Query about hard drive partitions maintenance

[Bret Busby <bret@busby.net>]

Hello.

In investigating a problem to do with the UDF filesystem format, in 
running the Disk Utility, I found the system hard drive partition table, 
and have a couple of questions.

The first is this; I have some empty partitions for storing data, and 
they were created using the Ubuntu 10.04 installation (before I 
installed Debian 6 on the system), and I need to know how to access them 
as a user, to move and write data to them.

Using the File Browser, on one of them that I managed to mount using 
the utility, the Permissions are all shown as root, and so, as a user, I 
cannot change them.

Using the Disk Utility, in selecting a partition, no option is apparent 
for changing partition permissions to allow users to write to the 
partition.

To me, simply using the su - root then chmod 666 for /dev/sdax, to 
change the partition permissions, does not seem right, so I am wondering 
whether there is something that I am missing, in trying to use the Disk 
Utility to provide full user access to the partition(s).

So, please advise whether there is something that I am missing in using 
the Disk Utility to grant users full access to the unused partitions.

The next problem may be a bit more difficult (or, unable to be solved).

In my primary partition, I have three partitions. I have a hardware 
manufacturer's partition, a recovery partition, and, as the computer 
came with MS Windows, a Windows partition, which is 84GB.

Having inmstalled Ubuntu and Debian 6, I want to experiment with a 
different operating system, which requires to be installed in a primary 
partition (otherwise, I could instal it in one of the unused 
partitions).

With what I now have on the hard drive, rather than deleting the 
logical partition, and starting the mutiple systems build all over 
again, to get an extra primary partition (I understand that up to four 
primary partitions can be created and used), I wonder whether there is 
some way of shrinking the existing sda3 partition, which is where MS 
Windows is installed, and creating a new primary partition; sda4, into 
which I could instal the other operating system, rather than 
obliterating everyuthing that I now have in the extended logical 
partition.

sda3 is 84GB, and I believe (although I am not sure, but, it sounds 
reasonable) that 42 GB should be enough space for each of Windows in one 
partition (Win7 Pro), and the other operating system in its own 
partition of 42GB.

So, please advise whetehr I can now adjust the primary partition sda3, 
to shrink it to 42Gb and create another primary partition; sda4, that I 
could use to instal and run another operating system.

Thank you in anticipation.

--
Bret Busby
Armadale
West Australia
..............

"So once you do know what the question actually is,
 you'll know what the answer means."
- Deep Thought,
  Chapter 28 of Book 1 of
  "The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy:
  A Trilogy In Four Parts",
  written by Douglas Adams,
  published by Pan Books, 1992
....................................................