot
2 11.5GB 23.0GB 11.5GB primary ext4
3 23.0GB 39.8GB 16.8GB primary ext4
4 39.8GB 80.0GB 40.3GB extended
7 39.8GB 55.3GB 15.6GB logical ext4
8 55.3GB 56.1GB 730MB logical linux-swap(v1)
5 56.1GB 77.7GB 21.7GB logical ext4
6 77.7GB 80.0GB 2297MB logical linux-swap(v1)


Notice I highlighted the exact commands. You can see that it lists all partitions in their actual order, easily read sizes, type of partition, etc :)

So if we could see the "parted" info it would be easier to recommend a repartitioning strategy.

[LucidForm]

Cheers, and thanks for the replies! Glad I asked before trying this :eek:

Here is the fdisk output:


Device Boot Start End Blocks Id System
/dev/sda1 1 1086 8721408 27 Unknown
/dev/sda2 * 1086 21711 165665792 7 HPFS/NTFS
/dev/sda3 21711 24322 20970497 5 Extended
/dev/sda5 21711 22458 5998592 82 Linux swap / Solaris
/dev/sda6 22458 23205 5998592 83 Linux
/dev/sda7 23205 24322 8971264 83 Linuxand the parted output:


Model: ATA Hitachi HTS72202 (scsi)
Disk /dev/sda: 200GB
Sector size (logical/physical): 512B/512B
Partition Table: msdos

Number Start End Size Type File system Flags
1 1049kB 8932MB 8931MB primary ntfs
2 8932MB 179GB 170GB primary ntfs boot
3 179GB 200GB 21.5GB extended
5 179GB 185GB 6143MB logical linux-swap(v1)
6 185GB 191GB 6143MB logical ext4
7 191GB 200GB 9187MB logical ext4sda1 is the recovery partition, sda2 is Win7, and sda3 is the extended partition encompassing sda's 5, 6, and 7. I have 3GB ram, hence the 6GB swap partition.

I would like to repartition sda2 for 125GB - Windows is fat, and I've got some games and engineering software that won't work in Ubuntu, so I can't shrink that partition more. This leaves 75GB for Ubuntu - 6GB swap, 12GB root, and 57GB home.

[oldfred]

Not really a monkey wrench in the works as what you have planned is fine, but you may also want another NTFS partition for sharing data between windows & Ubuntu.

When I first started using Ubuntu and trying to figure it out, my wife would want to check email or get on the web and the bookmarks were missing from the windows thunderbird & Firefox. So I created a (back then FAT) a NTFS partititon (now) for some data and my firefox & thunderbird profiles. Then whichever system I booted email & bookmarks were identical. Some windows uses suggest a separate NTFS partition for data anyway, so when you have to reinstall windows your data is separate.

I also prefer not to write into a system from a foreign system. So I read my windows system partition but only write into it for repairs. I also now keep all data out of all system partitions.

[BingHeZhouKe]

i have a question to consult,if grub installed at mbr,then after deleting ubuntu,could windows boot by grub?thank you

[kansasnoob]

I would like to repartition sda2 for 125GB - Windows

Absolutely use Windows own partitioner for that step! It's much, much safer that way. Windows should stop you from damaging itself :)

When that step is complete I'd make certain that Windows still boots before repartitioning for Ubuntu. You'll find Gparted works fine to create the rest.

This will give you a pretty good idea how Gparted works:

http://members.iinet.net.au/~herman546/p22.html

The installer has changed somewhat but the "manual partitioning" part of it is still quite similar.

Otherwise your plan sounds OK, I always put SWAP either at the beginning or end of the extended partition because resizing SWAP can sometimes change it's UUID which results in a minor (but fixable) nightmare.

I also only "double" the size of RAM up to 1GB when calculating SWAP, then make SWAP slightly larger than total RAM for anything over 2GB, that is:

1GB RAM = 2GB SWAP
1GB to 2GB RAM = 2+GB SWAP
3GB RAM = 3+GB SWAP
4GB RAM = 4+GB SWAP
6GB RAM = 6+GB SWAP, etc.

But since you're a gamer it might be wise to keep SWAP at 6GB just in case you decide to add more RAM :)

If SWAP is less than total RAM it can prevent the use of Suspend and/or Hibernate.

[kansasnoob]

i have a question to consult,if grub installed at mbr,then after deleting ubuntu,could windows boot by grub?thank you

No. You'd need to restore the Windows bootloader.

Part of grubs files exist within the root partition (or boot partition if one exists).

[LucidForm]

Not really a monkey wrench in the works as what you have planned is fine, but you may also want another NTFS partition for sharing data between windows & Ubuntu.

I agree - separating data and system files is a good idea! I would very much like to have a shared partition which holds OS-independent, user-created files. Windows, however, does not do a good job of organizing things this way. Many programs spew application data into the My Documents directory. For that reason I don't even use My Documents anymore. iTunes spews into the Music folder, and other directories can get equally ugly.

All my email is on the web, so that's okay. I'm considering using UbuntuOne to store all of my bookmarks and documents. This will also allow me to share between Ubuntu and Win7 when they finally roll out a Windows client for UbuntuOne :roll:.

[LucidForm]

Absolutely use Windows own partitioner for that step! It's much, much safer that way. Windows should stop you from damaging itself :)

When that step is complete I'd make certain that Windows still boots before repartitioning for Ubuntu. You'll find Gparted works fine to create the rest.

Sage advice - thanks!


I also only "double" the size of RAM up to 1GB when calculating SWAP, then make SWAP slightly larger than total RAM for anything over 2GB
Ah okay - I was using the 2 x ram rule I learned from back in the day when 1GB was a ton of ram!