W7/Linux Mint dual boot upgrade

[johnwillyums]

Hi folks.

I'm currently dual booting Windows 7 x64 and Linux Mint 10 x64. I have Windows on one HDD and Mint on another.
Currently, when I start up I get Windows bootloader. The system will default to Windows unless I choose Mint.
Mint 11 should be released anytime and I would like to do a clean install and replace Mint 10
.
I'm a complete noob with Linux and I have a couple of question regarding this.

Firstly, the drive with Linux Mint on it is a 1 terabyte drive with an 709GB NTFS storage partition where I store backup media files.
Also on this drive is a 48GB NTFS partition, marked -Healthy [Active, Primary Partition] and a 17GB NTFS partition marked -Healthy [Primary Partition]

There is also a 70GB partition plus a small 3.4GB partition, I believe this is my Linux Mint install as it does not show as NTFS when viewed in Windows Computer Management.
I'll attach a snip of this as it's confusing.

Anyway. I don't really know why I have the 48GB and 17GB NTFS partitions but I suspect the 48GB may have held my previous Linux Mint 9 install.
These two small partitions show as empty. They would be better amalgamated with my storage NTFS pertition. How can I achieve this? Delete Volume?

My primary concern though, is how do I do a fresh install of Linux Mint 11 when it is released?
I am not concerned about losing my Mint 10 install as I have nothing in with it I need to keep.
Can I just boot from the DVD and install on the 70GB partition? Will this mess up my Windows Boot?

Sorry if this is a bit muddled and thanks in advance, John

[yancek]

Maybe it's just my computer, but the image you posted is totally greyed out and unreadable. It looks like something from windows is about all I can tell.

I would guess that your 709, 48, and 17GB partitions are primary and the 70GB is an Extended partition and the 3.4GB is a logical within the Extended. Windows usually shows Linux partitions as unknown.

If you are able to boot Linux Mint, do that and open a terminal and run this command:

sudo fdisk -l(lower case Letter L in the command), you will be prompted for your user password so enter it to get the output which you can post here. Primary partitions will be shown as sda1-4, logical will be sda5 and higher. The output will also show and ID column. Windows will be 7, Linux 83. The System column will be HPFS/NTFS for windows and Linux for Linux. If your 48GB shows Linux, then you know.

I would suggest you post the fdisk output here to get specific suggestions.

[zenwalker]

"My primary concern though, is how do I do a fresh install of Linux Mint 11 when it is released?"

Suggestion One: do not use NTFS on hard drive (hdd) where any Linux resides
Suggestion Two: transfer any and all files from NTFS partitions that are desirable to keep to the hdd where Win7 resides
Suggestion Three: wipe the hdd where a clean install is desired using the dd command; for example

 dd if=/dev/zero of=/dev/sda bs=4096 conv=notrunc,sync 
  

and use ext4 file system; this will result in a truly 'clean' install not corrupted in any way by anything not linux*

Suggestion Four: do not use the NTFS on any dedicated hdd containing any linux distro; keep anything Windows separate from the dedicated hdd

*of course, this cannot be done with a one hdd dual-boot

[johnwillyums]

Thanks yancek. I will have to try that later as someone needs to use the computer right now.
I will try what you suggest and post again later.

Your help is much appreciated, John