Quote Originally Posted by ph349397
But why do I need 5 partitions? Why can't I just partition it like so:

/dev/hda1 primary NTFS wnixp 5G
/dev/hda2 primary linux swap 500MB
/dev/hda3 primary linux 3G
/dev/hda4 logical linux 4G

I guess I'm still not understanding the function of the "extended" partition. Would it be just another drive that I could store stuff on, and you described it as "extended" because the size of it would simply depend on how much space is left after the other partitions are defined?
Actually the extended partition doesn't hold anything except logical drives. In my example I list 5 partitions but there are only 4 that are actually available for use. You can't really do anything with #4. Besides- what about when you want to use the rest of the disc? Where are those partitions that you create going to go? Into partition #4 the extended partition.