12.04 - Merge unallocated partitions

So my disk ended up being partitioned like this (in order):

• System reserved (100MB)


• Windows 7 (NTFS, 500GB)


• Ubuntu (ext4, 100GB)


• Swap (4GB)


• Unallocated Space (400GB)

Unfortunately, the unallocated space is not next to ext4 or NTFS partitions.

I want to allocate 200GB to the Windows 7 NTFS partition, the other 200GB to the Ubuntu partitions. I think one can only merge partitions that are next to each other, not sure how to handle my case.

Any suggestions? Is there anything I should pay attention to (such as not screwing up either Windows or Ubuntu system, not screwing up GRUB).

I am using Ubuntu 12.04.

Yes, the space does need to be contiguous to merge. You will need to move a few things around, and do it in stages. I wouldn't try to do it all at once, since some steps may take a bit of time.

You will need to do it using a live CD or live USB, as you can't mess with a mounted partition.

I recommend first creating a swap drive at the end of the disk. Then, highlight the old swap drive, choose swap off, unmount that partition, and delete it.

You can move the Ubuntu partition over into the unallocated space, then merge the space before Ubuntu with Windows, and merge the space after Ubuntu with Ubuntu.

You might also consider leaving them as is, creating a data partition using NTFS, then pointing both windows and Ubuntu to this partition for Documents, pictures, music, etc. Windows 7 has a way to change the location for these directories, and you can create symbolic links in Ubuntu to point to the same place. This makes it much easier to share data with both systems, and never duplicate data.