Linux-Ubuntu installation help

So my laptop crashed about a year ago and today i found a hard drive in my drawer and decided to try and install Ubuntu. Yeah...i have no idea what's going on. At first i clicked *Erase disk and install Ubuntu* but i showed an error "the ext4 file system creation in partition #1 (0,0,0)(sda) failed." so i clicked *Try something else* and after i searched the web i found out that i need to make 4 separate partitions , which i did but i got all sorts of errors. :(  Also i burned Ubuntu in a CD before i tried to install it , if that matters , and the the hard drive has no operating system.

This is what i did: 

/boot  :  Type for the new partition - Primary

             Size(in mb) - 500

             Location - Beginning 

             Use as - Ext3

/ (root) : Type - Primary

              Size - 15360

              Location - Beginning

              Use as : Ext4

/home :   Type - Logical

              Size - 51200

              Location - Beginning 

              Use as - Ext4

(swap) :  Type - Primary

              Size - 4096

              Location - Beginning

              Use as - Swap Area

Device for boot loader installation: 

/dev/sda ATA TOSHIBA MK3265GS (320.1 GB)

When i click install it says "ERROR!!! Input/output error during read on /dev/sda" :cry: Can someone help me? I really don't want to buy another laptop. 

Thanks.

Are you sure that the HDD is good?

Btw, you don't HAVE to create four partitions. If you use the auto installer it takes care of all that. And if you want to go manual you can always create a single partition called "/". Ubuntu is super easy to install, I don't know why you would go through the trouble of setting all that up for a laptop.

Are you sure that the HDD is good?

Btw, you don't HAVE to create four partitions. If you use the auto installer it takes care of all that. And if you want to go manual you can always create a single partition called "/". Ubuntu is super easy to install, I don't know why you would go through the trouble of setting all that up for a laptop.

Tezcatlipoca666

[QUOTE="osan0"]aye sounds like a dodgy HDD. I have installed various linux distros many times and have never encountered an error with the basic setup. boot into the live distro (running off the CD) and see if you can access any of the data on the hard drive. If you can then maybe try formatting it before installing ubuntu. On a side note, as i mentioned earlier, if all you want to do is try ubuntu and other linux distros then maybe try a few Live CDs. these allow you to run the OS from a CD drive rather than a HDD. it is slower of course and saving changes can be a bit of a pain. but as a demo mode before installing its very handy. if you cant boot a live disc and read info from the HDD though then its probably a lemon.CyberLips

You can also get the program called unetbootin and make bootable USB sticks. There allow you to save some data (unlike disks) and are much faster than disks (for both live environments and for installation purposes).

I'm writing this from my laptop , it's running on the CD i didn't know i could browse the web and stuff. :lol: Anyway , how do i access the hard drive from here? I go to File System but there are a lot of folders , what do i do?