I am trying to install into an existing partition on my hard drive. I have only one drive, and C is set to windows XP. I have partitioned a section for ubuntu and a separate partition for the swap drive. I now want to install it, but the install process does not allow me to select a partition to install to in either guided or manual mode. I have a book for 8.04 with a cd- after failing to install with 10.10, i tried installing 8.04 - the book says to edit the partition table, but i have no such option, only to create a new partition. I don't want to install in inside windows, because i have a separate partition to use for the ubuntu installation. All the screens show /SDA but I can't find any which reference existing partitions in the install process. (I tried selecting the drive before, and it wiped out everything) (I also started in distro mode, and the places showed the partitions - then i tried mounting the ubuntu partition and installing, but it still didn't recognize that partition) - please help me, and guide me through selecting a partition to install to. (preferrably 10.10). (The version of 10.10 I selected to download was the 32 bit version. My ubuntu and swap partitions are already set to the ext3 format). Thank you.

Linux swap is linux swap; Swap is not formatted to ext3. Remove the new partitions you made, and start over with your install. You most likely will then need to tell the installer to use the remaining space of the drive. Also note that a rule of thumb for swap space is keep the size about double your RAM.

Josh

when I try and install the ubuntu 10.10, here is what i get - i don't get an option to install on unpartitioned space-
1) screen asking to try or install- in english (selected)
after selecting install,
2) screen "preparing to install ubuntu" - it gives options to quit,back and fwd - green check on at least 2.6 available for space, green checked for plugged in, and black x to connected to internet. unchecked are the download updates and install third party software.
I click forward
3) screen "allocate drive space" - options are erase and use entire disk and "specify partitions manually" (advanced)
i select specify and forward
4) screen "alocate drive space" shows under device one line - "/dev/sda" with buttons (active) new parition table and "revert". grayed out buttons are add, change and delete. the boot loader says /dev/sda ata wdc wd5000aaks-0 (500.1 Gb) . options to quit, back and instal now. I'm afraid of instaling it here for fear it will erase the other paritions.

the paritions i have were created using the acronis disk software and are as follows:
C: pri/act 30.01 gb type ntfs (i have windows xp installed here)
D: 60 gb, fat2 (i have windows xp data here)
(here i had E: formatted as ext3 and pri to use for ubuntu linux, but deleted the parition to try and use unallocated space; now it shows uhnallocated, 30.01 gb
(new drive letters after removing the E: parition)
E: 60 Gb, fat32 which i was going to store my ubuntu data
J: 30.01 gb, pri, ext3, which i have currently installed suse linux
F: 60 gb, fat32, which i was going to store my suse linux data
G: 60 gb, fat32 which i have currently instaled xp data
F: 60 gb, fat32 which i was going to store suse linux data
G: 60 gb, fat32 which i currently have xp data stored
H: 60 gb, fat32 which i currently have xp data stored
I: 30.01 gb,fat32 which i currently have xp data stored
K: 10 Gb, linux swap, FS Linux swap partition (which i used when installing suse linux; i had it formatted to ext3, but i guess it changed it.
unallocated 35.71 Gb

That sound right except that your partitions should be showing. You should have at least /dev/sda with /dev/sda1 below it since you indicate you have windows on one of your partitions. The Add, Change, Delete buttons are greyed out until you click on a partition in the main window to highlight it. If all you have is /dev/sda and you proceed, I expect it will use the whole disk?
With all the partitions you indicate in your last post, are you saying none of them show in GParted?
Can you use either the Ubuntu CD or boot Suse Linux and open a terminal to get partition information to post.
Ubuntu: sudo fdisk -l
Suse: open terminal, type su -, enter your password then fdisk -l (lower case Letter L in the command)

If you leave that and install, it will overwrite your master boot record. Post some specific partition information. I'm surprised GParted doesn't show any partitions, it usually workss very well in my experiernce.

Choose manual partitioning. Then delete the partitions that you made for Ubuntu using Acronis. This will leave the rest of the hard drive after XP as unallocated space. Then choose to create new partitions in the unallocated space to install Ubuntu. Ideally you should have 3 partitions for Ubuntu: root, swap, and home. But using just 2 partitions for root and swap will work fine though.

Perhaps the Ubuntu partition tool is having trouble reading the partitions that were created with Acronis.

Don't use FAT32 file system for Ubuntu. Use ext3 or ext4.

EDIT: You could just install Ubuntu to the 35.71GB unallocated space. Ubuntu will happily use the swap partition that you already have for Suse.

Yancek, I started in distro mode, then went to systems-admin-gparted; it brings up one one -/dev/sda (top right) and below lists one line:

partition file system size used unused flags
unallocated (!) unalocated 465.76 GiB

under view-device information, it informs me that the partition table is unrecognized. the edit and parition options have options under them which are entirely grayed out.

I thought it might have been the acronis software which may have made my parition table in a format which is unrecognizable to ubuntu, but also i thought it may be my bios / computer system.

My bios says AMIBIOS = 0603, 6/21/05
Thoughts?

The sudo fdisk -l in ubuntu lists the /dev/sda with 500 gb and below
device boot start end blocks id system
/dev/sda1 * 1 bla bla bla 7 hpfs/ntfs
/dev/sda2 ss ss ss f w95 ext'd (lba)
/dev/sda3 xx xx xx 83 linux
/dev/sda4 zz zz zz b win95 fat32
/dev/sda5 - /dev/sda10 same as sda4
/dev/sda11 ss ss ss 83 linux

thank you

Tommcd;
-I tried the install ubuntu 10.10 option
-I selected language, then forward
-i selected forward, when presented with the preparing screen with capacity and power source checkmarked
at the allocate drive space I could choose erase entire disk or specify partitions manually - i selected manually, then forward
-at the allocate drive space screen, i have listed only /dev/sda, with options to create a new partition table, which (I am assuming) will wipe out the definitions and pointers to my current setup which will effectively wipe out my data, which I do not wish to do (i tried this before and lost all), and an option to "revert" - other options aren't there. I don't know what revert does.

Thanks

When you use manual partitioning, the Ubuntu partition tool should list your partitions and give you the option to resize them or delete them. It should also allow you to make new partitions in the unallocated space.
See this on how to partition during a Ubuntu install: https://help.ubuntu.com/community/HowtoPartition
How did you manage to install Suse? Did the Suse installer allow you to make partitions?

Tommcd, the suse install allowed me to select a partition without a problem.

On my install of Ubuntu 10.10 during the Allocate Drive Space section there was a colored bar at the top divided by partition and labelled with the partition number, FSType and size. This information was also in the main window in the center. If you are not seeing this information during your installation, you have a problem. It won't work. Can't say why, maybe a bad download or a bad burn. Without being able to select a partition in the main window by highlighting, you won't be able to install to that partition.