GParted shows there are overlapping partitions

GParted shows that I have overlapping partitions. I don't understand much from partitions, but this is my output "fdisk -l -u":

 Device Boot Start End Blocks Id System
/dev/sda1 2048 72265727 36131840 83 Linux
/dev/sda2 72267774 488375999 208054113 f W95 Ext'd (LBA)
/dev/sda3 * 81915498 286712054 102398278+ 7 HPFS/NTFS/exFAT
/dev/sda5 72267776 77148159 2440192 82 Linux swap / Solaris
/dev/sda6 286712118 488375999 100831941 7 HPFS/NTFS/exFAT
lyubolp@lyubolp-PC:~$ ^C

If you can tell me what is the problem and what is the overlapping partition, I will follow this guide on how to fix my issue.

/dev/sda2 is an extended partition. Its end number is 488375999. Should /dev/sda6 have the same end number?

My partitions are on 1 HDD. Here they are:

Red ones are NTFS, blue one is ext3. (Using Ext2 Volume Manager to get ext3 in Windows)

Additional info:

• OS: Windows XP SP3 (on 90GB partition)/Ubuntu 13.10 (on 30 GB partition)
• CPU: Intel Pentium e2160
• RAM: 1GB DDR2;
• Hard drive partitions:
  • 90 GB NTFS - Windows
  • 90 GB NTFS - other stuff
  • 30 GB ext3 - Ubuntu

1 Answer

On a Master Boot Record (MBR) disk (which you have), there are three types of partitions:

• Primary -- You can have only four primary partitions. They're the original type of partition. In Linux, they're numbered 1-4.
• Extended -- This is a special type of primary partition that's intended to get around the 4-primary-partition limit of MBR. An extended partition serves as a placeholder for logical partitions; it essentially just marks out a block of space in which logical partitions reside. Extended partitions are identified by a type code of 0x05, 0x0f, or 0x85.
• Logical -- These partitions are contained entirely inside an extended partition. In Linux, they're numbered 5 and up.

A disk can have only one extended partition. The problem is this:

 Device Boot Start End Blocks Id System
/dev/sda2 72267774 488375999 208054113 f W95 Ext'd (LBA)
/dev/sda3 * 81915498 286712054 102398278+ 7 HPFS/NTFS/exFAT

You have an extended partition (/dev/sda2; note the type code of f, short for 0x0f, in the Id column) and a primary partition (/dev/sda3) that resides entirely within the extended partition. This is illegal. Such problems can be created by buggy partitioning software. The standard Windows partitioning tools, through at least Windows Vista, are known to do this sometimes.

The solution is to use a tool that can repair the damage by adjusting the size of the extended partition and/or change the primary/logical status of certain partitions. In your case, you've got only four partitions (not counting your extended partition), so you could go with an all-primary setup; but that would leave you with no ability to create new partitions in the gaps that exist between some of your partitions. Thus, you may want to do something else. Windows must boot from a primary partition, so if your /dev/sda3 is a Windows boot partition, it must remain primary. If so, you could leave it as such and turn /dev/sda6 into a primary partition, leaving /dev/sda5 as the only logical partition; or you could do that and turn /dev/sda1 into a logical partition. This will give you more flexibility when it comes time to move and resize partitions.

You can do this with my FixParts program, which is installed with the gdisk package in Ubuntu. Be sure to read the instructions thoroughly. A mistake when using this program (or any partitioning program) can cause serious problems; you don't want to just jump in and try it like you would a drawing program!