Using GParted Partition Editor to create extended or logical partition in Ubuntu Debian
by: Revengsky Joseph D. Reyes (a.k.a rjdreyes – jcyberinux.com)

There is such a case or situation, when you have four (4) primary partition on the MBR hard disk drive, and you have still a free space you want to used but you couldn’t format it nor used it. This tutorial, we will conduct a solution to the concern that involves 4 primary partition on the HDD(Hard disk drive) with remaining free space.

Steps / Instructions on How to used GParted Partition Editor to create extended or logical partition in Ubuntu Debian

1. To install GParted on Ubuntu, there are two ways: you can install via Ubuntu Software Center, go to Applications then click Ubuntu Software Center. At the find or search box, type gparted, then click Install. Then the other method is via Terminal, go to Applications then Accessories then click Terminal. At Terminal, type the following command: sudo apt-get install gparted. (Note: You must have an internet connection when you have to install gparted.)

2. After installation, go to System, then to Administration, the click GParted. This will launch the application, type your administration password in case it will ask you to put it.

3. First situation is to analyze your hard disk partition. In my case, I have four (4) primary partition (1)Primary – NTFS Partition (2)Primary – NTFS Partition (3)Primary Linux – Ubuntu ext4 Parition, and lastly (4)Primary Linux-Swap Partition. This happens in my current installations.

4. The idea is to find the smallest partition, in my case, i choose the swap primary partition. I can create another swap partition later on. What I did, is to swap off the linux-swap partition. Choose the linux-swap partition right-click then Swap off.

(In your case may be different, if you wish to modify the hard disk with files or data on it, be sure you backup those files/data or it will be deleted and not able to recover it.)

5. Delete the linux-swap partition, right-click the Delete.

6. Create a new partition, right-click on the unallocated free space, then click New. We are going to choose Extended Partition (in using Extended Partition, we can able to create another partitions, like the Logical Partition, to create more Partition, or another Disk Space Partition and Linux-Swap file. You will get the logic later on.)


Here’s the example setting of Extended Partition, choose Create as Extended Partition, the New size is up to you, let say if you want 32GB that means you need to put 32000 (MB), then the Free space preceding and following as 0, you can also put a Label (a given name)on it . After all the settings are set, click Add.

7. A newly Extended Partition is created, you can now start creating a Logical Partition. At the unallocated space right-click then choose New. Then choose create as Logical Partition, the file system as ntfs, ext4… (is up to you), the New size is (up to you), you may wish creating more partition.


(Note: Just remember to leave at least 2GB of free space for the linux-swap partition, if you delete its linux-swap partition). Then put a Label. After the setting is done, click Add. (See the example picture).

8. At my example picture, you see that I create a NTFS file system Partition, with another unallocated free space. Right-click the unallocated partition, (I will going to used this as a linux-swap partition). Then choose New.


At the example picture, I choose the following settings, Create as: Logical Partition, File system: linux-swap, then the New size is the remaining free space. Then the Free space preceding and following as 0, you can also put a Label (a given name)on it . After all the settings are set, click Add.

9. There all the settings are complete, then now all you need to do is to Apply the current settings. Click the check mark (Apply All Operations), then confirmed it. Once done, now you can put your linux-swap partition to Swapon.

That’s all folks! 😀 I hope this helps you out! 😀

Related Entries / Links / References:
How to Install Ubuntu 10.04 LTS or Ubuntu 11.04 on Desktop or Laptop by Jcyberinux
Ubuntu Official Site
Download Ubuntu Official Site