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I have a 16 GB USB stick, and I want to use as an Ubuntu installer, but I also want to have a data partition. For that I created have two partitions:

Model: Kingston DT Elite 3.0 (scsi)
Disk /dev/sdd: 30867456s
Sector size (logical/physical): 512B/512B
Partition Table: msdos

Number  Start      End        Size       Type     File system  Flags
 2      2048s      26673151s  26671104s  primary  ntfs
 1      26673152s  30867455s  4194304s   primary  fat32        boot

First I have first created the FAT32 partition and I used UNetbootin to make the bootable installer. (note: I have created only the first partition because UNetbootin works only if I have only one partition on the usb stick).

After that I created the second, NTFS partition, which I want to use as a data partition.

The installers works and data partition is mounted correctly in Linux.

The problem is that in Windows is mounted the Ubuntu install (FAT32) partition instead of the data partition (NTFS). It seems that the partition number 1 (the ubuntu installer) is mounted.

Is it possible to swap the partition entries (1, 2) in the Master Boot Record (MBR) to make the data (NTFS) partition the first?

Thanks!

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2 Answers 2

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This has nothing to do with your MBR. Open up diskmgmt.msc in Windows, that will show you your drives and their parrtitions. It sounds like your NTFS partition isn't being assigned a drive letter in Windows, so right-click on it and do that.

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  • I know that, but what I want is to make the data partition the one mounted by default. I want just an ordinary usb stick with an extra (hidden) ubuntu installer.
    – bluetiger9
    Jan 2, 2014 at 22:04
  • Once you assign a drive letter to it, it will appear as a normal drive every time you boot into Windows and plug it in. The other partition will also show under My Computer, but you don't have to touch it if you don't want to. You can try experimenting with removing the drive letter from the Ubuntu partition, just be careful you don't mess it up.
    – Bigbio2002
    Jan 2, 2014 at 22:06
  • I know, but I am using the stick on many computers. It is boring to assign letter every time I use on a different computer.
    – bluetiger9
    Jan 2, 2014 at 22:14
  • You'll only need to assign it once.
    – Bigbio2002
    Jan 2, 2014 at 22:18
  • Unfortunately you'll have to do it on each computer once.
    – tumchaaditya
    Jan 2, 2014 at 22:49
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I managed to solve the problem in the following way.

  1. Deleted the data partition
  2. Created a NTFS partition for the data.
  3. Created a new FAT32 partition with the same size as the old FAT32 one.
  4. Cloned the old FAT32 content to the new FAT32 partition. (using partclone)
  5. Deleted old FAT32 partition.

As result the first partition in the MBR is the data partition.

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