Organise partitions for dualbooting Mint 14 + Win7

[Zeitgeist]

Hi all,

I'm new to using Linux generally, and Mint specifically, although I have played around with it a bit before. I have a new Windows 7 laptop (ASUS R501VM) and I want to dual boot it with Linux Mint 14 Cinnamon 64-bit. I plan to (hopefully) primarily use Mint for my general computer use, and use Windows more as a backup for a) anything I can't get working on Mint and b) in case of problems.

Basically, my question relates to partitioning. I am trying to work out the best way to organise the partitions on the computer before I install Mint. I've searched this forum and other online sites but my current partitioning setup seems (to a newbie like me) to be different to the standard setup, and I just wanted to make sure I don't delete/resize something that I shouldn't.

Looking at it through the Windows 'Disk Management' utility, the current setup appears to be (in order) :
1. Unnamed - EFI System Partition - 200MB
2. OS (C:) - Boot, Page File, Crash Dump, Primary Partition - 186.30GB NTFS
3. DATA (D:) - Primary Partition - 254.14GB NTFS
4. Unnamed - Recovery Partition - 25GB

All are listed as '100% free' except for OS (C:) which is 70% free.

From what I've read, it sounds like I may have to delete the D: somehow (due to a limit on the number of partitions), but I'm not sure. I've also read that I could install both Windows and Mint OS on C and use D for file storage (documents, music, videos etc). What do you think is the most practical way of partitioning here?

Thanks in advance!

(P.S. Apologies if this post is in the wrong place or is repetitive - I'm doing my best as a new user )

[jungle_boy]

You are right, you need to delete D (primary partition) and format it like a extended partition (it will be sda4).

Then you must create another partition (logical partition, sda5), shrinking the extended partition, with 50GB (e.g.); the remaining partition format as logical and ntfs, will be sda6), for storage your files.

When you will install Linux Mint, choose sda5.

First of all, don't forget to make backup of your files that are in D.

[Zeitgeist]

Thanks for your help! The partitioning and installation seemed to go fine. However I have not yet been able to boot Mint correctly.

I will post my problems in a new thread to keep everything tidy.

[jungle_boy]

OK!

Don't forget to check md5sum downloaded iso image before burn it.