Ubuntu Install problem

[NutterzUK]

Hi there,
In short, here is my problem, i'd really appreciate help with if possible.

- I'm at uni, the internet is terrible so I can't download the "windows installer" as it needs to use a downloader, which is blocked. I can however download the ubuntu .ISO and boot from it.

- I have three drives, a 80GB ssd, and two 1TB WD Greens.

- When I install, it automatically selects one of the WD greens and won't let me change it. It says it has no OS on it. The only way I can change is by selecting to specifiy partitions myself. It then gives me a list, which doesn't look much like a partition list, and makes it difficult to work around. If I select my SSD, it says this is not a " Root ", and won't let me install. I'm not wanting to muck around too much as my data is pretty valuable to me.
- I then tried installing it on my WD green anyway, it said "resizing partitions"... and then about an hour and a bit later... was still on 0%. I didn't want to reboot whilst it was doing this, but eventually had no choice. Nothing got lost so that's ok.

Any ideas on how I can get the windows installer without the downloader, or how to install it side by side on my SSD with the normal boot choice when it starts up? Also, any tips on optimisation for an SSD would be great.

Cheers.
Steve

 

[NutterzUK]

Thanks Jon and Ryan. I did what you suggested Ryan, and left just my SSD in. I also did as you suggested jon, and checksummed the disk. If i'd known about that before my windows 7 installation would have been a hundred times easier. Thanks. I then browsed the site and downloaded something called wubi. I was messing about so long I think this was the second time i'd tried this. Instead of downloading the ubuntu data though it pulled it from the .iso I made earlier and left in the drive, and installed it "alongside" winows. Now I have the option when booting... and it's just time for me to explore ubuntu. I've had it before, but never used it properly much.
I'm a computer science student, and although it's not on my syllabus, I think it's really important for me to broaden my horizons and learn some new things. Most of what we learn isn't all that helpful in the real world, other than programming.