Copying an entire partition to another when both are not of the exact same size (in blocks) can be tricky, especially if that partition includes special files such as /dev/hda and FIFOs.1

Yet, there are several ways to do so:

1. 1. Note that was the case especially in the 90's. As of today, things have come a long way and there are command line options one can use with the cp and tar instructions to copy pretty much anything. You will still have problems with some files such as locks, though. But you should not have to copy them!

1) Getting the OS

First go to http://www.ubuntu.com and get the latest version you're interesting in. They offer server version that they support for 5 years or so. I suggest one of those if you want to run a server. This is an ISO, in generate around 600Mb so be ready to wait a few hours... Even with a really fast connection, because the transfer will be limited by the mirror in most cases.

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How to install your system to be able to boot from any Operating System

Problems

Problems with booting... numerous emails & posts about this one, that's for sure!!! Real solutions? Not really... In many cases people end up reinstalling their system from Scratch and once in a while even that doesn't work! But smart people have a way to fix their boot sectors without too much hurdle (instead of the hours it takes to install an OS.)

If you are using a folder much, then you can create a substitute using the subst command in a shell. This command will assign a path to the given letter and the result is something which looks like you had an additional hard drive.