Getting Partitions Ready to Install Ubuntu on ideapad Z570

[peGGi]

Hi,

I've been doing some research around partitioning and installing Ubuntu on my Lenovo ideapad Z570 as part of a dual-boot set-up with Windows.  I've pretty much read all of these forums and webpages which pertain to partitioning, etc.

http://forums.lenovo.com/t5/IdeaPad-Y-U-B-V-and-Z-series/new-disk-partioning-and-one-key-recover-fea...

http://forums.lenovo.com/t5/Linux-Discussion/Factory-Windows-7-partitions/td-p/535363

https://help.ubuntu.com/community/forum/installation/Partitioning 

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Disk_partitioning 

Ideally, what I would like is to have a partition of 80Gb for Windows, a partition of 80Gb for Ubuntu, a large partition for data that Ubuntu and Windows can share, plus whatever other partitions Lenovo and OKR need.

Having read through the above forums plus other information regarding partitions, I've come to understand the following things:

1. That OKR will not work if I make any changes to any of the partitions.
2. That a hard-disk drive can only have maximum 4 primary partitions or 3 primary partitions and an extended partition.
3. That the extended partition may in turn be subdivided into several logical partitions.
4. That Windows must be installed on a primary partition with the boot files.
5. That Ubuntu can be installed on a primary or a logical partition.

Are all of the above correct?   

If so, my questions are:

1. If I resize and create new partitions, is there no way that I can re-run OKR and create new back-ups?  I'm guessing OKR will not work if I resize now but then run into problems during Ubuntu installation.  But assuming I resize and install Ubuntu successfully, can I then get OKR to work, recognising the new partitions, and create new back-ups?
2. I currently have three primary partitions (a hidden tiny hidden system one, I assume for recovery, the large C: with Windows, the logical partition, D: Lenovo with Lenovo progam files and drivers, and a hidden "LENOVO_PART" partition which I assume is where OKR creates some sort of system image...)  Does that mean that I already have 3 primary partitions and one extended partition, which is also one logical partition, or is the second partition an extended partition subdivided into the primary C: and the logical D:?

I can live without OKR as I can use alternative programs to make back-ups.  But it would be nice to have it.

My main concern is how I can safely resize to accommodate a drive for Ubuntu and a large data drive.  

I'm thinking of two paths:

1. First is to downsize the C: drive to 80Gb, then create an extended partition with the space and divide that into two logical partitions, one for ubuntu and one for data.  But the fact that the D: Lenovo partition is already logical confuses me...
2. The other is to merge the C: drive with the D: drive, then create an extended partition with the two logical partitions (ubuntu and data).  I'm afraid this way I might ruin the Lenovo programs and drivers...

 Sorry for this lengthy post but I want to show that I've tried researching it but I'm stuck....  Any advice at all?  Any advice would be very much appreciated.  Thanks

[dhdurgee]

I just installed Linux mint, which is based on ubuntu, on my Z560 here.  You can keep One Key Recovery functional if you want to, but there is a bit of work to do and you need several items to accomplish it.  In my case I am working to setup a triple-boot system of w7, mint and eCS 21 (OS/2) here, so my requirements are stricter than any as eCS isn't happy with the way w7 created the partitions on my 500G drive and I had to rework that first.

I first booted w7 and did the initial setup followed by creating the Factory Default Recovery DVDs for the system.  I then booted my DFSee CD and used it to change the type of the recovery partition from 12 to 07 to permit w7 to access it.  I rebooted w7 and used the disk management feature to shrink all four of the factory partitions to suit my needs.  I then booted DFSee again to change the type of the recovery partition back and confirmed OKR function with resized partitions.  I then created the current system recovery DVDs for the system.

At this point I needed to deal with the partitioning issues.  So I booted DFSee again, changed the recovery partition back to 07 again and made images of that partition and the D: partition on external storage, as I had found out earlier that the current system recovery DVD appears to only address the C: drive.  I then deleted all the existing partitions and recreated them in a form acceptable to eCS, being sure to keep them in the same order in the partition tables and on the drive as w7 had them but consolidating them to place all of the free space in the logical partition after the D: drive and before the recovery partition.  I then used the current system recovery DVD to reload the now acceptable C: drive and then restored the D: and recovery partitions from their images.

I then created the logical partitions I needed to install eCS and mint on the drive.

In your case I believe you could simply use w7 to resize things, create the current system recovery DVDs to deal with any failures, and then use DFSee or other tool to move the existing partitions where you want them.  Once this is done confirm w7 and the OKR system still works and then go ahead and install ubuntu in the free space you created.

Dave

PS: the small initial primary partition is the w7 boot manager and appears to be handled with the C: drive.  The OKR makes use of the larger primary at the end of the drive marked as type 12 as opposed to 07 in the partition table.  All partitions are formatted NTFS.

[peGGi]

Hi Dave,

A very belated thanks for your detailed reply.  I had put installing linux on the long arm for a while but I'm going to give it another tilt.  Your response has helped me clarify the patition issue - I feel more confident about it.  

Thanks a mill!