Comment 16 for bug 682429

Well, just following up here :^)

After performing several more tests what I seem to have found is that this can only be reproduced if no extended and/or logical partitions exist. Of course that would be the case with Windows users.

Two ways I seem to be able to reproduce this bug are by creating 3 blank NTFS partitions as in the original report, and the second is creating a manual install of Ubuntu with a layout similar to this:

lance@lance-desktop:~$ sudo parted /dev/sdb print
[sudo] password for lance:
Model: ATA WDC WD800JB-00JJ (scsi)
Disk /dev/sdb: 80.0GB
Sector size (logical/physical): 512B/512B
Partition Table: msdos

Number Start End Size Type File system Flags
 1 1049kB 8484MB 8483MB primary ext4 boot
 2 8484MB 77.7GB 69.3GB primary ext4
 3 77.7GB 80.0GB 2289MB primary linux-swap(v1)

I created a scenario I'd never actually use! Root/Home/SWAP all on primary partitions!

At this point it seems that if an extended partition is present this bug/overwrite doesn't happen.

So, I THINK that this can be reproduced either by creating 3 empty NTFS primary partitions or creating an Ubuntu install with 3 primary partitions and then choosing the "alongside" option followed by choosing the "use entire partition" option.

I still contend that the "Use entire partition" and "Use entire disc" options just DO NOT BELONG after choosing "install alongside"!

I'll try to continue following up on this. As it stands my suggestion is to drop the confusing options and restore the "use largest continuous space" option.

IMHO this was a major regression.