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For as long as I have remembered, I have been using Microsoft Windows as my primary os. I was using ubuntu with Virtualbox but never had it as my primary os. A couple of months ago, I decided to install ubuntu along with windows. I don't really use windows now.

I kinda ran into a problem today. During the installation, I set the ubuntu installation drive size to 20 gb, and now I'm lacking space. I've been going around deleting apt's cache and other stuff to get by, but that is starting to become annoying now.

The thing is, since I'm multibooting, I still have my windows system drive hanging around. I want to add that space to my ubuntu drive.

Here's how the partitions are structured in my machine:

Gparted Snapshot

/dev/sda1 --> That annoying 100mb drive that windows makes in your computer
/dev/sda2 --> System drive of my windows installation
/dev/sda3 --> All my stuff is here
/dev/sda4 --> Ubuntu drive.

My Question:

Can I merge /dev/sda2 and /dev/sda4 without messing up /dev/sda3 and /dev/sda4? Also, do I have to do something like Removing Windows before deleting /dev/sda2?

menixator
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  • 8

1 Answers1

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Can I merge /dev/sda2 and /dev/sda4 without messing up /dev/sda3 and /dev/sda4?

You can only merge partitions that are next to eachother.

Also, do I have to do something like Removing Windows before deleting /dev/sda2?

No. If you delete sda2 you basically delete Windows.

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What I would do since there is no need messing around.

and then ...

  • delete sda2.
  • format it as EXT4.
  • mount /home/ in sda2.

The more difficult method ...

  • delete sda2 and leave unallocated
  • add that space to sda3
  • shrink sda3 so that the empty space is at the end of sda3
  • add space to sda5

That will take hours and hours and hours to finish (the less free space there is the longer this will take since files will be moved to the beginning of sda3).

Rinzwind
  • 299,756
  • Massive N.B. deleting sda2 will delete Windows, which will free u from the evil OS, but can be really annoying to put back if needed... – Wilf Dec 22 '14 at 19:52
  • Nah. I won't be needing windows anymore. – menixator Dec 22 '14 at 20:34
  • No need for a gparted dvd since it is already in the ubuntu live dvd. Also if you do want to use the partition for /home you will need to move your existing files in /home there, and the time it takes to move the partition doesn't depend on how much free space is in the volume as gparted doesn't know what is free or not and so moves everything ( except on ext[234] with very recent versions of gparted and e2fsprogs ) – psusi Dec 23 '14 at 03:00