Trying to install Fedora 15

[linnub]

Hi,
I am completely new to linux and i've heard good things so I downloaded and burnt an .iso of Fedora 15 to CD to try and install it but when I try and shrink a volume I get a list saying:

sda1 (ntfs, 0MB)
sda2 (ntfs, 0MB)
sda3 (ntfs, 0MB)
sda6 (ntfs, 0MB)

Followed by the error message:

Could not allocate requested partitions:
not enough free space on disks.

I don't understand why because I have over 500GB free space.

I went back to Windows 7 and downloaded partition manager, created a new 20GB partition out of some of the space on my C:\ drive, left it as blank space but assigned it a new drive letter, trying to install to that I get the same message. For some reason it seems to think I have no available space.

Here is the fdisk -l:

Disk /dev/sda: 640.1 GB, 640135028736 bytes
255 heads, 63 sectors/track, 77825 cylinders, total 1250263728 sectors
Units = sectors of 1 * 512 = 512 bytes
Sector size (logical/physical): 512 bytes / 512 bytes
I/O size (minimum/optimal): 512 bytes / 512 bytes
Disk identifier: 0x6545374b

Device Boot Start End Blocks Id System
/dev/sda1 * 2048 411647 204800 7 HPFS/NTFS/exFAT
/dev/sda2 411648 1112967134 556277743+ 7 HPFS/NTFS/exFAT
/dev/sda3 1219319808 1250263727 15471960 12 Compaq diagnostics
/dev/sda4 1112967135 1219319807 53176336+ f W95 Ext'd (LBA)
/dev/sda5 1112967198 1155153824 21093313+ 1 FAT12
/dev/sda6 1155158016 1219319807 32080896 7 HPFS/NTFS/exFAT

Partition table entries are not in disk order

Disk /dev/mapper/live-rw: 4294 MB, 4294967296 bytes
255 heads, 63 sectors/track, 522 cylinders, total 8388608 sectors
Units = sectors of 1 * 512 = 512 bytes
Sector size (logical/physical): 512 bytes / 512 bytes
I/O size (minimum/optimal): 512 bytes / 512 bytes
Disk identifier: 0x00000000

Disk /dev/mapper/live-rw doesn't contain a valid partition table

Disk /dev/mapper/live-osimg-min: 4294 MB, 4294967296 bytes
255 heads, 63 sectors/track, 522 cylinders, total 8388608 sectors
Units = sectors of 1 * 512 = 512 bytes
Sector size (logical/physical): 512 bytes / 512 bytes
I/O size (minimum/optimal): 512 bytes / 512 bytes
Disk identifier: 0x00000000

Disk /dev/mapper/live-osimg-min doesn't contain a valid partition table.

Any beginner friendly advice would be greatly appreciated.

Thanks

[yancek]

Your fdisk output shows you have two logical partitions (sda5, sda6) which are both in windows formatted filesystem and Linux won't work on either. All of your partitions are windows formatted except of course, sda4 which is the Extended partition and contains no data. Which partition do you want to install Fedora to? sda5? At what point in the Fedora installation do you get your error message? I expect you would have to select whichever partition you want to use and format it with a Linux filesystem before proceeding. Not being a Fedora user, I hesitate to make any more detailed recommendation as it generall uses LVM which I am not familiar with. I'm sure someone more familiar with Fedora will see your post and make a suggestion.

[ryptyde]

You have to have "unallocated free space" to install to and you have to many partitions for a Fedora install. I would first make sure that restore/recovery discs are created and working for the Windows side. Make sure you back up any important personal data.

The Windows disk management tool should allow you to delete the extra partitions you created. Keep the Compaq diagnostic and W7 partitions for sure and delete the unused extra ones. You should leave adequate space for W7 and at least 10GB of unallocated free space for Fedora. I have usually split drive space between Windows and Fedora giving about half to each.

The important thing here is to make sure you have made working back up/restore discs. In the event something goes amiss you will only lose some time in recovering and not all of your data.

phil