Replace Win7 - Installer Wizzard Question

[knobwan]

Hello guys, newbie question here to replace win7 with a FRESH installation of Mint 14, pls help...

I have downloaded mint 14 and copied on a pendrive using unetbootin.
Once booted and Mint was up, i proceed clicking twice on the "Install Linux Mint".

During the Installer i replied :
1 - Language: English
2 - Tested Ok for space and Internet.
3 - Installation type Replace Windows 7 with Linux Mint
4 - Next dialog is to select the drive (sda or sdb) and asking to "Install Now"
the problem is... there is a note which says that 4 partitions will be deleted !!!

What should i do to do not loose nothing but the SDA2 (windows partition) ??

Code: Select all

NAME   MAJ:MIN RM   SIZE RO TYPE MOUNTPOINT
sda      8:0    0   1.8T  0 disk
├─sda1   8:1    0   100M  0 part /media/mint/AAB027F1B027C2A5
├─sda2   8:2    0 179.6G  0 part /media/mint/C6882B7E882B6C5D  <-- Windows 7 currently installed
├─sda3   8:3    0   540G  0 part /media/mint/62782EF0782EC321  <-- personal data
├─sda4   8:4    0   540G  0 part /media/mint/FAF83257F832127D  <-- personal data
└─sda5   8:5    0 603.3G  0 part /media/mint/5E8C7D2F8C7D02B7  <-- personal data
sdb      8:16   0   2.7T  0 disk
├─sdb1   8:17   0   128M  0 part
├─sdb2   8:18   0 558.6G  0 part /media/mint/3TP1  <-- personal data
├─sdb3   8:19   0 558.6G  0 part /media/mint/3TP2  <-- personal data
├─sdb4   8:20   0 558.6G  0 part /media/mint/3TP3  <-- personal data
├─sdb5   8:21   0 558.6G  0 part /media/mint/3TP4  <-- personal data
└─sdb6   8:22   0   560G  0 part /media/mint/3TP5  <-- personal data
sdc      8:32   1     2G  0 disk /cdrom
sr0     11:0    1  1024M  0 rom 
loop0    7:0    0 933.9M  1 loop /rofs

[thegreatgazoo]

2 options (that I use)

the easy way:
When you get to the part of the installer that asks you what to do, select "something else"
here you can select the 1 partition that you want to use by double clicking on it.
select the options type: EXT4, format: check the box, use as: /
when you hit the install button, it will complain about not having a swap partition. If you have enough ram it shouldn't be a problem, just continue and install.

the less easy way
a disk can only have 4 primary partitions, so if your disk already has 4 ( for example: windows, recovery, windows recovery, dell tools), you can just install in to the windows partition as explained above, but you will have no swap space. To do this right, and preserve the other partitions as you requested do the following

run "gparted"
select the windows partition that you wish to use
delete it
now in the empty space right click and create a new extended partition
inside the extended partition, right click and create a new logical partition
give it maybe 2gb of space, type "swap", and move it to the end.
next create another logical partition inside of the extended partition
use up all the space, type "ext4"
hit apply.

now run the installer
when you get to the screen that asks what to do, select "something else"
select the ext4 partition by double clicking it.
use as ext4, mount point: / , check the format box
continue installing as usual.

I'm going from memory, but the steps shouldn't be too off from this.
**WARNING** You are messing around with your partitions, things can go screwy and you may mess up the system partitions that you didn't want erased. Take some time and download "partedmagic" @ http://partedmagic.com/doku.php?id=start.
Use clonezilla to make a backup of your system before you do any of this, so if things go wrong, you can restore back to normal.