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I have decided to reinstall my Lubuntu OS and to split on the occasion my partition so as to have a secondary one where long-time files would be stored. I guess what I wanted followed a logic that was close to my experience as ex-windows user. I just wanted a new non-system partition visible in the left side pane of the file browser.

When trying to install the system onto the smaller partition for which i set / as mount point, I was prompted to set a different mount point for the other: i had already used / for the one that was not meant to be the system partition because i didn't new what / meant. Not knowing what to do I selected /boot for the second and went on installing on the smaller one with mount point /.

All was ok except that now the larger/secondary (/boot mount point) partition is not visible as I expected it to be.

But this doesn't mean that it is completely hidden or unaccessible. I found that /boot is in fact the location for this partition: when i go there i see i'm within the 30GB/second partition. creating a folder there and adding that folder to side pane (create shortcut) in Thunar, makes in a way that partition immediately visible and accessible in file manager's side pane the way i wanted to.

but this is still not a solution, for i cannot access it as a partition (unmount it, etc)

In Gparted it is:

enter image description here

  • I would just reinstall, mounting the 30GB partition to /srv (or even using it as /home). I suppose you could edit the /etc/fstab from a live CD to mount the partition elsewhere and then copy the files there into the now empty /boot if you really needed to do it without a reinstall. – Mark Paskal Oct 23 '12 at 11:15

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As i can see there is no /home partition you have am i right? I would create one in ex4 /home there all info and downloads will be stored. / partition is system partition with boot information.http://www.linuxbsdos.com/2011/05/04/manual-disk-partitioning-guide-for-ubuntu-11-04/ or check out one of many video tutorials on youtube https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qBCHsgry2RQ

polarkatenuchie
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For your purpose the installation partition doesn't need to be extended (all your linux partitions are extended).

To get what you want (a separate partition that would keep your files after reinstalling your system) do the following: delete all linux partition including /dev/sda2. Then create two partition (both as primary partitions). Select mount point as / and /home (/ means your system will install in this partition and /home means your home folder will use this partition so that next installation will preserve your data).

You do not need to keep extra partition for swap. Create a virtual swap after installation of your system.

shantanu
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  • virtual swap after installation - shantanu, please indulge me with some more on this so i might use it next time: for now i kept an extra and made a big swapspace –  Oct 23 '12 at 20:56
  • @cipricus check out this link for virtual swap. http://shantanucse.blogspot.com/2012/07/create-swap-after-ubuntu-installation.html – shantanu Nov 10 '12 at 05:40
  • i want to thank you for the very helpful answer and to ask if you could you take a look at this similar question: http://askubuntu.com/q/240780/47206 –  Jan 13 '13 at 17:11
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    It's critical to distinguish between extended and logical partitions. Extended partitions are containers for logical partitions. Although it's not possible to install anything directly to an extended partition, Linux generally (and Ubuntu specifically) has no problems installing to a logical partition. It's unclear precisely what cipricus means that /boot is "not visible," but it's almost certainly nothing to do with the status of the Linux partitions as logical (not extended) in the original question. – Rod Smith Jan 13 '13 at 19:09
  • @Rod Smith: what i meant was that, after partitioning as seen in the image above and installing on dev/sda7 (mount point / ), the other partition, dev/sda5 (for which i set the mount point /boot without knowing what that means) was not visible while running the operating system in the left side pane of the file browser . i was expecting to see it in the list there, in the way one sees partitions in windows, and in the way the window partition appears. that partition was in fact accessible where i had put it (/boot) but in this way it looked like a folder, etc. –  Jan 15 '13 at 10:59
  • @Rod Smith: now i understand that there was no problem with my partition: it just looked like any partition with that mount point was supposed to look. the formula "installation partition should not be extended" is probably saying only that it does not need to be extended. and the rest of the answer gives advice for a simpler partitioning model according to my declared desire of having a secondary partition where long-time files would be stored. in this sense the answer was useful. but i agree that i was mistaken thinking that the cause of the matter was the extended nature of the partition –  Jan 15 '13 at 11:14