SillyDog701 • Reformatting to a clean HDD from Linux Mandrake?

by **caribe** » Fri 18 Jun, 2004 2:46 pm

I have installed Linux Mandrake on my daughter's system and had PartitionMagic wipe out WinXP completely when I initially installed it. I don't mind starting over, but am not familiar enough with Linux to blow it out. Is there a way to run PM from within Mandrake or are they not compatible? Any suggestions? I'd love to see a c: prompt again.

UserAgent: Mozilla/4.0 (compatible; MSIE 6.0; Windows NT 5.1; .NET CLR 1.1.4322)

by **profman** » Fri 18 Jun, 2004 2:59 pm

Normally (at least for Windows) PM has you make a boot floppy that will also run a simplified version of PM so that you can work on a hard drive.

If you do not have such a boot floppy, perhaps you could install PM on some other machine, make a boot floppy on it, then run that floppy on your Linux machine.

Please note that my experience with PM is a bit rusty and my Linux experience even rustier, so take my advice with the pain reliever of your choice.

UserAgent: Mozilla/5.0 (Windows; U; Windows NT 5.1; en-US; rv:1.7) Gecko/20040616

by **caribe** » Fri 18 Jun, 2004 3:10 pm

Oddly enough, that PC was my last one to have a floppy drive. The Dell 8300 I am on now does not have one and neither does my Compaq at home. I thought - why? With zips and CDs, why would I need a floppy? When I tried to create the disk PM requested on one of my other machines, I tried to used a zip, but it came back 'invalid.' Oh well. Any other non-floppy ideas?

UserAgent: Mozilla/4.0 (compatible; MSIE 6.0; Windows NT 5.1; .NET CLR 1.1.4322)

by **caribe** » Fri 18 Jun, 2004 3:11 pm

I guess I should have added that I neglected to create the floppy for that machine.

UserAgent: Mozilla/4.0 (compatible; MSIE 6.0; Windows NT 5.1; .NET CLR 1.1.4322)

by **profman** » Fri 18 Jun, 2004 3:36 pm

Option 1
From the PartitionMagic 8.0 manual:

You can run a DOS version of PartionMagic ... from the PartitionMagic CD if your computer has the ability to boot from a CD.

You may have to set options in your BIOS to make the system boot from a CD before using the hard drive. If you do not have PM 8, check the manuals for your version to see if it still boots from a CD. There should also be a user's guide in pdf format on the PM CD so you can read up on what options are available to you.

Option 2
Go to a friend's computer (which has a floppydrive) and make the rescue diskettes! You need not install PM. Just insert the CD, pick the PartitionMagic option, and choose the option for creating rescue diskettes.

Now, I'm not exactly sure what you need to do after wiping Linux away. You will somehow have to install a new OS on this blank hard drive.

UserAgent: Mozilla/5.0 (Windows; U; Windows NT 5.1; en-US; rv:1.7) Gecko/20040616

by **caribe** » Fri 18 Jun, 2004 3:56 pm

I will attempt to create the floppy boot disc on another PC. I have ver 7.0 and am not sure if I can boot from it, but I have tried with the Linux system and it didn't work. My BIOS is set for it to recognize the CD. I have nothing to lose, but Linux itself. (Who said that?) After which I will find a way to reinstall Win 98 or XP to the box. I'm sure I will stumble over yet unseen obstacles. Thanks for the help.

UserAgent: Mozilla/4.0 (compatible; MSIE 6.0; Windows NT 5.1; .NET CLR 1.1.4322)

by **Mandrake** » Fri 18 Jun, 2004 6:54 pm

This is the easiest way, no doubt: (Involves no Partition Magic, and only two or so minutes in DOS)

:arrow:

Get a Windows 98 bootdisk, if you don't have one, you can get one from www.bootdisk.net

:arrow:

Boot from this floppy disk, if asked, choose to boot without CD-Rom support. At the command prompt type 'fdisk /mbr' and press enter.

:arrow:

Now take the floppy disk out and put your Windows XP CD in the CD drive.

:arrow:

Reboot now, and the XP setup will load.

:arrow:

After you have accepted the EULA and all of that, you get to the part of the setup that lets you make and remove partitons. Remove all the partitions on the hard disk. Now that you have one empty hard drive with no partitions, just create one large NTFS partition, and the installation will continue.

(I never understood why people try to remove all their partitions with Partition Magic before installing Windows XP, as the Windows setup can do this for you!)

UserAgent: Mozilla/5.0 (Windows; U; Windows NT 5.1; en-US; rv:1.7) Gecko/20040608

by **profman** » Fri 18 Jun, 2004 7:41 pm

Mandrake wrote:This is the easiest way, no doubt: (Involves no Partition Magic, and only two or so minutes in DOS)

Well, sure, if you want to do it the easy way!

I just tend to use the tools that I'm used to until a friend points out an easier way.

Thanks Mandrake.

caribe: Lets us know how things work out.

UserAgent: Mozilla/5.0 (Windows; U; Windows NT 5.1; en-US; rv:1.7) Gecko/20040616

by **caribe** » Sat 19 Jun, 2004 11:05 am

Yes...thanks Mandrake. I knew there had to be an better way to accomplish my task. Sometimes it is easy to overlook the obvious. I won't keep 98 on there any longer than it takes to upgrade it to XP. (As I only have the XP upgrade CD, I assume I will have to install 98 initially). Although anger management is good to practice, my daughter will gain more from my XP disk. Thanks for the help.

UserAgent: Mozilla/4.0 (compatible; MSIE 6.0; Windows NT 5.1; .NET CLR 1.1.4322)

by **Mandrake** » Sat 19 Jun, 2004 12:28 pm

You can install straight from the XP upgrade CD, just have your 98 CD ready in case it asks to check for a valid previous version of Windows.

UserAgent: Mozilla/5.0 (Windows; U; Windows NT 5.1; en-US; rv:1.7) Gecko/20040616

Reformatting to a clean HDD from Linux Mandrake?

Reformatting to a clean HDD from Linux Mandrake?

No Floppy

addendum

Nothing to lose

the obvious

Who is online