Help with partitioning!

[Pucking Insane]

NOTE: I posted this in the Kubuntu forum, but was not sure if it was the appropriate spot.

Hello Linux users, my names Pucking Insane. I recently tried to join the linux community, by first running Kubuntu off a CD I burnt to get a quick feel for it. After a a week of playing around and feeling more comfortable, I was really loving it and wished to install it; however, I wanted to partition my hard drive so that I could run both Windows XP and Kubuntu.

I used the partition magic software to do this, and suffice to say that somewhere along the way it went bad and my operating system (XP) crashed. I tried first to re-install XP, and to partition again; however I could not even install XP.

I should say, I attempted to create two partitions, for each OS, splitting my 75 gig hard drive roughly in half, and I believe for whatever reason one of this was "bad" and thus would not let me re-install windows. Lucky for me, I decided to install Kubuntu to my hard drive, and this installation seemingly over-rode my previous partitioning, and installed Kubuntu to my CPU. Kubuntu is working wonderfully; however I was wondering what it would take to partition again (or un-do previous partitions) so that I could run both operating systems. For whatever reason, it seems to me, that Linux has ignored my previous partitions made in PartitionMagic, while windows still recognizes them. As I said, I have linux installed, and it takes up my entire C: drive, yet I believe that I have not destroyed or merged the previous partitions. Any help on where to start?

Again, right now I am running Kubuntu only. Thanks in advance, and I'm new around here, so don't know how all the windows talk flies.

Thanks tremendously for any help provided in advance!

[Jonathan183]

[QUOTE=Pucking Insane;549175]

NOTE: I posted this in the Kubuntu forum, but was not sure if it was the appropriate spot.

Duplicate threads are not allowed ... I assume you can delete the other thread.

Hello Linux users, my names Pucking Insane. I recently tried to join the linux community, by first running Kubuntu off a CD I burnt to get a quick feel for it. After a a week of playing around and feeling more comfortable, I was really loving it and wished to install it; however, I wanted to partition my hard drive so that I could run both Windows XP and Kubuntu.

OK

I used the partition magic software to do this, and suffice to say that somewhere along the way it went bad and my operating system (XP) crashed. I tried first to re-install XP, and to partition again; however I could not even install XP.

I also have had problems with that partitioner ... I use the PartedMagic CD for partitioning now.

I should say, I attempted to create two partitions, for each OS, splitting my 75 gig hard drive roughly in half, and I believe for whatever reason one of this was "bad" and thus would not let me re-install windows.

You should have been able to re-install Windows.

Lucky for me, I decided to install Kubuntu to my hard drive, and this installation seemingly over-rode my previous partitioning, and installed Kubuntu to my CPU. Kubuntu is working wonderfully; however I was wondering what it would take to partition again (or un-do previous partitions) so that I could run both operating systems.

You should be able to install both operating systems but when you want Windows and Linux to run on the same machine it is easiest to install Windows first, then Linux.

For whatever reason, it seems to me, that Linux has ignored my previous partitions made in PartitionMagic, while windows still recognizes them. As I said, I have linux installed, and it takes up my entire C: drive, yet I believe that I have not destroyed or merged the previous partitions. Any help on where to start?

The installer normally gives you the option to partition using defaults or manually select/setup the partition arrangement you want.

Again, right now I am running Kubuntu only. Thanks in advance, and I'm new around here, so don't know how all the windows talk flies.

Thanks tremendously for any help provided in advance!

There are a couple of ways to sort this out ... most of the easy ways will require you to reinstall Linux after Windows.

First of all lets check what partitions you have on the disk ... open a terminal and type

sudo fdisk -l

and post the output here ...

[oz]

Welcome to the forums!

Just my opinion, but I'd wipe the hard drive to start off fresh.

Install Windows, leaving unallocated space on the drive for Linux, then install Kubuntu, or another distro of your choice.

To wipe the drive of all content, go to a terminal and issue the following command:

sudo dd if=/dev/zero of=/dev/hda bs=512 count=1

This will write zeros to the entire drive giving you a totally fresh start.

For working with partitions, I highly recommend the PartedMagic LiveCD:

Parted Magic

It's a small download and quick burn to CD, it's easy to use, and there is very good documentation for using it on their website, and on the CD itself.

[Pucking Insane]

[QUOTE=Jonathan183;549183]

Duplicate threads are not allowed ... I assume you can delete the other thread.


OK



I also have had problems with that partitioner ... I use the PartedMagic CD for partitioning now.



You should have been able to re-install Windows.



You should be able to install both operating systems but when you want Windows and Linux to run on the same machine it is easiest to install Windows first, then Linux.



The installer normally gives you the option to partition using defaults or manually select/setup the partition arrangement you want.



There are a couple of ways to sort this out ... most of the easy ways will require you to reinstall Linux after Windows.

First of all lets check what partitions you have on the disk ... open a terminal and type

sudo fdisk -l

and post the output here ...

here is the output:
$ sudo fdisk -l
[sudo] password for ******:

Disk /dev/sda: 80.0 GB, 80026361856 bytes
255 heads, 63 sectors/track, 9729 cylinders
Units = cylinders of 16065 * 512 = 8225280 bytes
Disk identifier: 0x0defc2af

Device Boot Start End Blocks Id System
/dev/sda1 * 1 9352 75119908+ 83 Linux
/dev/sda2 9353 9729 3028252+ 5 Extended
/dev/sda5 9353 9729 3028221 82 Linux swap / Solaris

[Jonathan183]

Welcome to the forums!

Just my opinion, but I'd wipe the hard drive to start off fresh.

