Installed Ubuntu onto a brand new 1tb hard drive and I get a dark blue screen

[oldfred]

Hard drives keep RAID meta-data on them even after a RAID set is broken. So any drive that was RAID has RAID meta-data. You have to remove the RAID meta-data.
Gparted did not used to work with RAID, but very newest has many updates. But since not a full RAID configuration it may not see the meta-data?

Please run the commands I posted in #28, that will remove the RAID meta-data.

[SBTlauien]

Alright, deleted the raid data on sdc.

Now I can boot Windows XP.

I don't see an option in Grub for Windows 98.

Windows 7, shows up as "Windows 7 (loader)" and only takes me to a black screen with a blinking underscore.

[oldfred]

Windows 7 may need chkdsk or other repairs. Does it boot directly from BIOS using sda? Or try f8 to get to its repair console. From grub it usually is too quick to see the f8, and you have to do it from a Windows MBR boot. Otherwise you need the Windows 7 repairCD.

Try this.
sudo update-grub

But I do not know that the os-prober still looks for Windows 98? We may be able to manually add a boot stanza. But Windows usually combines boot files into one bootable system as that is the only way it multi-boots. So does 98 still have its boot files.
Run new BootInfo report.

[SBTlauien]

I think I might just want the while 1tb hard drive for Ubuntu, and the 70gb hard drive for Windows 7.

When I use GParted to change the hard drive partition, will I first need to format the ntfs partition to ext4, and then change the size, or can I just change it and not format?

[oldfred]

Not sure what partition you are taking about.
Reformatting erases all data.
Linux can read NTFS partitions, but cannot use NTFS for any system partitions.

Windows does not even see Linux formatted partitions.

[SBTlauien]

Well, I have my 1tb hard drive split into two partitions, one for Windows, and one for Ubuntu. The Windows partition is ntfs and has the Windows 7 installation on it, but I want to get rid of it and just use the whole drive for Ubuntu.

So, will I need to reformat that ntfs partition to do this?

[oldfred]

Are you going to have Windows anywhere? If so you can keep the NTFS partition as a data partition. But since NTFS needs chkdsk from Windows occasionally, you need Windows. If not using Windows at all then use the entire drive for Linux.

For the Total space you want for Ubuntu:
Ubuntu's standard install is just / (root) & swap, but it is better to add another partition for /home if allocating over 30GB.:
Only if gpt - all partitions in gpt are primary:
gpt: 250 MB efi FAT32 (for UEFI boot or future use for UEFI, you only can have one per drive, so if already existing do not attempt another)
gpt: 1 MB bios_grub no format (for BIOS boot not required for UEFI)
gpt or MBR(msdos)
Ubuntu partitions - smaller root only where hard drive space is limited.
If total space less than about 30GB just use / not separate /home or standard install.
1. 10-25 GB Mountpoint / primary or logical beginning ext4(or ext3)
2. all but 2 GB Mountpoint /home logical beginning ext4(or ext3)
3. 2 GB Mountpoint swap logical

Depending on how much memory you have you may not absolutely need swap but having some is still recommended. I do not hibernate (boots fast enough for me) but if hibernating then you need swap equal to RAM in GiB not GB. And if dual booting with windows a shared NTFS partition is also recommended. But you usually cannot create that as part of the install, just leave some space. Or partition in advance (recommended).
One advantage of partitioning in advance is that the installer will use the swap space to speed up the install. Thanks Herman for the tip.
https://help.ubuntu.com/community/DiskSpace
http://ubuntuforums.org/showthread.php?t=2021534

[SBTlauien]

For this 1tb hard drive, I ONLY want Ubuntu on it.

What's wrong with one giant section in / ?

I don't think I made any sections for Ubuntu, it's all in the same area(no /home and no swap).

[oldfred]

Drives used to be small.
Some BIOS or grub combinations have issues booting from files beyond 100GB on a drive. More prevalent with USB drives. So with those systems a separate /boot or the smaller / (root) with the rest of the drive as /home or what I use just data partition(s). For those systems all boot files must be inside the first 100GB. But we have only found it applies to some users.

I use 25GB for root but have several 25GB / partitions as I also install the next version to see if it works before deleting old version.

[SBTlauien]

Why does Grub show "Previous Linux versions" even though I formatted the drive since the last install(that didn't work - 13.04). It has "Ubuntu, with Linux 3.5.0-23-generic" and the recovery mode.

The Ubuntu that works/current is 3.5.0-34-generic.