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Roughly how long should an install usually take?

I am installing Ubuntu 11.10 and I was stuck at partitioning the drive (1TB) for over 2 hours.

Now I'm stuck at creating the ext4 file system and it's been that way for over 30 minutes.

Are these excessive amounts of time to be waiting? Should I interpret these long waits as an indication that something isn't right?

mickmackusa
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LABoy
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  • One question per question please! There is enough room for 2 questions, but you have only one vote for the correct answer. – user unknown Dec 02 '11 at 15:30

2 Answers2

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Depending on your computer's specifications and the maximum download speed from your ISP a full installation of Ubuntu from start to finish with the options of Download updates while installing Ubuntu and Install third-party software selected could take anywhere from 10 minutes to an hour. Some stages of the Ubuntu installation process go faster than others. The longest two stages are downloading updates and unpacking and installing packages.

Being stuck at at creating the ext4 filesystem usually means that there is something unusual about the hard drive or its partitioning that would require you to manually partition it by selecting the Something else option at the Installation type screen of the Ubuntu installer.

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karel
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Partitioning only takes a few minutes, tops. Try burning another install CD, and check that your hard drive connections are good. You can also boot with the CD into a Live CD session and format the drive that way. Then reboot and install normally.

Don't worry about the 8GB RAM. Ubuntu will detect this at install and automatically enable Physical Address Extensions (PAE) if you are installing 32-bit. This lets you use up to 64GB of RAM. There are still some limitations, but they are minor and you can read about them at the link.

Best to ask only one question per post, so this might be closed. Don't worry too much about it though.

Tom Brossman
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