IMPORTANT: Read this whole walkthrough before starting; it's pretty involved.
If you had a non-dynamic disk, you would be able to copy one partition (preferably Data) to an image, make a new logical partition, and then put it into the logical (from image).
The problem with "dynamic disk" is that it pretty much is not supported by anything. I have an Acer Aspire as well and the original partitions (Recovery, System Reserved, Windows, Data). Something Microsoft won't tell you is that you cannot change back from dynamic disc - ever.
Here's what I would do for this thorny problem: (note that this would require another hard drive or some tricky maneuvering for the backup; if you don't have another hard drive I can revise this)
- Start up your computer with a linux LiveCD or LiveUSB
- Install GParted if it's not included on the disc (program will be stored in RAM)
- Shrink all partitions you want to keep to the minimum size (no free space left) and then copy them to a backup external hard drive or old drive in a caddy
- Delete everything on your hard drive except the "PQSERVICE" or recovery partition
- Make a new NTFS partition for your Windows install
Acer Recovery is a strange beast - if restoring to a blank hard drive, it will make a System Reserved partition without being given permission. But, when given a single partition to install to, it will not create a "System Reserved" partition. (Note that "System Reserved" is necessary if you plan to use BitLocker encryption on Windows. TrueCrypt and other, superior, software does not require this.) By doing this, you will end up with only 2 primary partitions on your hard drive - breathing space for us to make a logical partition for Linux and maybe other OSes in the future.
Note: You can also make a "Data" partition here, but you'll have to configure it yourself, and I have no idea how to do that.
- Before exiting your live media, run
grub-install
on your hard drive with the appropriate parameters so that os-prober
will give you a boot menu entry to chainload your recovery partition.
- Boot up your computer from the hard drive and start "Windows Recovery Environment"
- Tell it to restore not the whole computer but only windows. It should automatically find your blank partition and restore to it.
- Proceed with user account creation, etc. As soon as you get to a functioning desktop (install is completely done), shut down windows and boot your live media.
- Mount your backed-up Windows partition and copy the directories you want (usually just program files) back to their proper locations.
- Reboot Windows and check that everything is still working properly (you can uninstall bloatware at this stage too).
- Boot up your live media here and make a logical partition taking up all of the unallocated space you left when you made your Windows partition.
- Copy your Data partition to inside of the logical partition.
Now, you can get on with installing your Linux system. OS-prober will of course automatically detect your Windows install and from here it should be smooth sailing.
Have you tried creating partitions in Windows, using a tool such as Partition Magic from Symantec? You may be able to create the appropriate partitions in Windows first, and then install Linux after... I think the live CD showed a temp partition for booting from disk. You didn't create any partitions using the live CD did you? – nicorellius – 2010-04-02T16:54:57.377
No. I didn't create any partition using the live cd. With the windows administration tool, I can create another NTFS partition by resizing the data partition. I didn't try with the windows tools you mentioned though. I am not sure, even if I create the partitions using the tools, linux will show anything after the 4th one. – rangalo – 2010-04-02T17:36:20.600