Inserting a partition before existing ones without renaming them

[forks]

I just started installing a new distro and in the first step of the installer, had to choose a partition. I had an ntfs partition as /dev/hda5 and 3 others after it, and wanted to install on the ntfs one, so I deleted it but that renamed all the others (/dev/hda6 to /dev/hda5 etc.), messing up my grub and etc/fstabs. I can fix these but also, when I create a new partition in the unallocated space it is called /dev/hda8. I'm worried that it will also cause problems later for me, having /dev/hda8 near the start of the disk and others after it. Is there any way I can insert the new partition in the unallocated gap, calling it /dev/hda5 and moving the others up one to where they were so that they all work as before. Also, how should I have done by reformatting without changing my other partitions?

[tpl]

welcome to the forum

supposing you are using "gparted" or similar,
then possibly by writing to disk and closing down
with the unallocated space as is, you can then bring
up the partitioner again, with new partition numbers,
and try again.

[forks]

I've tried writing various things, such as an unallocated space and a partition to that space, but nothing seems to change the other partition numbers back now that they've been changed.