I am trying to install Ubuntu but am getting stuck at the partitioning stage.

Can someone possibly direct me to an easy to undertand guide to installing it including what to do at partition stage of install.

More so when choosing the type of partition do i set it as a primary partition or the other that i have forgot its name.

(as you may have noticed im a total newbie at this,)

Thanks

Why not going with the default partitioning?

Unless i misread it said it would find the drive with the most space to install. I have a 300 gig Slave that i do not want no OS on. and only a 30 gig C drive which i want it on. Is there anyway i can go with default and force it to create a dual boot with windows XP on my C Drive.

Thanks

Anthony1UK; I know what you mean it totally baffles me. I want to do a duel boot and have an 80gb HD that is partitioned into four sections I have an empty 20 gb partition that I would like to install Linux in but can't figure out how. nothing I try seems to work.....Fredall

What exactly have you tried? You should just be able to boot from the CD, start the install and choose whichever partition you want to use.

If you want dual boot but dont have space on c drive you need to shrink the partition with partition magic or other partitioner. When the installer gets to the partitioner pick expert then choose unallocated space as your root partition. dont let it automatically partition it will erase the whole disk.

I wish it was that easy. That is what I expected but it doesn't list my partitions as c,d,e,f, and tells me it will erase the entire disc. I simply can't seem to get anything to make sense. I am new to Linux but not comps. and have installed several os's recently I was running a dual boot with 98se and xp but I dumped 98 and wanted to install Linux but this partitioner baffles me. fredall

Hi,

OK, I'll have a stab at translating the windows way of doing things into Linux-speak...

First, though, a quick primer on the way IDE drives are configured. Basically, you've got two IDE interfaces on which a master and a slave drive can be connected. This gives you four drives. Normally, your main hard disk is connected to the first interface in the master position; optical drives are normally connected on the second interface. Linux labels these drives as hda, hdb, hdc, hdd.

So, if you've got a single copy of Windows on your first hard disk (your C: drive), it will be living on hda1. Your second hard drive partition will probably be hdb1, assuming you've connected the second drive on the first interface in the slave position.

If you want to install Ubuntu without touching your second hard drive, you will need to shrink the size of the Windows C: partition (hda1) to make room for Ubuntu - you don't need to touch the hdb1 partition at all. Ubuntu has changed the installation process somewhat since I last did a full install - I think you use a graphical app called Espresso from within the live CD - you'll want to choose manual editing of the partition table and shrink the windows partition from there. In any case, you should make a backup of all your files first, and ideally defragment drive C: first, too.

Hope this sheds some light on the issue for you..

you never said if your 30 gig was partitioned or not. through your windows, make another partition say 10gig. then start your install, manual partitioner, spot your 10gig partition and go for it. (i think that should work). also, is your windows fat32 or ntfs? linux will read ntfs but i'm not sure about fat32. the 10gig partion should show up as hda2. hope this helps.

Linux can read and write to FAT32 partitions safely.

extra needed info for me. thanks nylex.