Replace Linpus with Ubuntu

I installed Ubuntu on my AA1 and am very happy with it, but it's installed on an extended partition and I'm running out of disk space. Limpus is on the boot partition, which takes up half the disk and is mostly empty. How can I get rid of Linpus and return the disk to a single partition under Ubuntu, without wiping the whole disk and re-installing?

Thanks in anticipation

 

I would copy all the data in the user directory to an external device for backup and then use Gparted to remove Linpus then move Ubuntu to the beginning of the drive.

 

@donec : Thanks ... please bear with me, though, as I'm a Windoze person so I don't really know what's going on when I'm doing Linux stuff.

1. I just loaded gparted but it appears that I have to unmount the Ubuntu partition before I can do anything with it. Can I unmount it if I've booted into it? If not, how can I move it?

2. Is it really as simple as deleting the Linpus (boot) partition (/dev/sda1) and then expanding the extended partition (/dev/sda3) to include the freed-up space? Do I have to mark the extended partition as bootable? How does grub know what's going on when the machine re-boots? And, Ubuntu is actually in a logical partition (/dev/sda5) living inside the extended partition -- is it OK to leave it there?

Thanks!

 

I quite understand as I still don't work well with the terminal.

You can not unmount it if you are using it. You will need to boot from a live cd/dvd or a live usb stick to move the Ubuntu portion of the drive. Of course you could just delete the Linpus portion and create a new partition where it was leaving the Ubuntu potion alone.

Yes

You don't really need to extend the extended partition. You can just format the Linpus partition as fat 32 and use it for storage.

no.

If you do not move Ubuntu then grub will still know where Ubuntu is as it will not change.

Yes

In reality It would be cleaner to reinstall Ubuntu and use the full drive then just paste the backup of your user files into the user directory over writing what is there.

 

@donec : Wow, what a great reply -- thanks! How do I nominate you for the Simple And Clear Reply Of The Year award?

Yes, I know, but I installed a whole bunch of stuff and it'll be a royal pain to have to install it again ... unless you know of a way whereby I can preserve what I've got and just dump it down on top of a reinstall of Ubuntu ...

If I may ask a supplemental question: Assuming I just wipe out the Linpus partition, reformat and use it for data storage (BTW, why do you suggest using FAT32 rather than, say, ext4?), how do I (automatically, on boot-up) mount it in the Ubuntu file system tree, e.g. as /home/xmfcllick ?

 

Really I use Linux Mint and it has a program named mintbackup, that works very well. It allows you to backup your user directory and allows you to make a list of all the files including programs that you have on your computer. Then when you restore your user directory you restore the files in the list. It gives you the option of selecting the files to restore but I just use all of them.

I did a little research and found out that you can use mintbackup with Ubuntu. The instructions for installing mintbackup in Ubuntu are to be found on the following site. I have used the instructions from this site for several programs and they have always worked well.
http://www.webupd8.org/2010/07/install-mintbackup-linux-mint-backup.html

You know I don't really know why other than it is the way I do it. I run a dual boot with Win7 just to know what is going on with MS. So I guess I do it (out of habit) so I can access the files I put in data partitions via Win7 also.

 

@donec : You have restored my faith in humanity! Thankyou so much for your replies. I need to work out how to back up my data across my home network onto a Win7 machine, but that's for another place (I've never been able to get my AA1 to talk to Win-anything, though my wife's Eee does it quite happily).

Happy New Year to you!

- click

 

Yes the interconnectivity of Linux and Windows does leave something to be desired. :lol: I would suggest that you get an external drive for backup or maybe you can connect to your wife's Eee and then to the Win7 machine. Happy New Year to you too.