Useless Partitions?
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Useless Partitions?
Hay guise.
I have just installed Linux Mint 14 on a Toshiba Laptop which previously had Windows (well it still does). Right now I only have a 10GB partition for Linux Mint and a large partition with Windows still installed. But there are two other partitions which I am not sure about: TOSHIBA SYSTEM VOLUME (1.46GB) and HDDRECOVERY (9.71GB). I believe HDDRECOVERY is like what you use instead of using a Windows disk to recover your system, but I am not sure about TOSHIBA SYSTEM VOLUME.
My question is: Can I get rid of these two partitions to make some space for Linux Mint? They seem useless since I'm not using Windows anymore. I'm assuming I can delete them and resize my Linux partition using GParted.
The other thing is I have about 30GB free on my Windows partition (I'm not sure exactly how much), would it be better to shrink this partition and make the Linux one bigger?
The reason I don't want to delete my Windows partition now is because I still have some stuff that I haven't backed up, but I'm out of space on my Linux partition so I need to do something for now.
Sorry for my poorly structured post, any help will be appreciated.
Thanks!
P.S. this is my first post.
I have just installed Linux Mint 14 on a Toshiba Laptop which previously had Windows (well it still does). Right now I only have a 10GB partition for Linux Mint and a large partition with Windows still installed. But there are two other partitions which I am not sure about: TOSHIBA SYSTEM VOLUME (1.46GB) and HDDRECOVERY (9.71GB). I believe HDDRECOVERY is like what you use instead of using a Windows disk to recover your system, but I am not sure about TOSHIBA SYSTEM VOLUME.
My question is: Can I get rid of these two partitions to make some space for Linux Mint? They seem useless since I'm not using Windows anymore. I'm assuming I can delete them and resize my Linux partition using GParted.
The other thing is I have about 30GB free on my Windows partition (I'm not sure exactly how much), would it be better to shrink this partition and make the Linux one bigger?
The reason I don't want to delete my Windows partition now is because I still have some stuff that I haven't backed up, but I'm out of space on my Linux partition so I need to do something for now.
Sorry for my poorly structured post, any help will be appreciated.
Thanks!
P.S. this is my first post.
Last edited by LockBot on Wed Dec 28, 2022 7:16 am, edited 1 time in total.
Reason: Topic automatically closed 6 months after creation. New replies are no longer allowed.
Reason: Topic automatically closed 6 months after creation. New replies are no longer allowed.
Re: Useless Partitions?
Is likely a boot partition for windowsTOSHIBA SYSTEM VOLUME (1.46GB)
Don't delete it
But lets see first
Typically, you should manage an install of Mint and manually configure your partitions
Can you open Gparted and take a screen of it, like this
http://paste.opensuse.org/38229544
Also, open a terminal and post the result of
Code: Select all
sudo fdisk -l
Linux Mint 21.1 Cinnamon
Re: Useless Partitions?
Thanks for the reply.
Here is my GParted screenshot: http://i45.tinypic.com/15flsg3.png
And the result of fdisk:
Here is my GParted screenshot: http://i45.tinypic.com/15flsg3.png
And the result of fdisk:
Code: Select all
Disk /dev/sda: 160.0 GB, 160041885696 bytes
255 heads, 63 sectors/track, 19457 cylinders, total 312581808 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: 0xecf8b012
Device Boot Start End Blocks Id System
/dev/sda1 2048 3074047 1536000 27 Hidden NTFS WinRE
/dev/sda2 * 3074048 270504962 133715457+ 7 HPFS/NTFS/exFAT
/dev/sda3 292210688 312580095 10184704 17 Hidden HPFS/NTFS
/dev/sda4 270505982 292210687 10852353 5 Extended
/dev/sda5 288288768 292210687 1960960 82 Linux swap / Solaris
/dev/sda6 270505984 288288767 8891392 83 Linux
Partition table entries are not in disk order
Re: Useless Partitions?
OK
You could delete sda3
But remember it's the windows recovery blurb, so you should make a full set of windows recovery disks or if you don't care, no worries.
But I'm not 100% sure if it will change all the partition table!
If you could free up more space in windows, by deleting stuff and defrag, then shrink windows, but only half of the total free space, you could then resize the extended partition to take up the freed space, then you will need to alter sda6 inside the extended to use that freed space
You could delete sda3
But remember it's the windows recovery blurb, so you should make a full set of windows recovery disks or if you don't care, no worries.
But I'm not 100% sure if it will change all the partition table!
If you could free up more space in windows, by deleting stuff and defrag, then shrink windows, but only half of the total free space, you could then resize the extended partition to take up the freed space, then you will need to alter sda6 inside the extended to use that freed space
Linux Mint 21.1 Cinnamon
Re: Useless Partitions?
Okay thanks.
If I do install Windows again it will be Windows 7 or 8 and the computer came with Vista, so the recovery partition would be useless, right?
As for resizing the Windows partition, why only half?
And to be clear, I have resize sda4 before sda6?
Thanks again!
By the way, I was reading some other forum and appartently TOSHIBA SYSTEM VOLUME is a recovery partition, so I'm confused about that, especially since only 500MB is being used.
If I do install Windows again it will be Windows 7 or 8 and the computer came with Vista, so the recovery partition would be useless, right?
As for resizing the Windows partition, why only half?
And to be clear, I have resize sda4 before sda6?
Thanks again!
By the way, I was reading some other forum and appartently TOSHIBA SYSTEM VOLUME is a recovery partition, so I'm confused about that, especially since only 500MB is being used.
Re: Useless Partitions?
