Second install created duplicate partitions

[hawkhock]

Dual boot with Win7 installation. First install of 12.05LTS failed. Burned ISO at lower speed and second install completed successfully. I now have duplicate partitions for each install. Two Window loaders, etc. How do I fix this?

[ahallubuntu]

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[hawkhock]

No - am not sure I have a problem. After I posted, I installed GPart to check out the partitions and sizes. SDA1 is a Windows boot loader flagged as boot & diag. SDA2 Windows boot loader allows me to boot into Windows. SDA4 & 7 are both Ext4 with SDA 7 as Mount Point. SDA3 is the HHDRecovery partition.

If all is okay, the only other question would be should I change any of the partition sizes.

Thanks for taking a look at this.

Disk /dev/sda: 500.1 GB, 500107862016 bytes
255 heads, 63 sectors/track, 60801 cylinders, total 976773168 sectors
Units = sectors of 1 * 512 = 512 bytes
Sector size (logical/physical): 512 bytes / 512 bytes
I/O size (minimum/optimal): 512 bytes / 512 bytes
Disk identifier: 0x900b3d5e

Device Boot Start End Blocks Id System
/dev/sda1 * 2048 3074047 1536000 27 Hidden NTFS WinRE
/dev/sda2 3074048 349142825 173034389 7 HPFS/NTFS/exFAT
/dev/sda3 954755072 976773119 11009024 17 Hidden HPFS/NTFS
/dev/sda4 349143038 954755071 302806017 5 Extended
/dev/sda5 557099008 938246143 190573568 83 Linux
/dev/sda6 938248192 954755071 8253440 82 Linux swap / Solaris
/dev/sda7 349143040 557099007 103977984 83 Linux

Partition table entries are not in disk order
ghock@ghock-Satellite-P500:~$

[ahallubuntu]

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[darkod]

For future reference, linux will never automatically try to use existing partitions unless you tell it to. What if you wanted a second install without overwriting the first? That's why it will never overwrite partitions.

If there are partitions from previous failed install that you don't want to keep you have to:
- Delete them first if you want to use the automatic method in the second install, or
- Use the manual install (Something Else) and manually set the existing root partition to be used with mount point / and the existing swap to be used as swap.

[hawkhock]

Or, you could just blow away sda4, sda5, sda6, and sda7 with Gparted and just re-install one more time from scratch and let it use the new free space.

Am elementary Ubuntu student and in over my head at this point. It appears that the easiest would be "blowing away" sda4,5,6,7 and reinstalling BUT

? What happens if do nothing?
? Or am I compromising the install by not having it partitioned correctly?

If I proceed --
? What does "blow away" mean?
? Will using Live CD boot me into my current install of Ubuntu?
? How to access GPart on LiveCD?
? How to erase sda 4-7?
? After erasing sda 4-7 do I reboot to the Live CD to reinstall?

[hawkhock]

I did the research and learned how to use GParted to delete the partitions using the LiveCD.

Question remains -- what if I do nothing and leave install and partitions as is?

[ahallubuntu]

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[hawkhock]

thanks for the info. I am a minimal computer user - no fancy bells and whistles - and probably have enough disk space to either leave as is or delete the one partition. Appreciate your timely reply and help.

[darkod]

Correct, there is no drawback if you leave it as it is. Only the wasted space.

Apart from that, ubuntu will keep working for years without any issues.