[mdlug-newbie] Install Help

[list1c30fe42 at bellsouth.net]

Ron,

[Ubuntu users, as I am more familiar with SuSE, please amend, correct,
  or extend the following.]

> I have two hard drives.

Good choice.
At this time,
hard drives are cheap compared to the management effort they save.

> On the First Drive I have the Vista installed on the first partition,

Be aware that Microsoft XP (and I assume Vista)
has reportedly scrambled the partition table on both disks
(i.e. suicided) upon booting on a system with a second operating system.

On my home dual-boot box,
I resolve this by nominally leaving the 1st disk out
of the boot order in the bios settings.
To boot the first disk, I bring up the bios settings,
disable the 2nd disk, and add the first disk to the boot order.
To boot the second disk,
I enable and add the second disk to the boot order,
and for safety remove the first disk from the boot order.
SuSE linux on the 2nd disk, can access all partitions on both disks.
Microsoft XP on the 1st disk, cannot see the 2nd disk.
This method has so far prevented a repeat suffering.

> and the second partition is NTSF formatted for data storage only. 

> My second drive is formatted in NTFS has only one partition,
> and is 300GB.

NTFS is somewhat inefficient and does not support all the permissions
features available from Ubuntu.
The unix permission system provides access separation,
without requiring cooperation from executables (a.k.a. applications).
Consequently Microsoft supported viruses, Windows tolerated worms,
and other malware
are generally unable to propagate past unix permissions.

I suggest reformatting the 2nd drive into four ext3 partitions.
ext3 is a journaling (limited automatic backups) filesystem,
that is very stable and robust.
You might also consider formatting reiserfs,
which is faster on most hardware,
but has historically had intermittent failure on some hardware.
(I haven't heard of any reiserfs hardware issues in the last two years.)
You might also consider formatting xfs,
which is also generally faster than ext3, and nearly as stable.
If in doubt, stick with ext3.

> I’d like to install UBUNTU on the 300GB drive,
> and use the remainder of the drive for backup storage of NTFS files.

You will hear many diverse opinions regarding partitioning,
each with strengths and weaknesses.

I like to use as many real partitions as the bios supports.
This is at least 4, but 8, 32, have become common.
If you don't know, use 4.

I suggest avoiding extended partitions.
Extended partitions are offsets within the real partitions.
Extended partition pointers do not get the redundant copies
(error protection) that real partitions do.
Consequently in a few years,
when the data on the drives is valuable,
and you've fallen behind in your backups,
a bad sector that takes out a real partition may take out
all the extended partitions on that real partition as well.

> I’d like to setup a dual boot configuration. 
> How do I go about doing this?

I've not installed ubuntu,
but having installed CentOS, SuSE, RedHat, and others,
I'm confident the ubuntu installer is similar.

When you boot from the ubuntu installation disk,
I expect it will probe (examine and test) your host.
It should find both drives,
note the partitioning of both,
note that the first is bootable,
and note that the first has a boot loader
(i.e. apparent operating system).

I then expect the ubuntu installation disk
to propose a few configurations and ask you
to choose one to use or edit.

The default choice will likely be to format both disks,
install ubuntu in one of four partitions on the first disk,
install /home in one of four partitions on the second disk.
This is not a dual boot system, so do not choose this.

The second choice is likely to leave both disks unformatted,
install ubuntu in one of the two partitions on the second disk,
install /home in the second of the two partitions on the second disk.
This is a dual boot system, but retaining NTFS,
lacks full permissions support, so do not choose this.

A third choice may be to leave the first disk unformatted,
format the second disk,
install ubuntu in the first of four partitions on the second disk,
install /home in the second of four partitions on the second disk.
This is a dual boot system, and should meet your specifications.

If the third (or fourth, or ...) choice is not as above,
ubuntu should offer you an opportunity to edit its suggestions,
in which case, choose to leave the first disk unformatted,
format the second drive as 4 ext3(?) partitions,
choose / as the mount point for the 1st partition,
choose /home as the mount point for the 2nd partition,
choose /extra (or /local or /backup or ...) as the 3rd partition,
choose /local (or something else) as the 4th partition,

Like most installers,
I assume ubuntu will collect all the settings first,
offer to let you edit any,
and require approval before actually writing to the drive.

> How large should I make the UBUNTU partition?

Without knowing exactly how you will be using the computer,
I suggest splitting the partitions evenly (i.e. 4 x 75G = 300G).

> Once I install the UBUNTU, can I keep the other
> partition in the NTSF format?

Yes.  I suggest keeping no more than 1 partition NTFS,
and avoid running any executables from NTFS.
Though the ubuntu installer, may not have it,
look for a flag/option/checkbox titled "noexec", for the NTFS partition,
to prevent execution of binaries from it.

> When I load the UBUNTU live CD, and try to install,
> the screen says there is no operating system on this computer,
> ...

More familiar with SuSE, I believe the live CD serves many purposes.
One is to boot Ubuntu, from a file, from a virtual disk,
or from a drive not in the bios boot order.
I believe the screen is reporting that it detected no pre-existing
Ubuntu installation that it could boot.

> Then it asks about un-mounting the disk.

Unless you are knowledgeable and careful, writing, partitioning,
reformatting a disk in use (mounted) is risky.
A mounted disk is like a running car engine,
and should be umounted like stopping the car engine,
before installation.

> and only shows the 300GB drive.

I suspect Ubuntu is offering as default, the "third choice" above.
You will probably have to edit its suggestion to select 4 partitions,
and if you wish, leave one as ntfs.
In the editor, you will likely see the first disk,
which I suggest you leave unaltered.

Hopefully helpful,
--
Bob