Partition/Formatting in Ubuntu

After you install your Ubuntu distro , and learn to use it on a daily bases , you will want at some point to convert your ntfs partitions to ext3. Easy said , easy done : IF you have the right tools.

1. /etc/fstab
This is the file that contains all the mounted devices at start-up. The first step will be to find the partition you want to convert and comment that line.

2. Restart your system

3. If your partition is not mounted anymore then you can use the Ubuntu Partition Manager : GParted ( install it from the command line if you don't have it sudo apt-get install gparted ).

4. Backup all your files; Select the partition ; delete it and then format it as ext3.

5. The final step is to grant all the users read/write access with chmod 777 ( if it's the case )

Tip : in case you mess up your /etc/fstab file and your system doesn't start anymore you can edit your starting command line adding rw init=/bin/bash at the end.Then you will
get access to the bash command before accessing your distro and you could VI ( edit the file with this editor ) the file and remove the changes.

Source: http://ubuntuswitch.blogspot.com/2007/09/partitionformating-in-ubuntu.html