Horrific state of HDD. Whant to install Ubuntu.

misterAnderson

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Hello to everyone!
I am trying to install Ubuntu onto a machine with an installed Win10. In the "Something Else" section i cant find my windows C: drive so that i can delete it and say goodbye and install Linux

Relevant specifications:
A. BIOS Legacy, not UEFI
B. 1 HDD which is Dynamic
C. 4 partitions (1. system, 2. custom with my data, 3. and another custom one with my data which is for some reason split into 2 with the same letter in the disk manager, but not in the My PC window = 4 in total)
D. The pen drive was formatted with a BIOS target.

What i already know:
I. I have read that i need a basic HDD. But it is not possible if i only have one HDD with Windows on it. How do i convert it if needs to be empty, yet i need windows to do the conversion.
II. The system can only handle 4 partitions at a time, so i guess i cant create one, which i understand, but at the same time why would i not be able to delete one and create one? (4 - 1 + 1 = 4)

What i want to know:
1. How do i make my pc just simply install Linux without windows. I am currently scooping my data 250GB to another PC with a "tea spoon" 8GB flashdrive, so keeping the data is not a concern. In a day or so...

1.1 Will it be enough if i just simply choose the option "Erase disk and Install" indead of "Something Else"? How will linux handle the partitions? Will the hidden windows partition be visible for the Linux in this case, so it can wipe it away? How it will handle the partitioning? Create one big partition? Ideally i would want to have 100gigs for the system and the rest for myself. I gues i can do this afterwards?

2. Or should i do something before doing Erase disk and Install? Some disk managment on the windows i have still currently running? Wipe all except windows and do something with that?

Thanks for reading and trying to help!
 


The way I would go is first go to ventoy.net and get window version. D ownload maybe Mint iso for correct Architecture 32 or 64 bit, to Windows Desktop.
Drag and drop that onto Ventoy formatted stick. Boot from stick, you might have to tweak bios to do that .From live OS fire up gParted and take screenshot of it please and post here for us to take a look
 
Last edited:
Might want to clean up those typos Andy :)

:)@misterAnderson G'day and welcome to linux.org

I am currently scooping my data 250GB to another PC with a "tea spoon" 8GB flashdrive, so keeping the data is not a concern. In a day or so...

Once that is effected, and you are confident you have what you need (wouldn't hurt to make a Recovery disk/USB in case you change your mind, but its only the data which is essential, as Win10 .isos are free to download) , then:

Will it be enough if i just simply choose the option "Erase disk and Install" instead of "Something Else"?

Yes. The Linux installer will generate the required partitions, we can teach you later how to manipulate those if you desire to modify them.

Have to leave for my evening in Australia, but HTH and I will be back tomorrow.

Chris Turner
wizardfromoz
 
"Something else" works fine, but "Erase ... " is more direct and it will take over your disk for the install.

I like "something else", because that allows me to pick and choose how I will structure my /, /home, and SWAP partitions.
 

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