Ubuntu

Cannot install ubuntu8.04, cannot partition hard drive

Asked by Roger Bussard

Downloaded and burned the Ubuntu8.04 CD. When the installer runs, it gets to the partition hard drive step. I want to keep a Windows partition for dual boot, so I use the guided install with the default values for partitions, I think it is around 5.4 GB Fat 32 and 174 GB NTFS. I get the message "Error writing partition data to the drive". Tried the manual edit. The create new partition did not show up, so I tried to downsize the NTFS file system (very littleof it is used.) Got the same error message. At one point, I think I saw a message flash across the desktop (running from the CD directly) about having a problem with some device driver. It disappeared too fast for me to record it. Could it be the hard drive driver? I think it is standard IDE.

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Roger Bussard
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Neil (goofandfroggie) said : 		#1

Hi I can't answer your question about the problem but I find it best to have a second HDD and install Ubuntu on it, hope this is a help to you, or you can install from windows ( run disc in xp and install from there)
regards Neil

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Elfy (elfy) said : 		#2

You need to make sure that the win install is defraggged a couple of times at least - you can get Auslogics defrag tool - it's better than the win one and is free - http://www.auslogics.com/disk-defrag

You might want to turn off the pagefile as well and defrag agin, then turn it back on.

IF you still have problems you could use a bootable partition editor - I use parted magic - it needs to be burnt as an iso not as a file, then you can boot with it. You need to make sure that you have chnaged BIOS to allow cd to boot first.

http://partedmagic.com/wiki/PartedMagic.php?n=PartedMagic.Downloads

If you do use a partition editor - you need to do these in order - sounds complicated, but it's not once you start

resize ntfs to get unallocated space for installation

create an extended partition with the empty space
inside the extended partition create 2 logical partitions
1 - needs to be a max of 2XRAM fro swap - format this as swap
1- for the installation - format as ext3

Start the buntu livecd - install

when partitioning section starts choose manual

higlight and edit the installation partition you have created - in the mountpoint box in the new window pick / as a mountpoint
leave swap it will deal with it itself.

Carry on - when you use the manual option - do not pick the ntfs volume or you will lose the win install. But it is easier to do it this way as you can see that you are installing to the ext3 partition.

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Roger Bussard (rogerbussard) said : 		#3

The partition editor simply could not do its job. The solution was that I had to go into the BIOS setup and modify the settings for the hard drive. It turns out it is a SATA drive. Under configuration options, I had to change the operational mode of the drive from SATA to Legacy IDE. Then everything went well. Thanks for the suggestions though.