[Q] Unknown partition- safe to use for dual boot?

alljokingaside

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Hi,

Just got a new Acer, want to dual boot Fedora, and just want to double check the layout of the pre-partitioned SSD drive

sdb1: label: ESP
sdb2: type: unknown ; label: none ; size: 16.00 MiB ; filesystem: unformatted
sdb3: label: Acer
sdb4: label: Recovery

What is sdb2?

My first guess is that it's just empty space and I can make an extended partition (or 2 extra for a total of 5? I havent partitioned a SSD before) for /root and /swap here (I have a secondary hd which i assume i'll symlink to the /home drive). However, I looked online a few links mention a Microsoft Reserved Partition of about the same size. Can I delete or should I find another way?

I assume I should keep sdb1,3, and 4 (although I did make a system image and recovery usb as back up just in case I need the warranty).

Thanks!
 
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sdb2 does appear to be freespace. You can never use every megabyte of space when you create multiple partitions. However, sdb2 isn't big enough for you to use it for anything. It's only 16 megabytes. What you'll want to do is to shrink your Windows partition as much as you can. Gparted or KDE Partition Manager will allow you to do this. Using them will allow you to see how much of that partition is in use. If you don't plan on installing much to Windows after this, you can shrink it to within a couple Gigs of that size. If you plan on booting to Windows often, then adjust accordingly. After you make a new empty space you can add your new Linux partition(s).
 
Yeah, the info was KDE partition manager. My thinking was similar, but just making sure. Thanks!

Yeah, Windows'll probably be allotted 50 G of the 128 SSD. I don't plan on using Windows much, but will need to keep it for a few things. Ugh. Plus warranty.

I've been reading up on SSDs and it seems that where I partition it (like in terms of physical space, eg sdb2 vs sdb4) won't matter.... (unlike a HDD- again, a total SSD noob here; my laptop buy was 2011). I'll go ahead and assume thats correct unless someone say otherwise!
 
G'day @alljokingaside and welcome to linux.org :)

I take it you can access linux commands through, perhaps use of a live disk/USB?

Can you give us the output of (my comment prefaced by a #)

Code:
sudo fdisk -l

#that's a lowercase L
?

Cheers

Chris Turner
wizardfromoz
 
Hey Wizardfromoz

Thanks! The laptop isnt wifi connected atm (or anytime soon. Traveling atm and found some down time. Usb tethering it to my phone wont work since I'm using drivedroid for the liveiso)

Anyhow, sdb2's "type" is listed as "Microsoft Reserved" accd. to fdisk. From what I've read, that might hold bootloaders so I'll leave well enough alone.

Anyhow, seeing as i made a recovery usb and a system image, ill likely go ahead and delete the recovery partition. Thanks again!!! Y'all are awesome!
 
That's fine, @alljokingaside , but I asked for the output for a reason.

I am looking for a line or lines that may say something like (the following are examples from my drives)

Sector size (logical/physical): 512 bytes / 4096 bytes
I/O size (minimum/optimal): 4096 bytes / 4096 bytes
Disklabel type: dos

or

Units: sectors of 1 * 512 = 512 bytes
Sector size (logical/physical): 512 bytes / 4096 bytes
I/O size (minimum/optimal): 4096 bytes / 4096 bytes
Disklabel type: gpt

... so can you deliver?

It will determine what you can do and what you cannot do with your partitioning.

Cheers

Wizard
 
If you're not going to boot to Windows, ever, but need to keep it for the warranty, an option would be to purchase a new SSD and put the original in a drawer somewhere. Seeing as you only have 128, it's a bit small for 2 OSes, at least if you want to play games. If all you're going to do with it is web browsing and stuff like that, then you'd be fine. You only need about 50 Gigs or so for Linux. HOwever, if you want to game on it, you'll need more....way more. My laptop came with 256, I shrank the Windows partition. Not for warranty, but just in case something comes up that only runs on Windows. But I had plenty to spare, for a little while. Games take up SOOO much space. So I added a 1TB HHD. FYI, I have 212 Gigs of games (not all are installed) and 120 Gigs of movies. That doesn't include all the music on my file server.
 

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