How do I remove linux?

Ok I do really like linux and its a crying shame that I have to make this decision but frankly Linux is pretty much USELESS to me at the moment due to lack of software support. All I have really been able to do is chat, send and recieve email, and use instant messaging. These were the things I almost NEVER used in windows. I have a ton of software on my ntfs drive that frankly I CANT USE. I need these programs, and WINE for lack of a better word...BLOWS. It never works right. always crashes. Its a waste. Aside from all that, I have had nothing but trouble with linux and I am sick of it. It eats up hard drive space like nothing I have ever seen before. I started out after the instalation with 1.5 gigs of free space. in a matter of 3 days it was ALL gone and I did not install anything, and I even deleted all the files that I aquired since the instalation and still I only reclaimed 500 MB of space. This is bull and just want linux OFF my computer until I can get a seperate HD just for it. But i need to know how to wipe it clean and reformat the drive. So if anyone can tell me how to do it, that would be great

that's too bad, I guess it comes down to why you want to use linux. I certainly would not say that wine is the best feature of linux by, it is still in a development stage and people generally expect too much from it sometimes.
There are many amazing and wonderful things about linux. I have never noticed it taking up a lot of hard drive space as you say with any of my installs. (I've probably done at least 30)
The fact is that if you want to use software that the manufacturers have only created windows versions for, then stick to windows. Linux has a definite purpose and I, for one really enjoy its benefits, but I don't a lot of windows type software. Often I can find a better alternative in linux.

Anyway, to get rid of it, just use partition magic or your favorite partitioning tool and delete the linux partitions. I don't know if you installed a boot loader, but you will probably have to use your windows disk to reset the mbr if you overwrote it.

I dont have a partitioning tool When my original windows install was corrupted, and I decided to install linux, i allowed the linux installer to completely format my drive. I only have windows 98 SE and Windows Millenium and neither one can install until the drive is formatted for dos. I have tried using my windows 98 boot disk, I entered into the dos prompt from there. I used FDISK but when I enter ANY of the choices, it just hangs and I have to hit ctrl+alt+delete and restart. At this point it seems that SuSE linux has pretty much Hijacked my hard drive and wont give it back. The only option I had was to reinstal linux for the 6th time since windows went to hell on me. I just want to reformat the !@#$ing drive and it wont let me do it. I think im gonna have to buy a new hard drive and toss this one in the garbage.

use the partitioning tool that comes w/ SuSE. or maybe cfdisk?

this is sort of makeshift, but since you don't have any disk tools....

yeah, try the mdk formatting tool - just start the install and then delete all the linux partitions and make sure it actually does it and then reboot without the cd in the drive and then use fdisk to create a fat32 or ntfs partition for your windass.

I HATE LUNUX!!! My dynamic NTFS hard drive is now listed as Dynamic Unreadable in windows thanks to linux. Linux was not supposed to have Write permissions for the drive, but some how the disk is no longer readable by windows which indicates that it was either corrupted or the File allocation table had been modified to the extent that windows no longer designates it as NTFS or any other windows compatable format CURSE LINUX! I Lost valuable, irreplaceable data that was too large to have backed up. I thought linux was suposed to be BETTER. Could have fooled me cause it didnt have nearly the ammount of functionality of windows XP. As a matter of fact I have found that I can do everything linux offer and more from windows. And did I mention the fact that it consumed over a gigabyte of free space in a matter of days all by itself? How about how it crashed repetedly? Frankly I have found it to be less stable than Windows 98 First Edition.

I know where you are coming from, in the beginning I had some bad experiences too. I have often said this: "The best is thing about linux is that it is very configurable, and the worst thing about linux is that it is very configurable."

Having said that, I have been using linux for several months now with no problems whatsoever. My problems were - a bad distro version that wasn't installing properly, incompatible hardware, and mostly of all, my low level of knowledge on how to use linux. Since I have learned a lot more, I am very happy with linux.

Regarding your drive problem - is it possible that windows have certain protections (beneficial or otherwise) that are reading information as damaged when it is still intact? This may not be the fault of linux. Also, I am not sure what you installed/configured when you had linux on there, but perhaps something was done that should not have been done.

