I am new to Ubuntu and have installed it side by side with windows 7. Both boot up okay, my problem is I can't get to disk utility to create a partition that I can share between both OSs. Help says go to activities -> overview and select disk utility there. I can't find activities.
Ubuntu – How to open the Disk Utility in Unity
11.10diskgnome-disk-utilitysoftware-recommendation
Related Solutions
Reinstalling GRUB2 to the Master Boot Record using any of the methods detailed here usually solves this sort of problem.
Applause for wanting to make a System Backup!
The easiest way to accomplish this is with a bootable USB stick and an external USB HDD using CloneZilla Live:
- Download and "Burn" the CloneZilla Live ISO (Instructions are provided over there)
- Boot the CloneZilla Live USB stick
- Use the Save Disk Image system
- Insert the external HDD when CloneZilla asks you to do so:
- Wait until done.
The best way to accomplish this is to copy the CloneZilla ISO to your existing system and just boot it from grub on your own system (one less USB Stick that you can lose) and follow the same steps as above. (CloneZilla Live is the very last example in that answer).
Best Answer
Accessing Disk Utility:
I'm sorry you have encountered this level of confusion. Help is referring to the activities overlay that is in GNOME Shell, but you are most likely using Ubuntu's Unity Desktop. Since both are "Shells" for GNOME, the help can overlap sometimes.
What you need to do is open the Unity Dash (it's the button with the Ubuntu logo on the upper left), and type Disk Utility.
Gparted:
However, as Bruno pointed out, you need to install Gparted to actually create partitions with a GUI.
To do this, open the Software Center, search for Gparted, and click install. (Or click this icon: gparted
)