not enough free space for automatic partitioning?

[nps1024]

Fedora 14, 64-bit. In installer i came to partitioning, chose option: User Free Space, on hdd i have a partiotion (unformatted) of 40 GB. Still, installer says:

Could not find enough free space for automatic partitioning, please use another partitioning method.

What should i do?

PS. I don't want to create partitions manually, because I don't know how to do it and installer is going to do it way better itself. I can't use whole hdd either as i have windows and data on it which i cannot lose.
PPS. I tried unformatted partition, unallocated space (of 40 GB), options: User Free Space, Create Custom Layout, but i always get an error msg about 'not enough space'. Is it possible, that installer is bugged?

[stoat]

Originally Posted by nps1024

I tried unformatted partition, unallocated space (of 40 GB), options: User Free Space, Create Custom Layout, but i always get an error msg about 'not enough space'. Is it possible, that installer is bugged?

I doubt it. A bug like that would have provoked a cataclysmic outcry from all over the Earth. What is very common however, is for you to already have four primary partitions. In that situation, having free unpartitioned space out on the disk platters won't matter if the partition table is full. To have more than four partitions, one of them must be an extended partition for logical partitions. Anyway, it happens all the time. Sometimes people forget about or never knew about hidden utility and restore partitions on the drive. Take a moment to study the Disk Management utility in Windows. It may answer the question. Maybe you can post a screenshot of it.

[nps1024]

I can post some linux-console-command output. Like fdisk or what. Just say which one.

[stoat]

Okay, fdisk will show the current partitions.

su
fdisk -l

[nps1024]

fdisk coming, now (as im in windows) screen:

I have lenovo y560, it already came with some additional (hidden?) partition(s). :P Also MS Office 2010 (i think) added another one (Q, although someone said its virtual so it shouldnt make any difference for my problem (or am i wrong)?

Too many partitions explanation is probably right, (im gonna post that fdisk to make you sure), so tell my, how do i install fedora then and how (if possible) can i get rid of already made partitions (only one partitions for windows would be great, but i cant reinstall the system).

[stoat]

Well, it says one of those four partitions is a logical partition, so maybe it is sitting in (and completely filling) an extended partition (another common thing). Do show the fdisk. If it confirms that speculation, then maybe you can use a partition manager to adjust the beginning or end of the extended partition so as to move that free space inside the extended partition (easy job for GParted). Then Anaconda can create more logical partition and will proceed with the installation.

[nps1024]

[root@localhost liveuser]# fdisk -l

Disk /dev/sda: 500.1 GB, 500107862016 bytes
255 heads, 63 sectors/track, 60801 cylinders, total 976773168 sectors
Units = sectors of 1 * 512 = 512 bytes
Sector size (logical/physical): 512 bytes / 512 bytes
I/O size (minimum/optimal): 512 bytes / 512 bytes
Disk identifier: 0xc3ffc3ff

   Device Boot      Start         End      Blocks   Id  System
/dev/sda1   *        2048      411647      204800    7  HPFS/NTFS
/dev/sda2          411648   796711544   398149948+   7  HPFS/NTFS
/dev/sda3       881911808   945829887    31959040    f  W95 Ext'd (LBA)
/dev/sda4       945829888   976773167    15471640    2  XENIX root
/dev/sda5       881913856   945829887    31958016    7  HPFS/NTFS

Disk /dev/dm-0: 3221 MB, 3221225472 bytes
255 heads, 63 sectors/track, 391 cylinders, total 6291456 sectors
Units = sectors of 1 * 512 = 512 bytes
Sector size (logical/physical): 512 bytes / 512 bytes
I/O size (minimum/optimal): 512 bytes / 512 bytes
Disk identifier: 0x00000000

Disk /dev/dm-0 doesn't contain a valid partition table

Disk /dev/dm-1: 3221 MB, 3221225472 bytes
255 heads, 63 sectors/track, 391 cylinders, total 6291456 sectors
Units = sectors of 1 * 512 = 512 bytes
Sector size (logical/physical): 512 bytes / 512 bytes
I/O size (minimum/optimal): 512 bytes / 512 bytes
Disk identifier: 0x00000000

Disk /dev/dm-1 doesn't contain a valid partition table

Done from fedora live boot.

[stoat]

The fdisk confirms the speculation. I rearranged the fdisk output by cylinders to see the situation better, and I inserted the free cylinders...

/dev/sda1   *        2048      411647      204800    7  HPFS/NTFS
/dev/sda2          411648   796711544   398149948+   7  HPFS/NTFS
free space      796711545   881911807
/dev/sda3       881911808   945829887    31959040    f  W95 Ext'd (LBA)
      \
       \---free space      881911808   881913855
        \--/dev/sda5       881913856   945829887    31958016    7  HPFS/NTFS

/dev/sda4       945829888   976773167    15471640    2  XENIX root

All cylinders are used and accounted for except the free cylinders. And most if them happen to be directly next to and "in front" of the extended partition which is indeed almost completely filled by one partition making it useless for more logical partitions. A small amount of space exits at "the front" of the extended partition. You need to use GParted (available via yum or as a LiveCD) to "slide" the "front edge" of the extended partition to "the left" in GParted next to the end of the second partition. That will have the effect of moving the free space inside the extended partition. Try just looking at the situation in the GParted GUI, and you'll see what I mean.

WARNING: Before you do anything more, I recommend that you stop and make a thorough tested backup of anything important on this hard drive. The best idea (IMO) is disk imaging software (e.g., Acronis True Image, but there are others). I would image each existing partition and store the images on an alternate medium (e.g., external drive, DVD, etc.). Partition manipulation and OS installation are operations with a high potential to destroy the data on any drive connected and running at the time you do them.

[nps1024]

Great thanks to you, man, it solved the problem. I'm now posting from my new fedora system.

Still - do you know if (and how) I can reduce my partitions number?