I have a dual boot Ubuntu 10.04 and Vista laptop.
My Ubuntu partions /dev/sda4 extended, which contains a /dev/sda5 ext4 and a /dev/sda6 ntfs partition.
Vista is on /dev/sda2 ntfs. I would like to wipe vista out, turn off dual boot (if possible) and use the space taken by vista to extend my /dev/sda6 ntfs partition in ubuntu.
What's the best way of doing this safely?
I use GParted for all of my partition re-sizing needs now. I've found it to be stable, and work very well all around.
The best way of doing it safely? Backup your Ubuntu partitions.
GParted is an excellent tool however the operation you describe will involve some major disk operations and there is always a risk of data loss when moving partitions around. You can find GParted in the System -> Administration menu.
You will then have to update grub (or possibly reinstall it) - see https://help.ubuntu.com/community/Grub2
If it was me, I'd skip all the mucking around and just do a clean install. But if you want to try the repartitioning (if only as a learning experience), a clean install is a great fallback option too.
