up vote 2 down vote favorite
share [g+] share [fb]

I have the entire harddrive on my computer partitioned for my ubuntu install. Arkham Asylum is tempting me to get back into gaming. Is there a way to take half of my harddrive, and create a separate partition to install Windows Vista on without losing the data I have on my ubuntu partition?

Harddrive is less than 25% filled.

link|improve this question
100% accept rate
Did you try this? Did it work? – NVRAM Oct 23 '09 at 20:50
feedback

2 Answers

up vote 1 down vote accepted

First, make a backup of your data to some external media.

Then boot up your Ubuntu install CD (select the "Try without installing" option at the CD boot menu) and go to System > Administration > Partition Editor. This will run gparted.

You can then resize the Ubuntu partition and create a new NTFS partition for Windows. Once that's done, reboot and install Windows Vista and make sure that you select the partition that says it's NTFS and empty (otherwise, your data gets erased).

After installing Windows Vista, reboot with the Ubuntu CD again (Try without installing again) and follow the instructions here.

link|improve this answer
actually you can install Gparted instead of using a install cd. Just sudo apt-get install gparted, or install it via Ubuntu Software Center – Decio Lira Nov 12 '09 at 1:07
feedback
up vote 6 down vote

You can use gparted to reduce the size of partitions and to create new ones. But you should also have a live cd handy to reinstall grub after windows has overwritten it. Also, I would recommend a full backup before you let the windows installer touch anything.

link|improve this answer
Here's some reasonably simple instructions for recovering grub ranacse05.wordpress.com/2008/01/12/… – Col Aug 29 '09 at 15:58
feedback

Your Answer

 
or
required, but never shown
discard

Not the answer you're looking for? Browse other questions tagged or ask your own question.