[Bug 927917] Re: Changing a partition type from ext3 to ext4 with Formatting unchecked in Ubuntu 12.1 installer formatted the partitions and erased everything

[Andras Szigethy]

Well, I just saw the unchecked - but ok, maybe disabled and just a bit
more gray - Format checkbox, but... :)

I used the Ubuntu 12.1 DVD graphical installer.
(ubuntu-11.10-desktop-i386.iso 729.1MB) I used the Install Ubuntu - or
whatever - option when booting.

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Title:
  Changing a partition type from ext3 to ext4 with Formatting unchecked
  in Ubuntu 12.1 installer formatted the partitions and erased
  everything

Status in “partman-base” package in Ubuntu:
  Confirmed

Bug description:
  I installed Ubuntu 12.1 on my linux server. There were two ext3
  partitions. In the old days, when  I changed from ext2 to ext3, it
  could be done easily without changing any file on the drive. I thought
  it is the same situation in the latest Ubuntu installer, and I changed
  the partition type from ext3 to ext4, but the Format partition option
  was unchecked, not to erase the data. When started installing, Ubuntu
  formatted all the two partitions and erased all my last 14 years data
  without asking anything. I do not think this should be the normal
  behaviour. The installer should alert the user when changing the
  partition type without Formatting checked that all the data will be
  erased, or whatever.

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