        |
|
|
 The Geek Culture Forums
 Ask a Geek!
 Partition Trouble
|
 UBBFriend: Email This Page to Someone! |
next newest topic | next oldest topic |
| Author | Topic: Partition Trouble |
|
MightyJoeSakic Super Geek  
Posts: 152 |
posted May 27, 2002 07:43
   
Alright as much as I hate having to ask someone else for help, I will. I have a 6 gig HD that was discarded that I want to salvage for a linux HD. I need to be able to successfully get NT off of it and destroy the partitions and create the ones necessary for whatever distro I decide on which looks to be Debian. Can someone help me with the removal of NT and removal of partitions/creation of new ones.... This is one of the few last Windows related things that I haven't messed with before. ./Thom stop ------------------ IP: Logged |
|
dragonman97 Alpha Geek Posts: 293 |
posted May 27, 2002 09:12
quote: There's a few ways to do this... If you don't care about NT, and just want to destroy it, just boot to Debian, and delete the partitions with Debian's installer. If you find console fdisk scary (and I do find the hardcore fdisk a bit scary myself), I recommend cfdisk, which has a nice menu, and can be found on the excellant LNX-BBC (Linux-Bootable Business Card). Also, you might let Debian handle the partioning of your drive, after using a Win9x boot disk and fdisk to delete all your non-DOS partitions (search the c: drive of a win9x machine for fdisk.* - it's not part of a standard M$ bootdisk). Using the Win9x disk is a pretty easy way of deleting M$ with M$. If you want to preserve your data, I suggest using SAMBA from another Linux box, and then, take one of the aforementioned routes to deleting NT. I want to do the Debian thing sometime, but I'll stick with Mandrake for now. Diskdrake is a pretty nice partitioning tool, but after getting slightly burned by it once, I learned how to use cfdisk - it wanted a reboot, and I don't think it reformatted the partition. So once you've made partitions, use the mkfs.whatever /dev/hd$YOUR_PART command to make a filesystem. e.g. mkfs.reiserfs /dev/hdb10 IP: Logged |
|
GameMaster Alpha Geek Posts: 308 |
posted May 27, 2002 23:50
Sounds like you just want to run DiskDruid or fdisk... easiset way to that is to stick a win 98/95/ME start disk in and type fdisk at the prompt... Else, diskdruid is part of Redhat and Caldera ditros of Linux, you can go that far in their instlation and then abort, and restart with the debain disk (if diskdruid isn't part of debain). If your intrested in keeping the NT as a partion, then you can use FIPS (GNU software that is typically in a folder called "dosutil" on most distributions of Linux) or Partion magic (which is a great product, but a bit costly) to do a non-destructive partioning. If you plan to keep an NT or DOS partion, remember that it has to be at the front of the drive. Linux requires a least 2 partions itself... a linux native (mounted at / ) and a swap. You may opt to make partions for any of the things mounted at root ( /bin /root /boot /usr /home /ect and so on). Another way to do this all is to wipe the disk, remove all the partions, and then insert the debain disks and restart: let it do it's installation the way it wants to (which will probably be swap and 3 native partions (mounted / /home /boot). ------------------ IP: Logged |
|
MightyJoeSakic Super Geek
Posts: 152 |
posted May 28, 2002 00:12
Thanks I'll try this stuff out. This is going to be so much fun....*jumps around like a little kid chanting* I'm gonna have a linux box...I'm gonna have a linux box... ./Thom stop ------------------ IP: Logged |
|
greycat Alpha Geek Posts: 277 |
posted May 31, 2002 20:15
quote: The Debian installer uses cfdisk by default. If you want the real McCoy, you have to press Alt-F2 to get to a shell prompt, and run fdisk from there. Then, at the end of the installation, you'll have the opportunity to "make the system boot from the hard drive", which installs LILO. If you install LILO in the master boot record (MBR), or if you use the optional Debian MBR, it will overwrite the NT boot loader. So NT will be completely gone. Of course, if you just enjoy the sheer visceral thrill of Microsoft Software Destruction, you could drop to a shell and do a dd if=/dev/zero of=/dev/hda bs=512 count=1, which will clobber the MBR and probably the partition table as well (and maybe a few other important bits; don't do this on a disk with data you need to read later). This is the Real Man's way to destroy data: "I want 512 zero bytes right there! Right now! And don't prompt me for confirmation either!" After that, you'll run fdisk or cfdisk as normal to create your partitions, etc. IP: Logged |
All times are Pacific Time | next newest topic | next oldest topic |
  |
|
� 2002 Geek Culture� All Rights Reserved.
Powered by Infopop www.infopop.com © 2000
Ultimate Bulletin Board 5.47e
|