Trying to Resize Windows Filesystem for Knoppix/DEB Install

[UnderScore]

I DO NOT WANT to delete sda1 sda3 because, I think that Windows startup will look for these partitions. Something similar is on the IBM ThinkPads, and I ran into trouble when I deleted a partition like sda3.

I know it is possible to shrink NTFS partitions.

Whenever NTFS resizing is mentioned & since I don't know the skill level of people reading my words, I tend to follow through with a warning.
WARNING! There is ALWAYS some risk of losing data. Please ALWAYS make sure that you have a working backup of your important data prior to experimenting with ANY new software, no matter if Windows, Linux or anything else.

So you have this:

----------------------------------------------------
| sda1 primary Dell Utility 49.46 (MB)             |
|--------------------------------------------------|
| sda2 boot primary NTFS 396548.98 (MB)            |
|--------------------------------------------------|
| sda3 primary CP/M/CTOS 3487.52(MB)               |
|--------------------------------------------------|

And you want something like this:

----------------------------------------------------
| sda1 primary Dell Utility 49.46 (MB)             |
|--------------------------------------------------|
| sda2 boot primary NTFS 286548.98 (MB)            |
|--------------------------------------------------|
| sda3 primary CP/M/CTOS 3487.52(MB)               |
|--------------------------------------------------|
| sda5 primary Linux ext3fs 10240(MB)              |
|--------------------------------------------------|
| sda6 primary Linux swap  1024(MB)                |
|--------------------------------------------------|

It should be possible to shrink a NTFS partition in the middle of a drive that is sandwiched by two other partitions. I do not know if it is possible to then take the free space in the middle of a drive and then create partitions from it at the end of a drive. Since a drive lays its partitions down in a line (linearlly), this would require a couple steps.

- shrink ntfs partition.
- move (effectivly expand & then shrink) the sda3 partition across the freed space until it meets the boundry of the NTFS partition.
- then create Linux partitions in the freed space

Maybe linu/knoppix can do it. I don't know. The only thing I can suggest is to perhaps experiment on another drive & see if it works. Or investigate third party partitioning software like Partition Magic.
I wish you success.
James