Preparing a disk from Windows for installing Ubuntu (partitioning)
I have windows 8 installed. I want to install Ubuntu, therefore, I want to partition a disk using standard windows 8 utility for that. However, what file system do I have to format it to: extFAT or NTFS? Or I don't have to format it to any file system, perhaps?
Solution 1:
Update for Ubuntu 18.04 and above
New installations of recent versions of Ubuntu does not use a separate swap partition any more. They use a swap file by default.
General Information
Ubuntu usually needs two partitions to work well. Partition formats like NTFS and exFat are not suitable for Ubuntu as these formats do not store file and folder permissions and ownership information in the form Ubuntu can use.
Recomendations
Shrink the existing partition(s) and leave the space unallocated in Windows 8. Or if you have already created a partition for Ubuntu, delete it. The space should then be unallocated in Windows 8.
When you start the Ubuntu install, it will find the empty (unallocated) space and create two partitions, the main one will be mounted as / and formatted ext4 and there will be a small 2-4GB swap partition with its own swap format.
More Information
See Ubuntu installation on Windows7 with D partition for more explanations about partitions in Ubuntu, mount points etc.
See How do I install Ubuntu alongside a pre-installed Windows with UEFI? for details about dealing with UEFI, secure-boot and other Windows 8 specific problems.
Hope this helps
Solution 2:
I recommend using ext4 with Ubuntu, since its the default. Ext4 is made to increase storage size and increase performance of the filesystem.
This will tell you all you need to know about ext4, but I do recommend using it.
Take a look at Install Ubuntu 13.04. Actuality during the Ubuntu installation you have the option to install alongside Windows 8.
For 12.04, if you don't see the option to Install Ubuntu alongside Windows 8 (probably won't), then make sure that you have the partition ready, in windows before hand (it doesn't have to be formatted), and choose something else. You will have the option to create the needed Ubuntu partitions, create two partitions: the first for /, the root directory, and the second for Swap.