Comment 46 for bug 912031

Same error - gagged trying to find a free partition. Details from sudo fdisk -l are below.
The installer offered only /dev/sde for "Alongside other OS". That's a usb external drive. OK, try "Something else". The crash occurred while scanning disk partitions. I'd wanted to put Precise on /dev/sda5.

= = = = = = = =
Disk /dev/sda: 120.0 GB, 120033041920 bytes
255 heads, 63 sectors/track, 14593 cylinders, total 234439535 sectors
Units = sectors of 1 * 512 = 512 bytes
Sector size (logical/physical): 512 bytes / 512 bytes
I/O size (minimum/optimal): 512 bytes / 512 bytes
Disk identifier: 0x19f619f5

   Device Boot Start End Blocks Id System
/dev/sda1 * 2048 206847 102400 7 HPFS/NTFS/exFAT
/dev/sda2 208894 234438655 117114881 5 Extended
/dev/sda5 208957 107619434 53705239 83 Linux
/dev/sda6 107630592 226183167 59276288 83 Linux
/dev/sda7 226185216 234438655 4126720 82 Linux swap / Solaris

Disk /dev/sdb: 120.0 GB, 120034123776 bytes
255 heads, 63 sectors/track, 14593 cylinders, total 234441648 sectors
Units = sectors of 1 * 512 = 512 bytes
Sector size (logical/physical): 512 bytes / 512 bytes
I/O size (minimum/optimal): 512 bytes / 512 bytes
Disk identifier: 0xd1e6d1e7

   Device Boot Start End Blocks Id System
/dev/sdb1 63 234436544 117218241 c W95 FAT32 (LBA)

Disk /dev/sdc: 120.0 GB, 120034123776 bytes
255 heads, 63 sectors/track, 14593 cylinders, total 234441648 sectors
Units = sectors of 1 * 512 = 512 bytes
Sector size (logical/physical): 512 bytes / 512 bytes
I/O size (minimum/optimal): 512 bytes / 512 bytes
Disk identifier: 0x0000993e

   Device Boot Start End Blocks Id System
/dev/sdc1 2048 107425791 53711872 83 Linux
/dev/sdc2 107426716 117194174 4883729+ 5 Extended
/dev/sdc3 117194752 234438655 58621952 7 HPFS/NTFS/exFAT
/dev/sdc5 107426718 117194174 4883728+ 82 Linux swap / Solaris

Disk /dev/sdd: 120.0 GB, 120034123776 bytes
255 heads, 63 sectors/track, 14593 cylinders, total 234441648 sectors
Units = sectors of 1 * 512 = 512 bytes
Sector size (logical/physical): 512 bytes / 512 bytes
I/O size (minimum/optimal): 512 bytes / 512 bytes
Disk identifier: 0x0007bc7b

   Device Boot Start End Blocks Id System
/dev/sdd1 2048 109053951 54525952 83 Linux
/dev/sdd2 109053952 119539711 5242880 83 Linux
/dev/sdd4 119539712 234441647 57450968 5 Extended
/dev/sdd5 119541760 130027519 5242880 83 Linux
/dev/sdd6 130029568 234441647 52206040 83 Linux

Disk /dev/sde: 320.1 GB, 320072933376 bytes
255 heads, 63 sectors/track, 38913 cylinders, total 625142448 sectors
Units = sectors of 1 * 512 = 512 bytes
Sector size (logical/physical): 512 bytes / 512 bytes
I/O size (minimum/optimal): 512 bytes / 512 bytes
Disk identifier: 0x44fdfe06

   Device Boot Start End Blocks Id System
/dev/sde1 63 625137344 312568641 7 HPFS/NTFS/exFAT