Confuse with Dell partition system , help on partiton

As I know Dell got 4 partition which are

Primary : Dell Utilities
Primary : C:\ (vista OS)
Primary : Recovery
Primary : Media Direct 3

I plan to install dual boot or tri boot if possible with Vista , XP , ubuntu.
Besides , I plan to retain back all of Dell setting that are Dell Utilities , Recovery and Media Direct 3.I want all of them to work.Am I too greedy ?

So how should I partition my hard disk ? Step that need to start first ?

Thank you

 

just delete the C:\ partition wise and separate it accordingly. but i dont know if there is a special way that Dell did this.

 

anyone can kindly guide through?

 

You need to walk before you run....

Google is your first step....

Simply search for:
multiboot XP Vista Ubunto

And back up every step along the way.....

There is no fool-proof method since there are LOTS of manual steps where things can (and will) go wrong....

-LQ

 

Thanks , but I'd like to know is there possible to tri boot Vista xp and ubuntu with Dell Utilities , Recovery and Media Direct 3 all working ?

 

The problem here is that Windows needs to be on a primary (and AFAIK) active partition, in order to boot, otherwise it throws a tantrum.
Linux could boot from a pepperoni pizza, should you wish so.

So, to do what you want you'd need

• a primary partition for Dell Utilities (which, if I understood it correctly) are on the first primary partition and should be left untouched.
• a primary partition for Vista
• a primary partition for XP

and

• an extended partition into which you'd put as many flavors of Linux as you wish,

plus---

Heck, we've run out of primary partitions for Media Direct and the recovery partition!
If you have the discs, the recovery partition is not that essentiale (maybe you could copy its content into a logical partition); but Media Direct... I hear that o n some systems it is based on Windows PE, so it's highly probable it will throw a tantrum. :-(

As for me, after I will have thoroghly checked my Vostro, I'll smite Vista and will arrange its partitions in this way:

PRI 1: Dell Diagnostic
PRI 2: XP Pro SP2 (5-8 GB, no more than that, see below)
PRI 3: Linux loaded by the MediaDirect button (5 GB, see below)
EXT Partition
-another Linux on a logical partition
-ntfs partition for XP programs
-ntfs partition for XP data
-ntfs partition for my documents
-FAT32 partion to exchange data with Linux
-/home /var partitions for the Linux systems
-more...
​

I, too, would have liked to keep the recovery partition 'alive' but since my lappie will come with the would-be-nerfed Vista, I don't have to face that problem anymore.