Install Windows, leaving unallocated space on the drive for Linux, then install Kubuntu, or another distro of your choice.

To wipe the drive of all content, go to a terminal and issue the following command:

sudo dd if=/dev/zero of=/dev/hda bs=521 count=1

This will write zeros to the entire drive giving you a totally fresh start.

For working with partitions, I highly recommend the PartedMagic LiveCD:

Parted Magic

It's a small download and quick burn to CD, it's easy to use, and there is very good documentation for using it on their website, and on the CD itself.

here is the output:
$ sudo fdisk -l
[sudo] password for ******:

Disk /dev/sda: 80.0 GB, 80026361856 bytes
255 heads, 63 sectors/track, 9729 cylinders
Units = cylinders of 16065 * 512 = 8225280 bytes
Disk identifier: 0x0defc2af

Device Boot Start End Blocks Id System
/dev/sda1 * 1 9352 75119908+ 83 Linux
/dev/sda2 9353 9729 3028252+ 5 Extended
/dev/sda5 9353 9729 3028221 82 Linux swap / Solaris

OK it looks as though you only have one hard drive with a linux partitions. Assuming you have no data you need to keep which you have installed in Linux then Ozar's advice above is good for this situation. I think you need to adjust the command to

sudo dd if=/dev/zero of=/dev/sda bs=521 count=1

You should be able to setup partitions before installing Windows again, in this instance let Windows use half the disk and let the Linux installer use the rest of the hard disk (it will set at least 2 partitions / (or root) and swap).
If you want, you can just let Windows install to the whole disk and then use the PartedMagic CD to adjust the partition size after.

Let us know if you need more information.

[Pucking Insane]

OK it looks as though you only have one hard drive with a linux partitions. Assuming you have no data you need to keep which you have installed in Linux then Ozar's advice above is good for this situation. I think you need to adjust the command to

sudo dd if=/dev/zero of=/dev/sda bs=521 count=1

You should be able to setup partitions before installing Windows again, in this instance let Windows use half the disk and let the Linux installer use the rest of the hard disk (it will set at least 2 partitions / (or root) and swap).
If you want, you can just let Windows install to the whole disk and then use the PartedMagic CD to adjust the partition size after.

Let us know if you need more information.

Hey, thanks for all the help thus far. I typed that in that command, and as you said, it removed all files on my hard drive, including Kubuntu itself, and as of now I am running Kubuntu straight from the CD. Does that sound right?

I tried to follow Ozar's advice about first installing windows; however, when I attempted to intall, I received a message saying that there was no hard drive on which to install windows, and that the installation could not continue, and as of now I am lost.

Thanks again.

[Jonathan183]

Hey, thanks for all the help thus far. I typed that in that command, and as you said, it removed all files on my hard drive, including Kubuntu itself, and as of now I am running Kubuntu straight from the CD. Does that sound right?

I tried to follow Ozar's advice about first installing windows; however, when I attempted to intall, I received a message saying that there was no hard drive on which to install windows, and that the installation could not continue, and as of now I am lost.

Thanks again.

OK it sounds as though you have a blank hard drive ... if you try running fdisk -l again you should not see sda1, sda2 and sda3 anymore. If that is correct then you should be able to just reinstall windows if you want.
You could use the PartedMagic CD to allocate about half the hard disk space to Windows ... format as NTFS.
Have you setup any partitions on the disk yet?

[Pucking Insane]

OK it sounds as though you have a blank hard drive ... if you try running fdisk -l again you should not see sda1, sda2 and sda3 anymore. If that is correct then you should be able to just reinstall windows if you want.
You could use the PartedMagic CD to allocate about half the hard disk space to Windows ... format as NTFS.
Have you setup any partitions on the disk yet?

For whatever reason, when I run that fdisk -l command, I still see this:

"Disk /dev/sda: 80.0 GB, 80026361856 bytes
255 heads, 63 sectors/track, 9729 cylinders
Units = cylinders of 16065 * 512 = 8225280 bytes
Disk identifier: 0x000ed444

Device Boot Start End Blocks Id System
/dev/sda1 * 1 9352 75119908+ 83 Linux
/dev/sda2 9353 9729 3028252+ 5 Extended
/dev/sda5 9353 9729 3028221 82 Linux swap / Solaris"

I have tried that "sudo dd if=/dev/zero of=/dev/sda bs=521 count=1" command now twice, and still no luck. Would partedmagic perhaps recognize those two partitions, and perhaps help me get rid of them? Partitionmagic really messed me up it seems.

[Jonathan183]

For whatever reason, when I run that fdisk -l command, I still see this:

"Disk /dev/sda: 80.0 GB, 80026361856 bytes
255 heads, 63 sectors/track, 9729 cylinders
Units = cylinders of 16065 * 512 = 8225280 bytes
Disk identifier: 0x000ed444

Device Boot Start End Blocks Id System
/dev/sda1 * 1 9352 75119908+ 83 Linux
/dev/sda2 9353 9729 3028252+ 5 Extended
/dev/sda5 9353 9729 3028221 82 Linux swap / Solaris"

I have tried that "sudo dd if=/dev/zero of=/dev/sda bs=521 count=1" command now twice, and still no luck. Would partedmagic perhaps recognize those two partitions, and perhaps help me get rid of them? Partitionmagic really messed me up it seems.

PartedMagic will recognize the partitions and let you delete them. Partition Magic has let me down a couple of times in the past but I have not had problems with PartedMagic.

[oz]

Yeah, you can delete them with PartedMagic as indicated by Jonathan, or you can run the above dd command from a terminal within PartedMagic. The sudo command should not be needed in this case.

Not sure why the command is not working for you from current system.