Only half because you don't want to blugger up windows do you
Yes, resize sda4 first to get the free space part of the extended
Personally I'd start afresh .... if you want the plan for that I can advise
Yes, resize sda4 first to get the free space part of the extended
Personally I'd start afresh .... if you want the plan for that I can advise
Linux Mint 21.1 Cinnamon
Re: Useless Partitions?
I don't really want to reinstall Linux Mint, so if that's what you mean by start afresh then I'd rather not. But otherwise I'm interested. Plus I will probably mess up at some stage and need to start over.
Re: Useless Partitions?
This is what I would do if it were me (But I understand it's maybe not what you want)
Backup what you need from Mint and Windows
Clean up unneeded files in windows and defrag
Boot Mint Live CD and use Gparted to delete all partition except sda1 and sda2
Shrink sda2 by half of the free space and apply
You should now have sda1 and sda2 and load of unallocated space
With focus on the unallocated create an extended partition in all that space
The with focus on the extended - create logical partitions as follows
swap = 2xRAM
ext4 15GB (will be for /)
ext4 all the remaining space will be for /home
follow my install guide
https://docs.google.com/open?id=0B3e0lL ... zVFNGpmd2s
Backup what you need from Mint and Windows
Clean up unneeded files in windows and defrag
Boot Mint Live CD and use Gparted to delete all partition except sda1 and sda2
Shrink sda2 by half of the free space and apply
You should now have sda1 and sda2 and load of unallocated space
With focus on the unallocated create an extended partition in all that space
The with focus on the extended - create logical partitions as follows
swap = 2xRAM
ext4 15GB (will be for /)
ext4 all the remaining space will be for /home
follow my install guide
https://docs.google.com/open?id=0B3e0lL ... zVFNGpmd2s
Linux Mint 21.1 Cinnamon
Re: Useless Partitions?
Otherwise I think I have explained the process of freeing up more space from sda2
My worry is if you delete the HDD Recovery partition, the whole partition table may change and it could make Mint unbootable
Perhaps someone else knows for sure
I don't just have a sandbox in place to test it for you either
My worry is if you delete the HDD Recovery partition, the whole partition table may change and it could make Mint unbootable
Perhaps someone else knows for sure
I don't just have a sandbox in place to test it for you either
Linux Mint 21.1 Cinnamon
Re: Useless Partitions?
Thanks for all your help.
I don't think that's exactly what I want, remember I will be getting rid of Windows completely eventually.
These are my final questions (hopefully):
1. Why do I need to keep sda1?
2. If I don't start afresh should I still extend my swap to 4GB (2xRAM)?
3. I forgot.
If you can answer these you're awesome!
Thanks again!
I don't think that's exactly what I want, remember I will be getting rid of Windows completely eventually.
These are my final questions (hopefully):
1. Why do I need to keep sda1?
2. If I don't start afresh should I still extend my swap to 4GB (2xRAM)?
3. I forgot.
If you can answer these you're awesome!
Thanks again!
Re: Useless Partitions?
OK now I really need to know... Do you just want to get rid of windows? Now?
Even if it's future, my recommend is to plan for a backup and completely clean install, otherwise your partition table is just going to be a mess.
1. If you are keeping windows for now, you need it because it probably contains the windows boot code.
If you examine it and sda2, which of them contains the file 'bootmgr' ?
If it's sda2 the you could possibly remove sda1....
2. Not that important
3. I can't read minds...sorry
Even if it's future, my recommend is to plan for a backup and completely clean install, otherwise your partition table is just going to be a mess.
1. If you are keeping windows for now, you need it because it probably contains the windows boot code.
If you examine it and sda2, which of them contains the file 'bootmgr' ?
If it's sda2 the you could possibly remove sda1....
2. Not that important
3. I can't read minds...sorry
Linux Mint 21.1 Cinnamon
Re: Useless Partitions?
So I kind of got impatient and went and removed sda3 lol.
bootmgr is on sda2, but I will think I wait until I get rid of sda2 before I get rid of sda1. Looks like I will have to move everything 'to the left' so I might as well do them both at once. Here is my new screenshot: http://i46.tinypic.com/7k3p.png
My plan is to finish backing up my Windows stuff and then remove it and make sda6 bigger (or maybe defrag and resize first). Maybe one day I will install Windows again.
I will probably regret not listening to you, but I like to learn things the hard way.
Thanks
bootmgr is on sda2, but I will think I wait until I get rid of sda2 before I get rid of sda1. Looks like I will have to move everything 'to the left' so I might as well do them both at once. Here is my new screenshot: http://i46.tinypic.com/7k3p.png
My plan is to finish backing up my Windows stuff and then remove it and make sda6 bigger (or maybe defrag and resize first). Maybe one day I will install Windows again.
I will probably regret not listening to you, but I like to learn things the hard way.
Thanks
Re: Useless Partitions?
OK
So some improvement there
Let me know if you need any more help
So some improvement there
Let me know if you need any more help
Linux Mint 21.1 Cinnamon
Re: Useless Partitions?
Will do.
Thanks for all your help, I didn't expect this on my first post lol.
Thanks for all your help, I didn't expect this on my first post lol.
Re: Useless Partitions?
If you mean help, that's what we do here.LionKing34 wrote:Will do.
Thanks for all your help, I didn't expect this on my first post lol.
FYI, I only have windows installations for testing multi-boot scenarios - I never actually use windows any more
Linux Mint 21.1 Cinnamon
Re: Useless Partitions?
According to me, I don't really want to reinstall Linux Mint, so if that's what you mean by start afresh then I'd rather not. But otherwise I'm interested. Plus I will probably mess up at some stage and need to start over.