Want to install OpenSUSE and clear all existing partitions

[6tr6tr]

When I installed OpenSUSE the first time, I left all my existing partitions. Now I want to blow everything away and install OpenSUSE fresh. Using the YaST2 installation tool (Disk -> Partioner section) how would I do this? What are the best partition settings for installing OpenSUSE?

[oz]

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

dd if=/dev/zero of=/dev/sda bs=512 count=1

You'll need to replace /dev/sda with your actual device name such as /dev/hda.

Using the dd command above will write zeros to the entire drive giving you a totally fresh start.

If needed, you can use the fdisk -l command to determine your device name:

fdisk -l

A better option is to boot from a liveCD and follow the same procedure but you won't have to su to root using that method.

[6tr6tr]

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

dd if=/dev/zero of=/dev/sda bs=512 count=1

You'll need to replace /dev/sda with your actual device name such as /dev/hda.

Using the dd command above will write zeros to the entire drive giving you a totally fresh start.

If needed, you can use the fdisk -l command to determine your device name:

fdisk -l

A better option is to boot from a liveCD and follow the same procedure but you won't have to su to root using that method.

Thanks for the response. I am booted into a live CD and using the installation tool (YaST2). It has the ability to do "expert partitioner" for custom partitions. Is there a way to do it through YaST2? Can I simply choose "delete" for every partition it shows (or is that only deleting the "plan" for those partitions)?

Also what would be a good setup? Is this OK?

/dev/sda 6 GB F Linux Native (Ext3) /
/dev/sda 30 GB F Linux Native (Ext3) /home
/dev/sda 1 GB Linux swap swap

Three questions then:
1. I actually have 85 GB. How should I partition the rest into a diff. logical drive?
2. Is the order I stated above a good choice? Is there a better order?
3. Are the sizes good/adequate?

Thanks!

[yancek]

If you want to delete everything on your partitions, ozar's suggestion is the way to go. Your proposed setup is not good (unless you made typing errors - you have sda listed for root and home)
If you have one drive, it will be sda or hda and your partitions would be there, so if you want a root, home and swap partition

/dev/sda1 6 GB F Linux Native (Ext3) /
/dev/sda2 30 GB F Linux Native (Ext3) /home
/dev/sda3 1 GB Linux swap swap
/dev/sda4 Extended partition (the rest of the space)

If you have over 1GB of RAM you probably won't need swap unless you do a lot of intensive graphics/gaming but that's your choice. You could also put the swap on a logical partition if you create an extended partition.

If you create an extended partition from one of the primaries, you can then create additional logical partitions within that extended partition to put data or additional OS's but you cannot put anything in an extended.

[oz]

I don't run Suse at all so not all that familiar with YAST, but it should be able to delete the partitions.

The quickest route, in my opinion is by using the command I gave you above. It takes just a few seconds and the drive is wiped. A good tool for working with partitions is the PartedMagic LiveCD. It's only about 35-megs so is a quick download and burn to CD, and is very easy to use.

I usually set up my partitions something like this:

/ (about 6 to 10 GB) ext3
swap (about 512 MB) swap
/home (about 6 to 10 GB) ext3

I have 1 GB of RAM and the swap never gets touched, but I create it anyway.

[daark.child]

I'd just use YaST to delete the existing partitions and create new ones from scratch. Also if its an option, think about increasing your / partition to more than 6GB. The reason I suggest this is because logs, temp files and any additional software you install will need the space.

[6tr6tr]

Thanks to both of you guys for the help, I really appreciate. (And yes I meant sda1 as the start -- oops )

[6tr6tr]

I tried installing OpenSUSE with Live CD and under the install tool YaST2 chose to delete all existing partitions and install "/", "/home", "swap." However, after the install (and ejecting the CD) the computer started to load into Xandros (what I'd had previously) but now it freezes because everything else is gone. Why didn't it delete everything? How do I get fdisk and run it to make sure the harddrive is totally cleaned out? (fdisk does not exist as a command in the terminal with the live CD)

[daark.child]

Did you install the openSUSE boot loader to the MBR? If not, then this is probably why your system is trying to boot into your old installation.