Did you fully format your Linux partitions or did you keep the Arch /home partition intact which may be the root of the problem?.
See this guide if you have already set up a swap; root and home partition to keep your current data intact:
I wiped the disk and installed Ubuntu Mate, so I thought all the prior partitions were destroyed? Here’s the output of lsblk:
sda 8:0 0 238.5G 0 disk
├─sda1 8:1 0 512M 0 part /boot/efi
├─sda2 8:2 0 230.1G 0 part /
└─sda3 8:3 0 7.9G 0 part [SWAP]
Okay, if I were you (and sometimes I wish I was someone else!) I would start from the beginning and start by creating a swap; root and home partiton using Gparted from the live CD!. In your case, you should also create a small UEFI partiton (512MB in size at the very beginning of your hard disk space!) for the UEFI bootlaoder!.
See the partition guide and READ THE PART ABOUT UEFI FIRST!:
How can I tell though? The one thing I’m confused about is it’s supposed to be a 256GB hard drive, so why is lsblk saying the drive is 238.5? The rest of it still has Arch on it? That’s what I’m confused about, how can I see that those three partitions are all that I have on here?
Install Gparted with the following terminal command (Ctrl + Alt + t) and then you can see exactly what you have in terms of partitions and space:
sudo apt-get install gparted parted
and you will see something like this but please note!, I don't have a UEFI partition on my PC!:
wolfman you are a genius! Ok, so I found the extra space! How do I fix this? This had to have occurred during the Arch install. Basically I want to wipe everything and install Ubuntu Mate fresh. I already downloaded the iso so I'm ready to go. I just need to know how to fix the drive issues? <img
I tried going through the installation steps of “something else” now I have the same problem except gparted won’t even show me the missing disk partition now. It disappeared. What do I do?
sda 8:0 0 238.5G 0 disk
├─sda1 8:1 0 512M 0 part /boot/efi
├─sda2 8:2 0 230.1G 0 part /
└─sda3 8:3 0 7.9G 0 part [SWAP]
There’s a partition missing from a prior install of Arch, gparted isn’t showing it either. Ubuntu Mate just keeps reinstalling on sda but what I want it to do is wipe the entire disk including the missing partition so I can reinstall Ubuntu Mate fresh.
Is this right? Shouldn’t there be a home partition?
sda 8:0 0 238.5G 0 disk
├─sda1 8:1 0 512M 0 part /boot/efi
├─sda2 8:2 0 230.1G 0 part /
└─sda3 8:3 0 7.9G 0 part [SWAP]
Hi @kreasonos,
did you read through the partition guide?, you should have and UEFI partition, a swap, a root and a home partition!:
You should also take some time to read through the full beginners guide as it also has a few tips:
What is important as you have a UEFI PC is to read the following!:
https://help.ubuntu.com/community/UEFI
and this section in particular:
Creating an EFI System Partition
Last but not least is to let the installer do it automatically for you but it won’t create a separate home partition!:
Can we facetime and you can help me do it?
@kreasonos, wasn’t your original problem with your VM installation?
Why did this conversation turn into a partitioning problem all of a sudden?
Did you go through the “Driver & Firmware” setup step in the “Getting Started” section of the Welcome splash screen after you had installed Ubuntu MATE?
Cheers
Sorry @kreasonos but it ain’t gonna happen as I don’t want to start something that may turn into a major headache for me and I am not very good at working on phones/webcams with people as I have a low tolerance level!. 
There are plenty of guides on YOutube!:
For UEFI installation start here:
It evolved, see above. VM issues stemmed from disk issue.
Ok let me try using the youtube guides, I’ll report back
wolfman,
I followed the tutorial exactly, made a 20gb root partition, a 8gb swap partition, and the rest a home partition and the computer would not boot.
Ok, just settled on the default Ubuntu Mate settings, the system is running great now so just going to leave it alone. I know I should probably have a separate home partition but a lot of Arch users do it this way so I think it should be fine.
sda 8:0 0 238.5G 0 disk
├─sda1 8:1 0 512M 0 part /boot/efi
├─sda2 8:2 0 230.1G 0 part /
└─sda3 8:3 0 7.9G 0 part [SWAP]
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I suspect it wouldn’t boot because you didn’t create a UEFI partition?.
It is up and running which is the main thing!. 
Please tick best answer so it helps others!. 
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Done. Thanks wolfman
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Hi @kreasonos,
when I get the time; I will amend my partition guide to include UEFI in glorious colour, I have never had to do it myself yet as I have only worked on two PC’s that have UEFI but it really just boils down to making a separate UEFI partition and then the normal swap, root and home partitions!.
I did work on one further laptop with UEFI but I used the auto install function as my friend was in a hurry!.
EDIT:
I have added UEFI info to the partition guide!.
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