I would say that it is possible to get your data back. You might have to do it in an unconventional way and you won't like what I suggest either. However, i'll tell you anyway. Since windows can't read the drive for whatever reason (I would look at the windows knowledge base to see if there is a way to fix that btw first), I would choose a different and fairly easy linux to install - say red hat 9. I don't know what you were using before, but it might have been something that didn't agree with your system. Also make sure plug n play is turned off in your bios. I would install linux to the space you had used for it before - the space that once you deleted those partitions would be 'unallocated' if you in fact deleted them. I would leave them as unallocated and then reinstall linux. During the install select "keep existing partitions and use unallocated/free space" Do a custom install and pick every major category but the servers. Check the disk space usage at the bottom to make sure you have enough room for it on your drive (you should and I have done tons of installs so I know that rh 9 partitions well enough to make room for itself). Then make sure you do NOT install a bootloader, use a bootdisk instead, in fact make two just in case one does not work.
Once you have your system completed, you can mount your ntfs drive and then (hopefully you have a burner) you can burn your valuable information on you windows (use cd-rw's if you want so you can just erase them later) I know it might take a lot of disks, but if the information is as valuable as you say it is, then it would be worth the time and effort.
Anyway, overall, this is the very first time I have ever heard of something like this happening to a windows drive. I am not convinced that linux is to blame, however, like I said I have installed linux many times and created several mutli-boot systems and have never seen this happen.

Regarding your attitude towards linux... I don't know who told you to use linux, but it doesn't sound like it is for you. You appear to use a lot of programs that are specifically written for windows that linux may or may not have. When you try something new, there are risks and many of them are forseeable, this one was not forseeable for you. I am not sure how long you spent researching linux and the different distros before you tried it out, but that would be a good thing to do since it sounds like it was a surprise to you that it didn't have all the software you used in windows - that is fairly common knowledge in the linux community which makes me think that it would have been beneficial to do some more research on your end.

So, read the knowledge base on ntfs drive and repairing them thru windows first, if that doesn't work, then maybe try my idea of reinstalling linux and mounting the ntfs drive and then burning the data that way.
Good luck.

DigitalVapor: If you tried to write to a NTFS FS, you have no-one else than you to blame. NTFS write is extremely experimental.
And, as I said that, allways do backup :P

I know I overreacted. Actualy I loved linux while I had It. I accepted that the only way I was going to play my games or use my graphics software (I know linux has 2D and 3D apps but I am more comfortable with Photoshop 7 and Lightwave 7)...the only way I would use the various apps I had in windows was to reinstall windows and dual boot. And I still will...Sort of. I found that the problem with the Hard Drive to be a missing or corrupted Master boot record (or it could be the boot sector itself, im too tired to remember) But any way, the only way to fix the problem is one of the few apps made for data recovery. the catch? the particular program I need is $300!!! And even then, I have to buy another HD to copy the files to, then I have to reformat the problematic drive. When I do use linux again, I am using a very different method. Instead of dual booting. I am using a swapable hard drive kit. On one HD, I will have windows. On the other, I will have linux. If I want to use linux, I shut down my system, pull the removable windows HD and replace it with the linux one. Boot up and its like windows was never EVER there. Why? cause on that HD...It wasnt! I used to use that setup to transport my system from home to my apartment without lugging all the hardware with me. Just a HD with a handle hehe. But anyway, to make a long story short. If i am not able to do the data recovery with this demo, I have to reformat and lose pretty much everything. I will just have to try to rebuild what is sadly enough, basicaly the last 4 years of my life. And I am going out and buying a CD-RW TOMMOROW!!!!! And for those who are wondering, I am a digital artist dealing in 3D modeling and rendering, 2D art via Photoshop, Hand drawn-scanned and PS colored work AND Photography. I also was working on producing a digital music album. Everything was on that drive and I had no means to back it up. Every piece of art and its source file. Every photograph I have taken (including some impossible to replace shots of people whom I cant photograph again for various reasons as well as shots of natural phenomenons) Since I photographed it all digitaly, it is all gone. People take this as a warning! BUY A DRIVE FOR BACKING UP YOUR FILES!!! YOU MAY HAVE A SYSTEM FAILURE THAT COULD COST YOU EVERYTHING!!!!!!

not sure what version of windows you are using, but have you tried just putting the cd in and entering repair mode?