Universal USB installer/external portable drive help

[JeannieMarie]

Hi everyone,

First off, thank you in advance for anyone who helps me. I am brand new to Linux and ubuntu....

I have downloaded ubuntu as well as the USB installer from pendrivelinux.com. I am trying to trial ubuntu on a HP mini that was preloaded with some roxio garbage that windows won't let me delete so I figured Linux could help. Anyways, I figured the external portable drive I have could be used like a flash drive but apparently not as the USB installer does not let me select it in step 3. So basically what can I do? Being it is a net book I'm using I cannot go with a cd... I pretty much want to use the external drive as a boot drive to test out ubuntu... I hope this makes sense..... I did try to search before posting but did not find the same problem....

[JeannieMarie]

I ended up getting daemon tools and mounted the iso and installed ubuntu alongside windows. I then went through a dozen tutorials explaining how to mount windows in ubuntu. This morning I was able to get to windows and view the filesystem. From there I deleted the folder from hell (system rollback data) created by a pre instal of roxios back on track. I had removed the program before or so I thought and noticed it was still creating huge restore points when I got a low drive space warning.... The reason I'm typing this all out is because google searches prior to getting ubuntu were useless in getting rid of roxio and it's hard drive monster..... Maybe the next guy will see this and do what I did before smashing his mini lol.....