Partitioning the Lenovo Ideapad Z580 for dual-boot

wolfcore · 2012-09-11 03:00:04

I'm going to install Arch Linux on my new laptop, and want to keep the existing Windows 7 installation as well. The problem is that there can only be four logical partitions, and they are all being used by Windows/Lenovo:

I was thinking of converting the C drive, which is the largest (600 GB) into an extended type, then using that partition to create logical partitions and use those for Arch. Is this possible to do? Will I be able to install linux in logical partitions, or are primary partitions needed?

Another idea I had was to somehow merge the existing partitions together, but don't know if that will cause problems.

EDIT: After some further reading I have come to the conclusion that it might be best to delete the LENOVO_PART, which has the files for Onekey Recovery (something to do a clean reinstall of Windows), make a new extended partition in its place (resizing it to make it larger), and divide it into logical partitions into which Arch can be placed. I am still not sure if this is the best approach though.

Last edited by wolfcore (2012-09-11 03:58:21)

Inxsible · 2012-09-11 04:44:30

you will have to delete at least 1 partition to accomodate an extended partition. you have no other choice with MBR partitioning. windows has to be on the primary partition and so does the system partition for windows, so that leaves you only with 1 of the lenovo recovery partitions.

you could choose to use GPT partitioning, but given that you need to use windows, your machine should support UEFI booting and be a 64 bit processor and even then you will have to re-install windows

rvc · 2012-09-11 08:03:56

yes, i am also using thinkpad t500 and am successfully triple booting with windows, pcbsd and arch.
i used windows utilities to shrink the c drive, and created a 3rd primary partition (pcbsd installs only on primary partition). with sda1 as windows system, sda2 as windows, sda3 as pcbsd, i was left with 4th partition which i made it into extended logical volume. (sda5, which can be re-partitioned for /bott, / , /home etc to suit your requirement)
i did the partitioning from windows utilities (right clicked on computer icon, manage). it created default ntfs file system which i formated using the arch boot usb stick cum installer.
grub will be installed by default in the mbr and you have to add windows in the fstab else you wont be able to boot.
i used syslinux instead of grub.
arch wiki helped a me a lot in this step by step effort.

the.ridikulus.rat · 2012-09-11 13:57:53

If its a 64-bit Windows 7 installation, and if your BIOS supports UEFI, then you can convert Windows from BIOS-MBR to UEFI-GPT without reinstalling . Follow https://gitorious.org/tianocore_uefi_du … OS_to_UEFI .

Otherwise, if you want to convert current C: to a logical partition within an extended partition (and maybe even LENOVO and LENOVO_PART), make sure there ia a 1 MiB gap after each partition (you can resize with gparted), and then run fixparts (part of gptfdisk package) http://rodsbooks.com/fixparts/ (and http://rodsbooks.com/gdisk/fixparts.html). I have done this myself. For this the 1MiB gap after each partition is required, due to the way extended and logical partition info is stored.

EDIT: After converting C: to logical partition, Windows will not boot. You need to boot into Windows 7 DVD/USB and fix the Windows bootloader. But this will again overwrite the Linux bootloader you (might) have setup, so you may need to reinstall the linux bootloader as well (at the end).

Last edited by the.ridikulus.rat (2012-09-11 14:00:10)

wolfcore · 2012-09-12 04:55:19

Thanks for your replies! I will continue with the partitioning/installation soon, and mark this thread solved once I achieve success.

Arch Linux

#1 2012-09-11 03:00:04

Partitioning the Lenovo Ideapad Z580 for dual-boot

#2 2012-09-11 04:44:30

Re: Partitioning the Lenovo Ideapad Z580 for dual-boot

#3 2012-09-11 08:03:56

Re: Partitioning the Lenovo Ideapad Z580 for dual-boot

#4 2012-09-11 13:57:53

Re: Partitioning the Lenovo Ideapad Z580 for dual-boot

#5 2012-09-12 04:55:19

Re: Partitioning the Lenovo Ideapad Z580 for dual-boot

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