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I have a computer with a 1 TB SSD. I want to partition this SSD into a 250 GB drive to host Ubuntu (incl. home directory and everything else that comes with an Ubuntu installation) and a 750 GB drive to host only data files. This drive has to be formatted in NTFS, as it will host also large files and will be shared with Windows (which I run from a VirtualBox including Guest Editions, so I do NOT talk about a dual-boot system or any such thing!).

I tried to run the standard Ubuntu 18.04 LTS installer from USB and selected "Something else". This way, however, I can only create partitions that follow some definition (e.g. root, swap, or home), and home can't be formatted in NTFS. Also, this is not really what I want. Then, I tried to run Ubuntu from the USB drive and use gparted. I managed to partition the SSD into one Ext4 primary partition of about 250 GB (/dev/nvme0n1p1) and one Extended Partition (/dev/nvme0n1p2) hosting a logical partition formatted in NTFS (/dev/nvme0n1p5) of about 750 GB. Then, I tried to run the installation from the stick. But when I then select the standard installation, it suggests to format the first partition of nvme0n1 into EFS, and the second partition of nvme0n1 into Ext4 - which doesn't really seem to be what I desire.

How can I achieve my goal?

To provide some further explanation of my motivation: On my last system, I had a 250 GB SSD on which I installed Ubuntu, and a 750 GB HDD (in NTFS), which I used for data (mounted via /media). Now, I seek to kind of simulate it with just one physical drive.

Michael
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    Possible duplicate of How to make a partition windows can read? – graham Sep 20 '19 at 14:22
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    Is this an UEFI system? If so you need to use gpt partitioning and add an ESP efi system partition. You now do not need swap partition as it creates a swap file, otherwise like this: http://askubuntu.com/questions/743095/how-to-prepare-a-disk-on-an-efi-based-pc-for-ubuntu & https://askubuntu.com/questions/343268/how-to-use-manual-partitioning-during-installation You cannot create NTFS partitions during Something Else. You can either partition in advance or only use the sizes you want leaving unallocated space and then go back with gparted & add NTFS partition. – oldfred Sep 20 '19 at 14:31
  • I’d be inclined to keep home within the 250GB partition and mount the NTFS partition as you did before. I’ve never tried using NTFS for home and suspect you may hit some unexpected issues along the way if you do this. It may not even work at all... – PonJar Sep 20 '19 at 17:09
  • Possible duplicate of How to efficiently partition a single Windows-Ubuntu dual boot disk? – Fabby Sep 20 '19 at 17:53

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Most of the comments were either aiming at too complicated solutions or at dual-boot systems. Eventually, I found a much simpler solution: After installing Ubuntu without further manipulations and the standard partitioning / formatting options, I started my system from USB and then used the disk manager to resize the partitions to 250 GB Ext4 holding the Ubuntu installation (including home an all that) and to 750 GB NTFS holding my data. No need for any extra mounting, playing around with the bios or else.

Michael
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