Creating Partition for Ubuntu problem, help please!

[Dixi1801]

hello everyone, im new to linux and to the forum.

i've googled my problem but haven't come across an answer.

so i've installed ubuntu onto my laptop, along side windows xp.

all was going fine until it came to ubuntu creating a partition, it got an error of some sort.

so now im on a screen to prepare partitions and i've chosen to edit the partition with the most memory(my HDD as a whole basically) and ive selected the size i want but i dont know what to use the partition as!

the options are FAT32 filesystem, FAT16 filesystem, ntfs, swap area and a few more.

could someone please tell me what to set it as?

thanks in advance :

[coopstah13]

the most widely use filesystem for linux is ext3, that is a safe choice to use

[nareshjethva]

you will use
1st partition /boot
2nd " /root
3rd " /home
4rt" swap
5th" as u want

[Dixi1801]

i decided to click swap area i think, was going to do a trial and error run haha!

i will set it to ext3 soon as its done and tell you if it works!

thanks again

[Dixi1801]

so i went to change it to ext3 and it auto checked format the parition...

goodbye windows lol!

nevermind, it can be replaced as can the things i had.

but im still on edit partition, what mount point do i set it to?

thanks again!

[reed9]

This guide for installing Ubuntu on the Dell Mini 9 shows how to create custom partitions with screenshots. The principle is the same for any install.

A lot of folks divide it up into a root partition, swap partition, and home partition.

I would recommend creating a root partition of 10-20GB, swap is debatable - if you're not planning on suspending to disk, 512MB-1GB is probably plenty; and the rest for your home partition.

Root is symbolized with a /

By the way, ext4 has become the default format in most distros these days. There does appear to be some performance gains using it. ext3 is older and known to be extremely stable, so it's a good conservative choice. ext4 is a little newer, so there's always a possibility of undiscovered problems, but the risk is pretty minimal. I use ext4.

[reed9]

Oh, and there's probably no reason to use a separate boot partition. Rule of thumb there is if you can't name a reason to use a separate /boot partition, don't.

Flameeyes's Weblog : Why people insist on using /boot

[Dixi1801]

thanks a load guys, now running ubuntu and i have to say i like it

[coopstah13]

there is a reason to have separate boot partition with ext4, if your grub cannot boot kernel on ext4 partition you need a separate /boot partition

[reed9]

there is a reason to have separate boot partition with ext4, if your grub cannot boot kernel on ext4 partition you need a separate /boot partition

That would be a reason, yes, but except for Fedora 11, I've never run into that problem with any of the major distros.