I need help w/ deleting a partition

Im just looking for either a partition manager or simply a program to delete an existing Linux partition gone sour.... *preferrably free Paying to delete something is just not in my budget. I've looked a round a little but the ones I keep finding have terrible reviews... So a reccomendation would be nice..

 

You can use the old DOS fdisk. If you can't find a "google" download site for it, use a Win98 boot disk.

 

Thanks Dolphin.... just curious... would a complete system restore remove Linux or bypass it leaving it on the hard drive? just curious for future refference..

*If this double posted sorry, it knocked me offline for a sec and I had to log back in.

 

If you mean a Windows Restore, it would leave it alone. If you mean a manufactures CD Restore, I don't know for sure. I would venture a guess and say that it wouldn't bother it.

Why not just re-format the partition and try a different distro of Linux or reinstall the version you have?

By-the-way, I'm far from an expert Linux user. I'm just learning like so many others.

 

dude, if you are using windows atm, go to control panel, go to Administrative Tools, then go to Computer Management, then go to Storage, then to Disk Management, in there, right click the partition you want to delete and delete it, but make sure you have a boot loader, its no good if you have a boot loader installed to a partition header, then you delete the boot loader, you wont be able to boot lol.

so basically make sure that your boot loader is onthe MBR, which i am 99% sure it is, and then delete the partition.

thats the way i do it, if you cant, if you have the Knoppix live cd distribution, just load up qtparted and delete the partition

 

Nope...It would only remove your bootloader....So you will still have your partitions

 

@Phantom69
I did what you said to see if my partition shows in Windows that way. If the partition was deleted in this manner, how would you get the disc space back without having to format/repartition the whole disk? Wouldn't it be just "dead" space?

@tocool4u
If you lose your bootloader, would you still be able to boot into Windows? Or would it just remove the LILO or GRUB loader?

 

Phantom69 I am following you, as far as this part goes

"dude, if you are using windows atm, go to control panel, go to Administrative Tools, then go to Computer Management, then go to Storage, then to Disk Management, in there, right click the partition you want to delete and delete it,"

I get that part.... its this part thats throwing me off... "make sure you have a boot loader, its no good if you have a boot loader installed to a partition header, then you delete the boot loader"

"so basically make sure that your boot loader is onthe MBR"

Im one of those retards you have to give the play by play to, I oppologize for that...

 

oh no problem dude, sorry i wasnt very clear lol i was muddled.

what i mean is that when you have a dual boot operating system setup, you must have a boot loader.

It is either installed on the Master Boot Record (MBR) or on the Partition header. for example. if you have:

A dual boot with Fedora Core 4 and Windows XP.
the GRUB boot load will be installed to the MBR and will allow you to boot into windows OR linux. If you were to decide to delete the linux partition within windows, you will still be able to boot into windows.

A dual boot with Windows and an optioned Kanotix install
the boot loader may be installed to the Partition header and you may need to use a floppy disk to be able to boot at all, if you delete that partition, you will not be able to load either Operating System.

Im sorry that i am unclear but i do know what i am talking about, its just harder to explain in words.

it would be my belief that your boot loader is installed to the MBR.

tell me something, Are you using GRUB?? which lets you choose whether to boot linux or Windows at EVERY boot up. or some other partition Manager that works in another manner.

[bold]if at default, when you start your computer, it asks which operating system you want to boot, then it is installed to the MBR and there should be no issue in deleting the partiton.[/bold]

 

So thats what was wrong with my Fedora Core install, I didnt have that problem w/ SuSE 10.1. SuSE had grub, but Fedora core acted as if it took over, leaving me unable to decide windows or fedora... it would just automatically load Fedora. (I'm experimenting with several distros by the way), SuSE is my favorite so far (fedora really isnt that different from what I can tell, just didnt like it taking over) but I just cant get any distro to work on my new pc *eth0 is already running* and thats why I was wanting to delete it.. I dont really want to... I just cant seem to get it to work. Im actively posting w/ SuSE, JustLinux, and Afterdawn trying to get it resolved but no one seems to know, and none of the codes seem to work. I did however have a clean install on two other pc's Ive installed it on, its just the cpu is crap on those and I prefer to use this one. You were right, I went ahead deleted the partitions just to see, and when I went to reboot I got stuck @ command line. Lol, heres where I was stupid.... I figured I would just reinstall SuSE and all would be solved but that wasnt the case (I never have been a good listener) SuSE was installed but I was still locked out of XP, sooo.... (it was time to clean house anyway) XP had so much useless crap on it anyway I just did a factory install.. at least in doing so I did answer my question.. lol .. the factory disc will remove linux.. now that may not apply to everyone but as far as this Emachine goes it removed linux completely... getting back to subject at hand, If I can ever figure out why eth0 is already running w/ every distro... I'd like to get Linux back on here.. being a newb to linux can be somewhat frustrating but I enjoy the challenge. I'm glad you explained grub to me, now my question is ( just from what I've read I assume you can since linux is like prego "chunky") I can add grub to a distro like Fedora Core right? giving me the option to choose between windows or fedora... and if not.. how does one with both XP and Fedora access XP if evertime they boot Fedora assumes the position?

