If I don't misunderstand, then according to the installation instructions for dual-boot at https://help.ubuntu.com/community/MactelSupportTeam/AppleIntelInstallation #Dual-Boot:%20Mac%20OSX%20and%20Ubuntu it would not be installed to the Ubuntu root partition (which would be /dev/sda4 in this case) but into the BIOS Boot Partition, /dev/sda3 (with the bios_grub flag). Like also described in Colin's link from above, http://grub.enbug.org/BIOS_Boot_Partition
As to the size of sda1 (grub's BIOS Boot Partition), this was created with that size by ubiquity during installation. Before installation I removed all partitions and recreated the partition table with gparted (as in the single-boot install instructions linked above, which according to parted may have failed to actually convert the disk). If sda1 is now too small, this is the installer's doing. -- [Lucid] Upgrade of grub-pc: "Your embedding area is unusually small. core.img won't fit in it." https://bugs.launchpad.net/bugs/515724 You received this bug notification because you are a member of Mactel Support, which is a direct subscriber. Status in Mactel Support: New Status in “grub2” package in Ubuntu: New Bug description: Binary package hint: grub2 Yesterday I installed Lucid on a MacBook Pro 5,4 (https://help.ubuntu.com/community/MacBookPro5-4/Lucid), using the snapshot disc image. I removed Mac OS X and converted the disk to MBR like described here: https://help.ubuntu.com/community/MactelSupportTeam/AppleIntelInstallation#Single-Boot:%20Ubuntu%20Only The installation went totally fine. Today I did an aptitude full-upgrade, which pulled in a new grub-common and grub-pc. grub-pc generated this error: Setting up grub-common (1.98~20100115-1ubuntu3) ... Setting up grub-pc (1.98~20100115-1ubuntu3) ... /usr/sbin/grub-setup: warn: Your embedding area is unusually small. core.img won't fit in it. /usr/sbin/grub-setup: warn: Embedding is not possible. GRUB can only be installed in this setup by using blocklists. However, blocklists are UNRELIABLE and its use is discouraged. Installation finished. No error reported. Generating grub.cfg ... Found linux image: /boot/vmlinuz-2.6.32-12-generic Found initrd image: /boot/initrd.img-2.6.32-12-generic Found memtest86+ image: /boot/memtest86+.bin done I am now afraid to reboot. ProblemType: Bug Architecture: amd64 Date: Mon Feb 1 22:28:48 2010 DistroRelease: Ubuntu 10.04 InstallationMedia: Ubuntu 10.04 "Lucid Lynx" - Alpha amd64 (20100131) NonfreeKernelModules: wl nvidia Package: grub-pc 1.98~20100115-1ubuntu3 ProcEnviron: LANG=en_US.utf8 SHELL=/bin/bash ProcVersionSignature: Ubuntu 2.6.32-12.16-generic SourcePackage: grub2 Uname: Linux 2.6.32-12-generic x86_64 _______________________________________________ Mailing list: https://launchpad.net/~mactel-support Post to : [email protected] Unsubscribe : https://launchpad.net/~mactel-support More help : https://help.launchpad.net/ListHelp

