Hi Everyone,
I’m currently attempting my first Win7-opensuse dual boot, though not my first opensuse install. I’m having issues getting the partition manager in the install sequence to do its job properly. The problem, preceded by some context information, is as follows:
Basic Info:
Current OS: Windows 7 SP1
opensuse version : 12.3
Hard drives: ~500GB HDD (shown below, uses MBR) 36GB SSD (not shown, used as cache by Windows)
Laptop: Toshiba U845
First: This is the current partitioning of my hard drive, as reported by GParted (in my live session) (abridged)
| Partition | File System | Size | Flags | Notes (me) |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| /dev/sda1 | ntfs | 1.46 GiB | boot,diag,type | Win7 Boot partition, yes? |
| /dev/sda2 | ntfs | 287.64 GiB | type | C:/ on Win7 install |
| /dev/sda3 | 164.82 GiB | type | extended partition created by me | |
| unallocated | 164.82 GiB | |||
| /dev/sda4 | 11.83 GiB | System Restore Partition |
In prepping to instal suse, I shrank my C:/ drive and left the 164.82 GiB unallocated so that the partition manager could use it during boot. At this point, I had forgotten that I couldn’t make any more than 4 primary partitions on the one drive. Even now, I’d think that the partition manager would be able to detect the unallocated space, and make logical partitions for the necessary /, /home, and swap drives.
Instead, this is the partition scheme that the install sequence suggests to me:
-Set type of partition /dev/sda3 to 83
-Format partition /dev/sda1 (1.46 GB) for swap
-Format partition /dev/sda2 (287.64 GB) for / with ext 4
Nothing assigned as root filesystem!
Installation will fail most certainly!
So, it ignores the extended partition (though, it ignored the unallocated space when I tried installing before I made the extended partition) and tries to write over my C: drive. It seems, that is, not to have detected Windows at all. When I tried with an ubuntu liveCD, it told me right out that it didn’t think there was an install already.
When I try to “Create Partition Setup…,” Under Hard Disk it gives me three options, and I don’t understand why any of them are options:
1. MD RAID, 2.58 MB, /dev/md126
2. MD RAID, 2.08 MB, /dev/md127
1. SCSI Disk, 975.25 MB, /dev/sdc, Crucial Gizmo! overdrive
I understand that neither of the “code” sections I’ve included have been code, but they stand out well as system info. Anyway, The Crucial Gizmo! is the flash drive from which the LiveUSB booted. I don’t understand why it gave me that instead of my actual hard drive.
As additional information, if I try to format a logical partition in the 167 GiB extended partition, GParted informs me that the disk is in use by the system, and it can’t touch it. If, in the installation sequence, go into “Edit Partition Setup…,” it doesn’t allow me to touch the 500GiB drive, and gives a similar message. That confuses me, as I believed that unless explicitly mounted, the hard drive isn’t touched in a LiveCD session. When investigated with Dolphin, the 500GiB drive is listed under devices, but when clicked, an error message appears warning that the mount failed due to the device or resource being busy.
I hope that was enough information to at least get a bit of a start on a fix, and I thank you all for your time in helping me troubleshoot. If there is any way to attach an image from a local drive to a post (i.e. not connected to a url) and I’m not finding it, I’d gladly replace my recitations of system info with screenshots.
Best regards,
Tollers