 

After going back and reviewing what you said....I must not have had Fedora 4 if it has grub... So it was (whats that word?) a Kanotix install and thats why I was locked out... right? I dont have a floppy, and thats one thing I hate about the new pc... How would I go about creating a boot disc w/o the floppy? Can you burn those to disc instead?

 

to answer your first question with fedora core.

what happens is when the blue menu comes up, you have to choose which OS you want to load, the fedora distro, to my knowledge, uses a modified GRUB boot loader. so when you are installing fedora, you configure the boot loader to load windows first. That blue menu appears by pressing enter or escape during the fedora logo scree, just after the bios screen, then in there you choose which OS you want to boot.

To answer your second question.

What you are talking about is called an el-torito boot disc (i think lol) and im not sure if you can use the same image, you would have to search the net, like through google or something for this and then burn to cd using bootable mode in nero or other similar software

 

I think maybe I had a corrupted copy or something because I tried to hit about every button on the keyboard.... either that or I'm drinking entirely too much beer when installing these distros.. lol that or I missed something during the install... now I did want to say my copy of fedora will not create a partition... you either already have to have a version of linux to overwrite, or a partition manager to create the partition... so I installed it over the old suse partition.. I want to see if Ubuntu will connect but for what-ever-reason-unknown I just cant seem to get the distro to download properly from there site.. I have yet to go torrent on it.. maybe I should..

 

ummmm... lol uh nevermind about the ubuntu.... (in case you missed this thread read and see why) http://forums.afterdawn.com/thread_view.cfm/2/351058

 

I know Im answering my own post but I found this to be very helpful information. It came from the e-book "Beginning SUSE Linux - From Novice To Professional (2005)

What if You Want to Remove Linux from Your Computer?
Linux isn't for everybody, and you might find that, after trying it out, it's not for you. In that case, you might wish to return to having a Windows-only PC and reclaim the disk space taken up by the Linux partitions. This is easily done using the Windows installation CD.

Before you do this, please think long and hard about your reasons for deciding to give up on Linux. If you found it too difficult to use compared to Windows, consider giving Linux just a bit longer to prove itself. If you find that Linux doesn't support a particular piece of hardware on your PC, try updating the system to see if support has been added. If you find that a piece of software you need isn't supplied with SUSE Linux, search the Internet to see if you can track down that software. Linux has software for just about every need, but, unfortunately, a particular program might sometimes be difficult to find.

If you're certain you want to remove Linux, you'll be pleased to hear it's relatively easy. Assuming you're using Windows XP, insert your installation CD and boot from it. When you are asked whether you want to install Windows, choose to run the Rescue program. After prompting you for your Administrator password (if you have one), and asking you to choose your keyboard and which Windows partition you wish to work on, you'll be returned to a DOS command prompt. At this point you should type:

bootcfg /rebuild
Then simply issue the following two commands in sequence. These will rewrite the boot sector with Windows code, making Linux no longer accessible:

fixboot
fixmbr
These commands will likely ask questions for which the answers are obvious, but this depends on your system. After running the commands, boot into Windows and use the Disk Management tools to remove the Linux partitions. Open Control Panel, click Administrative Tools, click Computer Management, click Storage, and finally click Disk Management. Your Windows partitions will be identified with drive letters, and the Linux partitions will be referred to as Unknown Partitions. You can safely delete these, which will eradicate Linux entirely from your system.

thought you all might like that.....

 

thanx for the nfo

 

Good info but it still doesn't answer my earlier question.

If the partition was deleted in this manner, how would you get the disc space back without having to format/repartition the whole disk? Wouldn't it be just "dead" space?

 

well it would technically be unpartitioned space, all you needa do is create a partition in that space and you will have a primary partition, i recommend never mucking around with extended partitions cause in my experience the yare useless anyway.

so YES it is just dead space, you can get programs that will allow you to expand your C partition to fill the rest of the hard disk but otherwise you can just create new partitions for space or installing another OS on them.


sorry to not answer your question b4

 

That's what I thought.

It's OK about not answering before. It's easy to over look things.

 

I got all my space back, but like I said I reinstalled the whole OS, and that was after deleting the partions like you said. I guess you mean w/o reinstalling the OS. I pretty much save everything to disc(dvd) once a week... so its never really a big set back for me to have to reinstall the operating system. I learn everything by trial and error pretty much (do all the reading and asking after its mucked up) I think it sticks w/ you better that way... lol