Partitioned Hard Drive

[MoXplorer]

Hi All

i have just partitioned the Hard drive using Partition Manager.
I parted it into the following:
Windoze 30G
Free Space #1 30G
Free Space #2 30G
Free Space #4 10G

I would now like to install Ubuntu for starters and another Distro in the near future for trial.
Does this sound right? Anything I should look out for before or while installing Ubuntu other than make sure i dont delete everything else.

Your guidance is well appreciated.

Mo

[devils casper]

hi MoXplorer !

i wont suggest you partition magic. it creates tons of problems.
boot up from Ubuntu CD and open GParted. its in Menu and it is one of the best Partition Manager.
delete all partitions, except Windows 30GB partition. Select all the Free Space and Create an Extended Partition. Create two Logical Partitions in in Extended Partition.
6-10 GB, format in ext3 filesystem
750 MB format as swap
leave rest of space free for other distros. you can share SWAP space with other distros. during Ubuntu Installation, in Partition Section, choose select Manual Partition and select 6-10 GB partition as / (root) and SWAP as SWAP.

create partitions and post output of 'sudo fdisk -l' command here so that we can check partition structure first.





Casper

[MoXplorer]

Hey Casper

I am on it.
What about Partition Logic?
Will that be handy I have it on disc.

thanks.

[devils casper]

i didn't try Partition Logic yet. actually GParted does its job flawlessly and i never had to try anyother partition manager. GParted LiveCD is perfect too. you dont need it coz Ubuntu Desktop CD has Gparted.





Casper

[Cabhan]

Partition Logic is a program similar to Partition Magic? I would recommend gparted, only because I know people who have used it successfully (and it's a well-known Linux program).

casper's advice seems right on! Remember: you can always partition more free space later: you don't need to fully partition your disk right now.

If you think you'll be using this particular Ubuntu setup for a while, you can always up the 10 GB to something higher, but this plan looks good to me.

[MoXplorer]

I have it infront of me now.

Partition FS Size Used Unused
/dev/sda1 ntfs 5.00 GB 4.28 GB 744.23 MB
/dev/sda2 ntfs 29.29 GB 8.19 GB 21.10 GB boot
New Partition#1 extended 77.49 GB ... ...
unallocated unallocated 77.49 GB ... ...

does this look familiar?

Create two Logical Partitions in in Extended Partition.

?? having trouble creating this step

[devils casper]

GParted will show one BIG Extended Partition. create two partitions in Extended Partition. Extended Partition is a pointer only and it houses Logical Partition.





Casper

[MoXplorer]

I managed to make sense of that, after a while!!

it is installing as I write this post, has become idle at 63%, but I think if I followed your instructions correctly it should be fine in terms of partitions.

should it take long to install it has been at 63% for at least 8 minutes now?

[devils casper]

wait for next 7-10 minutes. it will move.







Casper

[MoXplorer]

Seems there is something wrong since there hasn't been any progress in installation. its been over 25 minutes now at 63%, the drive hase moved a couple of time briefly but showed no changes on screen.

You think this is a disc problem or partitioning?
if i were to remove disc or reboot is there a chance of losing the partitioning and or anything else.