How can I partition my X60s?

[John H]

I bought a used x60s on eBay which has XP on the HDD. It looks like a restore of the original XP.

So, of course, I wanted to add a Ubuntu partition, just as I have done before on 4 thinkpads. But, for reasons unexplained, "GParted" won't allow me to re-size the XP partition, and there is no space left on the little 60gb HDD. Incidentally, GPartEd says the XP partition is 55gb, but I ascribed the missing 5gb to the usual overhead (but now I worry that it may be the 'restore system' stuff).

So, I tried the Ubuntu 9.04 LiveCD (which works just fine as a demo system, and passed the CD check), but when I attempted an "Install" I couldn't allocate a partition or resize the XP.

I thought maybe the XP partition looked full because of some bogey file at the end of the partition, but the XP 'de-frag' showed nothing there and didn't do very much when de-fragging.

So, what's going on? Has Lenova installed the base XP system with some trick partition table that won't allow manipulation? Do I have to scratch the whole XP, re-format the HDD, and build partitions from scratch and re-install XP as well as install Ubuntu?

I used the XP a few days while I was checking out the hardware, so I have a few things in that partition, but I could export that stuff. But the XP system seems to be a good one, and may even correspond to the COA on the bottom of the X60s so I'd kinda like to preserve it (I could use Acronis, which I've used before, if that would solve my problem).

Also, I wonder if the 'Restore' stuff is hidden on that HDD, which is probably worth saving.

Maybe I should just install a bigger faster HDD and start from scratch. Then I could put the old HDD in a USB box and use 'ppcopy' or something to copy the XP over.

[ZaZ]

Could try Wubi.

[John H]

Could try Wubi.

Maybe I will use 'wubi'. I've never used it before and I'm curious. I have enough thinkpads running that I could afford to have one devoted to wubi.

But I'm still curious: Why can't I change that XP partition size?

[louieb]

Just a guess. Try turning off virtual memory. May be the swap file is neat the end.
Right click My Computer>Properties>Advanced>Performance>Advanced>Virtual.

It would not hurt to run de-frag again - also I normally run chkdsk too - just prior to shrinking a partition formated with NTFS.

[Davemci]

If the restore partition is there, shouldn't one of the boot options be "F11"? If it's not there I don't think the "F11" option is shown. Also, if the restore partition is there you could just delete the XP partition then create a smaller XP partition, restore XP using "F11" at boot. Since the computer is new, it's not like you have a lot to lose by restoring the factory load. Also, since you booted from a live CD you should be able to inspect the hard disks partitions to see if the IBM_Service partition exists.