Hi fellow Darksider's

As the title says, I've decided to give Linux another go, since my old school laptop is just lying around not being used anymore. :)
My intention is to divide my HD in 2 partitions, one for OS and APP's and one for data like music, videos, pictures and whatnot..
What kind of filesystem should I use for my data partition? (FAT16, 32, Ext3 and so on?) Also is it possible to move the Ubuntu
"Home" folder to the data partition in case of a reinstall of the OS at some point?

Thanks in advance
QX1604

you need ext4/3 and a swap for installing ubuntu!
well you can copy the contents of your home partition to data partition but cant actually save the ubuntu installation in your data partition and expect it to boot !!
if you want windows and linux on same partition then install ubuntu using WUBi that way you dont need to create a ext3 partition .. you can install ubuntu in your windows partition itself

Well, I'm trying to make a clean install, no dual boot. Just want 2 partitions, 1 for Ubuntu and Applications and one for my data. I know the filesystem for my primary partition (ubuntu+apps) should be ext3, but I'm not so sure about the filesystem for the data partition? Actually I took a shot and made the data partition with the the filesystem ext3, and now it's not even shown when in Ubuntu. I have a slight idea that FAT32 would be sufficient for a simple data partition, but not sure?

FAT32 ain't that great when it comes to storing large files like dvd iso's or any other +4 gig file. So I would go with the native linux filesystem be it ext2, 3 or 4. Also you should let the ubuntu disk partitioning utility do its thing (either when you install ubuntu, or later on by going to System->Administration->Partition Editor). Apart from that you should be just fine, just stay away from windows partitions on linux (that's just a fixation of mine, don't get things mixed), I know that linux does support windows filesystems very well, but just to keep it clear, and if it won't be a dual boot why not go linux all the way?

Thanks for the reply :) Did what you said and made a second partition with ext3 filesystem, through the boot cd --> Partition Editor, and now it's showing up fine in "Computer" and on the desktop.. Works like a charm ;) Though I can't figure out how to move the "Home" folder to that partition and make Ubuntu use it as default, but that's the least of my problems. I'll just manually save my stuff where I want it on my DATA partition until I figure out how to move "Home". Thanks again for the replies ;)

Over'N'out

You can't really move /home to the other partition, what you could have done was create 3 partitions, first a swap partition on the beginning of the disk, an ext3 partition after it for / (ubuntu and apps) and then made your third partitions and make /home mount that partition.

Melkurion has hit it on the head, that is exactly how the system should be setup, however it is possible to tell ubuntu to do this after an install but it took me a week of googling to figure out how - definitly was not worth the hassle, clean install the way to go