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I'm wanting to dual boot LMDE Xfce with Win7 on our Asus EeePC netbook. The current stumbling block is trying to sort out the partitioning. The current situation is where /sda1 is Win7, /sda2 has been formatted for LM install, the unformatted parts left for data but Ive no idea what /sda3 or /sda4 are. In Windows, all that is showing is a /C: drive.

I recall reading a while back about Asus and/or Windows loading up the partitions with bloatware but I can't, for the life of me, find that information again.

Can someone help me identify what these partitions hold or alternatively confirm that it's OK to delete them?

Ideally, I'm aiming to format the 250GB HD as follows:

/sda1 = 100GB for Win7
/sda2 = 2GB for swap
/sda3 = 15GB - 25GB for LMDE Xfce
/sda4 = balance for /home and dually accessible data.

I'd appreciate any suggestions as to the suitability or otherwise of this arrangement prior to getting myself in too deep.

As a final thought, am I correct in thinking that, once Win7 is eventually replaced on this system, I can have as many partitions as I want?

The hidden partition is your Windows 7 backup for system restore. I guess Windows 7 came as pre-installed in this Eeepc without Windows 7 DVD. If that's the case than, I fear you can't delete those partitions.

Hi, /dev/sda3 and /dev/sda4 are probably indeed recovery partitions. /dev/sda4 being unknown partition type means you won't find out about this. /dev/sda3 you can remove the "hidden" flag with GParted, and then in Windows this partition should show up as D: (probably) so you can have a look.

Unless you have a Windows installation CD or DVD, I wouldn't remove these two partitions if you want to be able to reinstall Windows at some point in the future. If you do have an installation CD or DVD, first check that it actually can install Windows without these partitions--put it in another computer, boot from it and see what it says. Usually the recovery CD or DVD uses the recovery partitions on the computer IIRC.

Perhaps also look for some Asus EeePC forums, and see if anyboy knows what that last partition is for.

Playing it safe, delete your current /dev/sda2 and in that space create an extended partition /dev/sda2. Inside this extended partition then create the logical partitions you need for Linux. You can create as many logical partitions as you want / have disk space. That way you don't mess with any Windows recovery partitions or secret Asus EeePC partitions.

It's never easy is it! Thank you both for your help.

spandey wrote:I guess Windows 7 came as pre-installed in this Eeepc without Windows 7 DVD.

Absolutely correct! Bought it brand new at a too-good-to-refuse introductory discount of around $100 before I fell in lust with Linux. Who needed disks? It's been a gem of a unit for our not too infrequent travels but its performance worsens with each annoying MS/Adobe/Avast/AsusLive update.

xenopeek wrote:Perhaps also look for some Asus EeePC forums

Great idea. I've been there before but had completely forgotten all about them (too wrapped up in this forum these days!).

Reading there, people are saying that they're not experiencing major problems with replacing Windows so that's the likely option. Except..., every Mint flavour I've tried to run from LiveUSB has been problematical in one way or another and the unit has proven so useful to us I'd hate to turn it into a doorstop. I thought running dual mode would let me iron out kinks with a safety net.

I'm not au fait with extended partitioning and don't really feel like exploring that solution (there's enough of a learning curve with Mint). So it looks like we're back to square one!

Thanks again for your input. You'll undoubtedly see yet another thread about this on-going saga.

Basically, just boot from the Live CD/DVD but don't install it yet. First start GParted, and follow these steps:
- Highlight /dev/sda2 (your already prepared Linux partition), Partition > Delete
- Highlight the now empty space where /dev/sda2 was, Partition > New, and set "Create as" to "Extended Partition"
- Now for the three partitions you want, for each highlight the empty space shown below the new /dev/sda2 and do the Partition > New to create the logical partitions there

You want:
/dev/sda5 2GB, "File system" as "linux-swap"
/dev/sda6 15GB, "File system" as "ext4" for /
/dev/sda7 remainder of free space, "File system" as "ext4" for /home

Then start the installation, and during installation select manual partitioning when you get to that point. Then select /dev/sda5, /dev/sda6 and /dev/sda7 that you already created, each in turn, and select for the first to use it as swap, for the second to use it as mountpoint / and for the third to use it as mountpoint /home.

You are too good to me. You should've left me to nut it out on my own instead of making it so easy for me to follow. I think I've understood most of what went on although my aging grey matter may have retention problems! Just, kidding, I really appreciate the time you've taken to do this when you've so many other bushfires you're trying to put out.

LMDE Xfce installed as I'm typing (from my desktop, obviously). Now it's onward and upward to changing the repositories, downloading Update Pack 3 and then sorting out the niggling teething problems. I really wish I'd had the gumption to just wipe Wimdows completely.

Thank you very, very much.

Oh, just one thing, The last step is to ensure that I choose the default (/dev/sda) when asked to install Grub so that the option to select which OS to boot into is offered from the get-go, without hassle.

odo5435 wrote:Oh, just one thing, The last step is to ensure that I choose the default (/dev/sda) when asked to install Grub so that the option to select which OS to boot into is offered from the get-go, without hassle.

Ah, yes... Else you still boot into Windows If Windows doesn't show in the boot menu after you installed Grub to /dev/sda, just boot into Linux and run: Which should add Windows to the list (check with "grep menuentry /boot/grub/grub.cfg"). If not added, run "sudo os-prober" first.

I would say you should not install Grub into the MBR but in the /boot or / partition of Linux and add your Linux install to the Windows boot loader, as I explain here. Specially with the recovery partitions.

Now, you'll do your personal choice...

Or what I did was, during the partitioning portion, make a /boot partition and remember the partition designation (in my case sda5) and choose that partition to intall grub to. I only chime in because there was no suggestion to add a /boot partition during the partitioning portion of the install above. But as mentioned it is up to the installer.