Resize XP partition for more Ubuntu space

[Emerzen]

Hey Charles,



Sorry to hear you're having such a difficult go at partitioning.



1.)  Here's a way to to back up your system from w/in Linux (using
compression / zip utlities):



'Backup Whole or Part of System'
(http://www.ubuntuforums.org/showthread.php?t=35087) 



This can take some time if you have alot of data.  I've used it to back
up w/out a problem, but (luckily) have never had to restore anything
yet.



2.)  Let me try to summarize: you have 1 NTFS partition, and 3 ext
partitions, and 1 bit of empty space.  And, you are not being allowed
to resize the ext partitions.  Would it be possible for you to move any
data from your non-boot partition (ext) to the partition your system
boots off (ext).  Then delete that partition that you just moved
everything off of, then create a new partition taking up all the space.
Then redistribute the data you moved back to the new partition?



(If you try this I would make the move, then reboot to make sure
everything is okay before deleting the empty partition.)  



Does that make sense, would it work given your set-up?



Other options:

I've used Partition Magic back in my Windows days and it worked fine. 
I believe there is a "merge" function in Partition Magic that you could
use.  You should do a bit of research as it's been a long time since
I've used it and I've never used it on extended formats.  



Again, I'm no expert at partitioning so you should research this before
proceeding and backing up 1st is the right idea.  By the way, are you
running Breezy or Hoary?  Breezy has several utilities that make it
quite easy to add/remove partitions to your system (but not resize).


-- 
Emerzen