[Influx]

First of all, wanted to say hey to everyone, i know my first post is askin for help but want to be a helpfull part of the forum myself in the future

Anyways, i'v been told theres no solution to my problem apart from a format, what i realy dont want to do, so though't maybe you guys wcould prove me wrong

Im running dual boot, Windows XP as usual and Suse Linux 9.1 Personel on a different partition on the same hdd. I fiddled about with suse for abit, but decided i want to try out Fedora, so when i went to remove linux i hit a problem. I dont know how, lol. I was just going to remove the partition using Partition Magic, but i had worries about what would happen with the dual boot and my main hdd C: just shows as "bad" in partition magic now and i cant do nothing with it. I looked through the suse installation cd but theres no option for removal.

Any ideas? Was thinking maybe i go through fdisk? or some linux commands through konsole?

Thanks for any help

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there's no real removal for linux, formatting the partition would clear it out....the only issue is the MBR...if you just drop linux and go from there..chances are the MBR would still show the suse partition as an option....if you were to just use the standard install instructions for fedora it would give you the option to format the old suse partition plus it would rebuild the mbr when it installs the boot loader....

if you're just wanting to try out a bunch of different flavors of linux...i suggest searching for the various live distros that will boot from cd without installing

[dsenette]

there's no real removal for linux, formatting the partition would clear it out....the only issue is the MBR...if you just drop linux and go from there..chances are the MBR would still show the suse partition as an option....if you were to just use the standard install instructions for fedora it would give you the option to format the old suse partition plus it would rebuild the mbr when it installs the boot loader....

if you're just wanting to try out a bunch of different flavors of linux...i suggest searching for the various live distros that will boot from cd without installing

[Influx]

there's no real removal for linux, formatting the partition would clear it out....the only issue is the MBR...if you just drop linux and go from there..chances are the MBR would still show the suse partition as an option....if you were to just use the standard install instructions for fedora it would give you the option to format the old suse partition plus it would rebuild the mbr when it installs the boot loader....

if you're just wanting to try out a bunch of different flavors of linux...i suggest searching for the various live distros that will boot from cd without installing

I didnt think about going through fedora what makes sence know you say it. But yeah i am just tryin out a few different ones, so might do abit of reading up about the Live distro's. I'v got a few sites i'v bookmarked regarding that iv been meaning to look through. Thanks

[loxs]

Most but not all distros has the option of installing the boot loader to a floppy disk which can make removing linux much easier than when the boot loader is installed on your HD. LiLO almost always has this option, GRub on the other hand usually does not but sometimes it does (SuSE 10 comes to mind).
I don't know of a way to uninstall a boot loader thats been installed on a HD other than a format. I'm sure there has to be a way though....................

Loxs

[Thef0rce]

changing linux distros is as easy or as difficult as putting in the cd of the new distro you wish to install, rebooting and going through the install process.

but if you wish to revert back to windows and unpartition your drive, I wouldn't bother using partition magic to remove the partition. I've reformatted entire hard drives to ntfs again using the windows disk management system (wow, a useful tool that comes with windows xp ) you can delete the partition by doing that and I think, with a bit of luck, it'll just merge back with your windows xp partition.

also, uninstalling grub just requires repairing the mbr. google for some useful tools that will put your mbr back to windows standard and say bye bye to grub or lilo.

http://support.micro...om/?kbid=309000 knowlegebase article on disk management

I've never actually done this before. I prefer to install fedora core on a different hard drive entirely, but I've heard that mbr repair isn't too difficult.

Edited by Thef0rce, 15 November 2005 - 08:44 AM.

[Influx]

changing linux distros is as easy or as difficult as putting in the cd of the new distro you wish to install, rebooting and going through the install process.

but if you wish to revert back to windows and unpartition your drive, I wouldn't bother using partition magic to remove the partition. I've reformatted entire hard drives to ntfs again using the windows disk management system (wow, a useful tool that comes with windows xp ) you can delete the partition by doing that and I think, with a bit of luck, it'll just merge back with your windows xp partition.

also, uninstalling grub just requires repairing the mbr. google for some useful tools that will put your mbr back to windows standard and say bye bye to grub or lilo.

http://support.micro...om/?kbid=309000 knowlegebase article on disk management

I've never actually done this before. I prefer to install fedora core on a different hard drive entirely, but I've heard that mbr repair isn't too difficult.

I remember seeing the option to make a boot loader on floppy when installing but never thought of doing it. I think im going to do a total format, i need to anyway. Then install fedora on my 2nd hdd to save any problems and use the floppy boot loader.

Thanks alot for the help all

[loxs]

Fedora is one of those distros that does a lot of the install in auto-mode....... Be sure to read carefully before clicking during the install. Fedora uses Grub and it can be a bit tricky to get it installed on a floppy. A good google search on the subject before the install would be a good idea

Since you are trying out different distros........ You may want to give Slackware a try. aLinux (formerly Peanut) is a stable little distro and has the feel of Slackware but is smaller. Both use the Lilo boot loader and getting it to a floppy is simple.
I would recommend using the ext2 file system with the above two distros.

loxs